I think I used "It Might As Well Be Spring" this time last year, so I didn't want to repeat myself. Every week I write this note about the jazz workshop and I find myself saying something like "the Jazz Workshop met again at McRae Park" which is kind of silly. The Jazz Workshop has been meeting weekly for over 30 years! Of course we met again and we're going to do it again next week, too.
OK, so that's out of my system. The Jazz Workshop met again at McRae Park... aaarrrggghhh! But we did. So there. In attendance today were Sam (trumpet synthesizer), Steve (trumpet and flugelhorn), Todd (trumpet), Bronco (tenor sax) Wes (tenor sax), Don ('bone and camera- these are his photos today. You can tell by how they aren't fuzzy), Gene (drums), Max (bass), Bob (guitar), Tim (guitar), Craig (guitar), Owen (accordion), Annie, Vicki and Dick (all vocals). Jeez, that's fifteen people. Attendance at the workshop has varied over the years, for a while being sometimes just two or three people, but for the past year or so we have had 10-15 people most weeks. This really brings up the energy of the thing and makes it a lot of fun.
Now you might remember last week's post in which I talked about having some challenges getting through some songs. I had talked with several workshop members during the week and one thing we wondered about was the sound of the room. The room is pretty big and there's a lot of reverb, so we tried pulling out the room partitions which cut the room to about 1/3 of the size- cozy but much easier to hear and as a result we seemed to play much better. We're going to try that again.
We also talked about creating a core list of songs. Todd had counted back through the blog posts for the past four months or so and found we'd played something like 180 songs, most of them once and none as often as ten times. If we have a list of maybe 100 songs for which we know we have charts for all the instruments, we might find it more productive. The lists would focus on standards in particular- they are called "standards" for a reason.
Having said all that, the song list for today included: "Blue Bossa," "Ornithology," "How Insensitive," "Always On My Mind," "I've Got a Crush On You," "Easter Parade," "East of the Sun," "Corcovado (Quiet Nights)," "A Night In Tunisia," "All the Things You Aren't" (a song Tim wrote 25 years ago and which is still not ready for performance)," "Betcha By Golly Wow" (not your usual jazz tune), "What Is This Thing Called Love," ""I Cover The Waterfront," "Makin' Whoopee," "I Love You," "The Very Thought of You," "Well You Needn't," and "The More I See You."
As I mentioned earlier, the photos were taken by Don who has some actual photography skills and a camera that is much better than mine. Between those two things, the photos are clear, sharp and much better composed than usual. At the top we have Bronco and Wes both on tenor sax; next we have Todd and Steve (trumpets), Dick (vocals) and Tim (guitar); then we have Sam (trumpet synth) and Max (playing bass); the next photo is Annie (vocals and workshop coordinator); Owen (accordion) and Bob (guitar) are next; followed by serious-looking Gene (drums)
I think I used "It Might As Well Be Spring" this time last year, so I didn't want to repeat myself. Every week I write this note about the jazz workshop and I find myself saying something like "the Jazz Workshop met again at McRae Park" which is kind of silly. The Jazz Workshop has been meeting weekly for over 30 years! Of course we met again and we're going to do it again next week, too.
OK, so that's out of my system. The Jazz Workshop met again at McRae Park... aaarrrggghhh! But we did. So there. In attendance today were Sam (trumpet synthesizer), Steve (trumpet and flugelhorn), Todd (trumpet), Bronco (tenor sax) Wes (tenor sax), Don ('bone and camera- these are his photos today. You can tell by how they aren't fuzzy), Gene (drums), Max (bass), Bob (guitar), Tim (guitar), Craig (guitar), Owen (accordion), Annie, Vicki and Dick (all vocals). Jeez, that's fifteen people. Attendance at the workshop has varied over the years, for a while being sometimes just two or three people, but for the past year or so we have had 10-15 people most weeks. This really brings up the energy of the thing and makes it a lot of fun.
Now you might remember last week's post in which I talked about having some challenges getting through some songs. I had talked with several workshop members during the week and one thing we wondered about was the sound of the room. The room is pretty big and there's a lot of reverb, so we tried pulling out the room partitions which cut the room to about 1/3 of the size- cozy but much easier to hear and as a result we seemed to play much better. We're going to try that again.
We also talked about creating a core list of songs. Todd had counted back through the blog posts for the past four months or so and found we'd played something like 180 songs, most of them once and none as often as ten times. If we have a list of maybe 100 songs for which we know we have charts for all the instruments, we might find it more productive. The lists would focus on standards in particular- they are called "standards" for a reason.
Having said all that, the song list for today included: "Blue Bossa," "Ornithology," "How Insensitive," "Always On My Mind," "I've Got a Crush On You," "Easter Parade," "East of the Sun," "Corcovado (Quiet Nights)," "A Night In Tunisia," "All the Things You Aren't" (a song Tim wrote 25 years ago and which is still not ready for performance)," "Betcha By Golly Wow" (not your usual jazz tune), "What Is This Thing Called Love," ""I Cover The Waterfront," "Makin' Whoopee," "I Love You," "The Very Thought of You," "Well You Needn't," and "The More I See You."
As I mentioned earlier, the photos were taken by Don who has some actual photography skills and a camera that is much better than mine. Between those two things, the photos are clear, sharp and much better composed than usual. At the top we have Bronco and Wes both on tenor sax; next we have Todd and Steve (trumpets), Dick (vocals) and Tim (guitar); then we have Sam (trumpet synth) and Max (playing bass); the next photo is Annie (vocals and workshop coordinator); Owen (accordion) and Bob (guitar) are next; followed by serious-looking Gene (drums)
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