After a few months of playing in the basement with CDs I finally got the  opportunity to go to a jam session again.  I hooked up with Lorenzo and Mike – two cats from my master class who live in the area.

For me, it was like the man who is on the deserted island talking to palm  trees and sea shells.  By the time he makes it back to civilization he is  desperate for conversation and human contact.  When Lorenzo started playing  tenor and Mike was working out on vibes, I felt like I was in heaven  and alive again musically.  We worked on a variety of tunes – mostly from  the Maiden Voyage Aebersold book.  I had never tackled “Footprints” before… that is a really fun tune.  We also played “Recordame” and a few others I had  never attempted.

I thought the guys sounded great.  Lorenzo was always a monster on tenor but he also played alto that night and it blew it me away.  He is a very passionate player and every note seems to have a meaning and emotion.  He played a killer version of Blue In Green. Like me, he went underground after our first concert to improve as a player.   I can see that his hard work is starting to bear fruit.  Mike plays drums with the master class but is an amazing vibe player.  He told us that he hasn’t really been practicing on vibes but I couldn’t tell.  His ideas were nice and his love for the great Milt Jackson was apparent in his playing.  I can only  imagine what would happen if he switched completely to vibes (he is already a  solid drummer).

This was my first time playing outside of the house in a long time.  I was curious as to  whether the guys heard any improvement in my playing.  I remember not hearing myself the last  time we jammed together but that night I felt stronger, more relaxed and confident in my playing. Lorenzo told me that he thought my sound and facility (speed) had really improved.   Mike said that I sounded more confident and my ideas had direction.  That  really made me feel good about my decision to work by myself for a while.  When my chops got tired I fooled around on the congas.  I had actually  forgotten that my first instrument growing up was a set of bongos.  I  actually had a great time playing them.

We are going to try to work together regularly and possibly add some more  players (guitar & bass).  The prospect of jamming on a regular basis really  gets me excited.  One thing that the jam session showed me is I need to  spend time working on tunes…  not just playing exercises.  Tune work  allows me to transfer the work in exercises to a musical and usable format.

More than anything it reminded me why I picked up trumpet and learn jazz to  begin with…  it is FUN.  I had a ball.