randissimo

I gave up cigarettes for good back in 1993.. Now it's hard to play in smoky bars and even be around people with the filthy habit...

There's an old friend and drum comrade who I believe lives in Sidney now. His name is Calvin Welch. He is a great drummer and a very nice person... If you know him or hear about him please let me know..

I have no idea what his political beliefs were about... He was an integral part of that great era of comedy and romance that spawned the likes of WC Fields, Mae West, the Marx Bros, George Burns & Gracie Allen, The 3 Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, Mickey Rooney, and of course his sidekick, Bing Crosby.. Thanks Bob Hope and may you never be forgotten...

I've been running into a lot of kids in fact in their late teens who are into people like Frank Zappa, Coltrane, Miles, Monk, Horace Silver, etc.. I think they are getting tired of being spoon fed jive pop music by corporate America and realize there is a lot more deepness out there... I like some of the younger bands like Phish and Dave Mathews.. In fact, the jam band trend seems to be growing...

Sad, but very funny at the same time This could become an out of control rant.... American people (especially the generations under 50 yrs old) today culturally and artistically seem to be shallow and superficial with little or no real interest in the creative arts.. Maybe too much media hype, TV and Pop culture influence? However, there is a promising generation of young uns in their early 20's who seem to be more into the creative side of music and art...

It would be interesting to have to drive on the left side of the road

......you're scarin' me!

I'll check with Schulers books... I'll call Jeff or Lou tomorrow....They most likely will have copies..

Ballads are cool as long as the people I'm playin' with know how to phrase the melody, use dynamics, and tell a story to get their solo over. In my experiences I've found that some rooms are just too busy and the crowd too loud to effectively play a ballad. I played an outdoor gig recently where too many ballads were called and watched the audience grow bored and many people even left.. Sometimes I'll double the tempo at the bridge or the 2nd time tru the changes with a lite & tasty 12/8 latin feel over a 2 feel for contrast. Doubling the tempo can be done tastefully if the bass player has sense enough to stay in the original tempo and not double up and walk the quarter notes and keeps a relaxed and loose feeling with the drummer. To sum it up; Ballads in my opinion are very cool, but can get boring and die a slow death if not played with feeling, as well as everybody listening to each other. And too many ballads in a set can dampen the enthusiasm of the audience as well as the players...

Right on Pryan... A lot of players miss the most important key word,,,"LISTEN".. Too many times I have played gigs where I have felt boxed in because nobody seemed to be listening to each other..

Right on Jimbo! I saw Cannonball in E. Lansing at the Stables a year before he passed on.. It was one of the most memorable nights of music for me .. They swung and grooved on every tune and Cannonball had a great repoire with the audience. He was very relaxed and had an infectious personality onstage and a great sense of humor.. I'm looking forward to the gig tonight as well!

A lot of younger players with chops to spare, go out there after college or music school with the intention of exercising to the fullest, their " AMAZING CHOPS"... They too often approach the music as if it were some kind of competitive sport.. I've also noticed that a lot of Jazz artists and bands playing festivals and concerts, look as if they were performing a recital, with very little awareness given to enlightening or entertaining the audience. They seem to think the pyrotechnics of the music and their solos will simply dazzle the audience and get them over.. You can have great compositions with brilliant arrangements and a band full of monster technicians, but if everybody onstage looks like a bored stone face with no awareness of, or concern for the audience, the audience in many cases, becomes bored.. Most of the people at a concert, club, or festival want to connect with the music. Pat Metheny, Bela Flek, Poncho Sanchez, Billy Childs, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Joey DeFrancesco, Lonnie Listen Smith, Dave Liebman, Oregon, and Ben Sidran are some examples of Jazz artists I've seen who have chops to spare , but connect with the audience simply because there is an obvious joy of playing radiating from each individual onstage.. To quote Dennis Miller, "This is my opinion and I could be wrong"

My dad, Arno Marsh (now 75 and still playin' his ass off) sat alongside Richie Kamuca and shared the tenor solos with him in Woody Herman's Third Herd.. They had a great sound and really complimented each other. One of my favorite arrangements is "Senior Blues" and another is a burnin' arrangement of "Perdido".

We're still not done trying to get this last one out there! "Waiting For The Boogaloo Sisters" has not been out that long... It's only been little over 5 months since it was released. And we still have to pay off the balance on it!

Funny, that's the time that I want to tell "our waiter this evening, Brad" to shut the fuck up and go place the order.

When it appears that the audience isn't listening is when we have to examine just what we are doing and how we are projecting ourselves at that moment, and try to "rise to the challenge" and get their attention .. If we look bored, the audience notices... Next time we are in that situation where the audience seems to be a bit apathetic, we should pull out halloween masks to see if they notice.. HeeHee! Seriously, when it appears that hardly anybody seems to be listening, try and put yourself in the audience, listening to the band and think about how you yourself would react at that moment... There is an art form to tuning in a room and getting people to listen.. Sometimes just shifting gears to a funky blues shuffle (maybe w/ a vocal) can get the crowd back. Also, talking to the audience even though you think they are not listening helps make a personal connection,, like explaining the thoughts that went into composing, maybe a story behind a particular tune, be it an original or a standard.. It's about presentation... I know I get even hungier for a dish when the chef tells me about the ingredience and preparation of the entree

OK Soul Man.... get out and have some Summer fun..

We appreciate any ideas or suggestions that will help expedite this matter.. It's hard enough out here trying to book gigs and keep the music moving forward without having to deal with these kinds of dishonest people!

The problem is we would probably have to take these assholes into small claims court to get our money... They probably owe a whole lot of other people too...

Let's put together a strategy that will put these greedy scumbags out of business!

I think we've been ripped off by this "less than honorable" CD or "seedy" operation.. If we get any of the money owed to us I will be surprised...

Let's get the word out on other forum sites to boycott the assholes at cdstreet...

Setting up online Cd sales at CDStreet was a huge mistake! We have had nothing but problems with these jive people! They apparently don't seem to give a f*ck and obviously don't take care of biz, especially when it comes to paying the artists for Cds that have been sold... CDStreet owes Organissimo more than $360. and we'll be damned lucky to see any of that bread! We have since switched to CDBaby and already are being treated much better.. BOYCOTT CDSTREET!

It was my birthday July 7th...

That's a nice review!