Saturday in the Park (3/7/09)

Today we had a great turnout, by my count at one point there were about 16 players! Today we had most of the regulars (Annie, Vicki, Dick, Sam, Wes, Tim and Gene), some returning folks (Mary, Reno, Victor) and some new folks (Pete (bass), Ken (guitar), Craig (a different Craig- guitar), Christian (piano), Dan (trumpet) and another trumpet player whose name I didn't catch. Wow!

Here's Christian, Pete and (Re)Pete:



We got through a bunch of songs including "Blue Bossa," "Corcovado," "Waltz for Debby," "What Is This Thing Called Love," "Easy Living," "I'll Remember April," "One Note Samba," a Dick Jacques original "Will You Be My Love," "Ornithology," and "St. Thomas." There are a few other songs that I've forgotten since I didn't write them down and my short term memory is what it used to be. Anyway we had a great time, the new folks played some good stuff and we hope they all keep coming back.

Here's part of the horn section (missing three trumpets, making this sort of a rogue's gallery):

A shameless plug...

for sometime workshop participant Robert Bell and my friend Maud Hixson:

Snowlight in Minnesota 2/28/09

Unlike Vermont, Minnesota doesn't seem to have a great jazz song written about it. Too many syllables in the name, I think. That doesn't stop us from having good music, though- check out the club list on the right and also the great sites like Jazz Police and Twin Cities Jazz Society.

Despite the snow emergency, a dozen people found jazz important enough to come out to the workshop today including a new pianist, Jay, who played very well and fit in quite nicely. Our other pianist, Norman, also came and he and Jay switched off for a few songs. Here's Norman, Gene (drums) and Sam (bass):



In addition we had sax (Wes), clarinet (Jim), guitars (Craig and Tim) and three vocalists (Annie, Dick and Vicki) who took turns on songs like "Have You Met Miss Jones," "Watch What Happens," "I'll Remember April," "By The Time I Get to Phoenix." Instrumentals included "Forest Flower," "Pent Up House" and a few others.



Hope to see you next week!

A snowy day for jazz

That's Annie.

Despite the six inches of snow that fell on the Twin Cities overnight, nine people came out to McRae Park to play jazz, plus a couple of folks who came to listen! Today we had Gene (drums), Wes (sax), Annie (vocals), Vicki (vocals), Dick (vocals), Reno (a first-time vocalist at the workshop), Tim (guitar), another guitarist whose name has dribbled out of my memory before I got to the keyboard, and Jim (piano and clarinet). We were absent a bassist today; we made do, but jazz really needs that interaction between the bass and drums. The walking bass is the essence of jazz.

In the past four weeks participation has been up quite a bit, which we love to see. This workshop has been going on for 30 years and needs musicians to turn up to keep it alive and growing. We hope that some will become regulars- maybe you! I've been asking people how they found out about the workshop, and about half discovered it through the Craigslist ad I've been running once a week. So we'll keep that up! The rest either knew about it already (some were former participating stopping back to see old friends) or heard about it through one of the usual suspects. Spread the word!

My camera batteries were dead, doggone it, so no new pictures today- these are from Don Lehnhoff a few weeks ago. This is Wes:

The Jazz Report for 2/14/09

We had another great turnout with Gene (drums), Jim (piano and baritone sax), Wes, (tenor sax), Annie (vocals), Craig (guitar), Sam (bass and trumpet), Vicki (vocals), Tim (guitar), Dick (vocals), Robert (usually guitar but today sporting his spiffy new upright 3/4 bass). We also had another new vocalist but I have forgotten his name, much to my embarrassment. Sorry! We had three hours of fun with lots of laughs and Valentine's Day candy. The songs were often topical ("My Funny Valentine" taken at a rousing clip was the closer) and also "Pent-Up House," "Django," "Corcovado," "Ornithology," "Just Friends," and a bunch of others.

Hope you can join us next week!

The workshop featured on JazzPolice.com

The kind folks of the Jazz Police have posted a mention of us on their Web site.

Jazzin' it up in the park 2/7/09

Gene guards the groove

Eleven jazz musicians came out to McRae Park today- Norman (piano), Steve (trumpet and flugelhorn), Sam (bass), Annie (vocals), Jim (piano and clarinet), Vicki (vocals),Roger (tenor sax), Dick (vocals), Craig (guitar), Gene (drums) and Tim (guitar). From the laughs and smiles, a good time was had by all.



Craig joined us on guitar today and already knew a lot of the tunes.

Hope you can come out and join us next time!