On Saturday I got a chance to play another outdoor gig – Movies By the Pool. In the past all of the gigs that I played were performed after a heavy rehearsal the day before. I’ve always suspected that this had something to do with my endurance problems. This time around the rehearsal was earlier in the week and that allowed me to take have a light practice the night before. I was pleased with the results. My chops held up much better and we actually played more tunes this time around than we did in other performances. Granted, I did get fatigued but not nearly to the level that I did before. I sat out for one tune and when I came back, things felt good enough to continue. As usual I wasn’t extremely happy with my performance as far as my solo material was concerned but there were a few bright spots. I did a pretty good job on “Little Sunflower” – a tune that I have been pounding fairly regularly. More than anything I have been working on the scales and chords used in that tune and that really came in handy with regards to finding what I heard. Never under estimate the importance of scales. I’m learning it is definitely not all ear.

I had a hard time hearing myself as usual but I’m learning that this is just the nature of the beast. I had an opportunity to talk to Tom Williams following his performance at an outdoor gig at the Hirshhorn Art Gallery. He sounded fantastic as did all the players. The thing that I noticed right away was Tom did not try to over blow. He played relaxed and everyone could hear him fine. I always seem to try to play harder or louder because I can’t hear myself. I keep forgetting that I am on the other side of the horn. Ahhh… the perils and joys of playing trumpet. The concert was great (and FREE). Some of the areas top jazz musicians performed including James King – an amazing bass player. We have some serious talent here in the DC area.

I must mention that there was one bad thing about the Movies By the Pool gig. We played from about 8:00 to 9:15PM under a gazebo. There was a light in the gazebo that we needed to use in order to read music. By the time the sun went down that light was a beacon that called every bug, mosquito and moth in southern Prince George’s County. I was covered with bugs bites despite using some bug repellant (they probably thought it was A-1 Steak Sauce. Near the end of the gig it got pretty unbearable with bugs bouncing off my face during solos and crawling down my shirt. I’ve been itching and scratching for days now. Still, I had a good time and look forward to more opportunities to play.