As has been the trend lately I am woefully late with my journal updates. Seems as if I’m only good for one a month now. That being said things have been really busy for me musically and I’ve got a lot to catch everyone up on…
Still Shaking – But Getting the Job Done
I got a lot great suggestions on how to deal with my nervousness. It was nice to hear that I wasn’t the only one who goes through “changes” prior to a performance. Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragment. The consensus seems to be that you are always going to be somewhat nervous prior to playing in public but once the music starts – you should keep you mind focused on the task at hand. That is what I ended up doing for my performance at church and it turned out GREAT. It was probably the first time that I was up there playing and everything felt good – embouchure, breathing, tone… the whole package. The funny thing is I forgot my written music! I had to do everything from memory and by ear! After the initial panic of realizing it was gone I calmed down and just trusted all the hard work that put in to prepare. Without the music in front of me I really had to focus and listen in order to get everything right. It really reinforced the feeling of getting “lost” in the music instead of negative thoughts like “oh my goodness… I missed that note” or “ok… here comes the hard part… don’t screw up.” Focus on the music.
HR-57
As many of you know one of my goals for 2006 was to play at one of the jam sessions at HR57. Early this month I got that opportunity. I played over two tunes – “So What” and “Footprints.” I wish I could say that I got up there and knocked everyone’s socks off but that didn’t happen. I wasn’t super nervous but for some reason none of my ideas came out the way that I wanted them to. I also felt vastly inferior to all the other cats that got up there and played.
While I feel good about getting up there – the truth of the matter is I have a lot of work to do before I attempt to do it again. I felt like I had no business being up there playing. While that may sound like a negative statement – it isn’t. The experience was a nice (but humbling) way of measuring where I am right now as a player.
A Long Way to Go
I really need to build up my vocabulary and I’ve begun tailoring my practice routine to do so. There is a book called Elements of the Jazz Language for the Developing Improvisor by Jerry Coker and I’ve been working with it religiously. It actually provides patterns and licks that were used by the greats. The cool thing is it includes a CD containing those licks from the original tunes so you can hear them. You learn them in all 12 keys but they’re not written out completely. They give you one key and you must work out the others so the important element of ear training is not ignored. After learning a pattern or lick you go to a tune and look for places where you can apply it – that is an important part of the process that I think people leave out.
One important thing I realized after the HR57 trip is I need to get cracking on improving as a trumpet player. My facility on the instrument is woefully poor and that is unacceptable in jazz. I need to get back into spending serious time with Arbans, Schlossberg and Clarke. I know I’m going to need some help from someone to tackle this part…
Terence Blanchard
My birthday just rolled around and lucky me… Terence Blanchard was in town. As usual I enjoyed his show very much. The group has been playing together for some time now and it shows. They are very familiar with each other and do an amazing job listening and responding. They make up a very cohesive unit. They performed tunes from the Bounce and Flow albums but they also played some new music which sounded great. Even though Flow hasn’t been out a year – I’m anxious for some new material.
As an added treat Terence brought up Gretchen Parlato to sing with the group. She sang on “Benny’s Tune” and then performed a duet with Lionel Loueke. That song was based off the melody from “Juju.” Gretchen wrote the lyrics (a tribute to Wayne Shorter) and it was really good.
Between sets we had an opportunity to talk to Terence and as always he was great. I brought him a New Orleans Saints t-shirt for his birthday (same day as mine) and he really liked it.
I’ve actually been converting some of Terence’s music from LP over the past few days. He did some great stuff with Donald Harrison that I’d like to give a closer listen. That’s hard to do when you have to crank up (and dust off) the record player…
Tim Warfield
I will start this section with a bold statement — Tim Warfield is the baddest cat out there right now on Tenor and Soprano saxophone. For those of you who don’t know him, Tim has been playing with trumpet monster Nicholas Payton for a few years now. I caught Tim at Twins Jazz Club on Saturday night and stayed for all three sets. The energy and confidence that he brought to the stage was incredible. He is technical monster but he is also musical and inventive with his playing. He never seemed to run out of ideas and everything flowed freely. He performed some standard tunes (he opened with a blues and completely demolished it) but what I enjoyed most was his compositions. As I have said before I am all for cats writing original music. He performed two of his own and both were great. One of them was extremely funky and I could see it crossing into mainstream music. It was easy to grab onto but what he did with it during his solos really blew me away.
My friend Lorenzo and I had an opportunity to talk to him between sets and we asked him if there were any things that really opened up his eyes with regards to learning jazz. His answer was being fearless (he most certainly was that) and paying attention to rhythm. He said that facility on a person’s instrument and theory is something that everyone can achieve through hard work.
Again – Tim Warfield is the man. Until I hear someone else LIVE that plays like him I will stand by my claim.
Upcoming Performance
I’ve got a gig coming up on April 2nd in Greensboro, MD near Delaware. I’m playing on a few tunes with some members of the jazz band master class that I used to be a part of. Most of the songs I have performed before but I’m spending some time to look over them again since my knowledge of music has improved. It is cool to look at them now and recognize things like ii-Vs and ii-V-Is… it really simplifies the tune and allows me to play new things.
While I’m sure it will be fun it will probably be the last time I gig for a while. I need to hit the shed really hard over the next few months. At some point I’ll go to HR57 again and see where I am in relation to my last performance. I don’t think this pause in performance is a bad thing and I’m not viewing it as such. I’m just being honest with myself and my playing.
DC/MD/VA Based Performers
Over the past few weeks I’ve had an opportunity to check out several of the metro area based musicians like Zack Grady, Michael Thomas, Thad Wilson and Paul Carr. All of these cats are serious players and when not making music – they’re really nice guys. Hearing them play has kept me focused, inspired and motivated. I’m going to continue to make an effort to get out and hear them more often.