The "Swingin' on a Pumpkin Blues"

Hallowe'en 2009 at McRae Park: Swing and Latin and Bossas, oh my! Despite the holiday festivities pending tonight, 14 of us got together to play some jazz while the frost settled on the pumpkins, the hay got into the barns and the little ones got ready for tricks and treats. Hanging out at the workshop today were Annie and Toria (vocals), Wes and Ira (tenor sax), Peter (bari sax), Owen (high tech accordian with built-in synth controller), Jack and Steve (trumpets), Jeff and Margo (bass), Ken and Gene (drums), Norman (piano) and Tim (guitar). Since we had doubles of drums and basses, the drummers and bassists switched back and forth as the songs went by.

For anybody wondering how the workshop operates, what will happen is that someone will call a song to be played. They also call the style (swing, latin, bossa, etc.) and set the tempo. If the song is called by a singer, they will sing the tune through, then the instrumentalist (s) will solo (usually one chorus, possibly two and for longer forms the one chorus might be split between two soloists). If the song is an instrumental, then whoever called it plays the first solo and then the rest of the players take a solo in turn. The purpose of the workshop is for people to learn to play jazz which means learning songs, tempos, styles and how to improvise. Jazz is a unique art form in that it is a group improvisation- while one player is soloing, the accompanists are also improvising on the accompaniment rather than playing a strict rote form. As the soloist plays, the accompanists shift their playing in anticipation of where the solo is going; and the shifts in the accompaniment may influence where the soloist is going. It's a conversation when it goes well. Jazz is a fluid art and jazz musicians must learn to float and flow with the changes. Most of this is a learning-by-doing experience- you can learn the various theories but you still have to hear it and feel it to get good at it. The Jazz Workshop has existed for more than 30 years to provide exactly that kind of learning experience in a supportive environment.

We didn't play any of Linus's pumpkin carols nor did the Great Pumpkin rise out of the pumpkin patch. Songs we did play included "Little Sunflower," "Smoke Rings," "I Should Care," "Sometime Ago," "Blue Monk," "What Is This Thing Called Love," "Strange Fruit," "It's Been a Long, Long Time," "Sugar," "All Of Me," "Soon It's Gonna Rain," "My Foolish Heart," "Don't Go To Strangers," "Out of Nowhere," "I Thought About You," "Make Someone Happy," "How Deep Is the Ocean," and "Let's Cool One."

Tim took a few photos from the guitar chair and Margo roamed around with the camera to find unique perspectives of the players. From top to bottom we have Annie, the Workshop's coordinator; Ken's hands and drums, and Peter, Ira and Steve from left to right.


"See, all we have to do is transpose from one flat to one sharp and play a whole step up from the melody... on a tune we've never played before. Should be easy."