Well, this was it- the last chance to polish up our songs before the Freedom Jazz Festival performance on August 1.
The band lineup will include Annie Favors, Toria Hart and Dick Jacques (vocals); Sam Fiske (trumpet); Wes Simmons (tenor sax); Matt Riley (flute); Ira Adleman (alto sax); Todd (trumpet); Tim Stevens (bass); Gene Eagen (drums and percussion); Martin Stovall (percussion and drums); Craig Thorpe (guitar); Christian Lamot (piano) and Tim McNamara (guitar). Maybe we should call ourselves the "McRae Park Medium Band."
The FJF schedule has us on stage from 1:50-2:20 PM. The set list is:
Introduction of the Workshop and the band by Annie Favors
"Four Brothers" arranged by Christian Lamot (instrumental)
"I'll Remember April" sung by Toria Hart
"Feelin' Good" sung by Annie Favors
"Have You Met Miss Jones" sung by Dick Jacques
"In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" arranged by Tim McNamara (instrumental)
"Centerpiece" sung by Annie Favors and Dick Jacques
So there it is (or more accurately, there it will be): the result of a couple of months of hard work developing and honing the songs and arrangements. We hope that people enjoy it!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Good Times
Or good timing, anyway. Tonight we played through the set list for the Freedom Jazz Festival performance on 8/1/09 and timed the songs to make sure they'd fit within our 30 minute slot. We settled on six songs for our set: "Four Brothers," "Feeling Good," "Have You Met Miss Jones?" "I'll Remember April," "Centerpiece," and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." "St. Thomas" remains an option if we need another song.
Tonight we had lots of folks at the workshop: 17! The lineup included Gene (drums), Martin (percussion), Tim (bass), Annie (vocals), Ira (tenor sax instead of his usual alto), Craig (guitar), Matt (flute), Romney (baritone sax), Mary (trumpet) and her sister Sarah (trumpet, too), Dick (vocals), Christian (piano), Vicki (vocals), Norman (piano and drums), Steve (trumpet and flugelhorn), Sam (trumpet) and another Tim (guitar).
On 8/1/09 the Workshop will be playing at the Freedom Jazz Festival (link over on the right) at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. The schedule has us playing from 1:50-2:20 PM. Please come on out and hear us!
Tonight we had lots of folks at the workshop: 17! The lineup included Gene (drums), Martin (percussion), Tim (bass), Annie (vocals), Ira (tenor sax instead of his usual alto), Craig (guitar), Matt (flute), Romney (baritone sax), Mary (trumpet) and her sister Sarah (trumpet, too), Dick (vocals), Christian (piano), Vicki (vocals), Norman (piano and drums), Steve (trumpet and flugelhorn), Sam (trumpet) and another Tim (guitar).
On 8/1/09 the Workshop will be playing at the Freedom Jazz Festival (link over on the right) at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. The schedule has us playing from 1:50-2:20 PM. Please come on out and hear us!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Same time, same place!
Monday July 13 saw us inching inexorably closer to the August 1 performance at the Freedom Jazz Festival. Boatloads of us turned up: Sam and Todd (trumpets), Ira (alto sax), Wes (tenor sax), Jeff (cello), Roger (bass- first time at the workshop), Matt (flute), Gene (drums) and Tim (guitar). Christian (piano) was out ill. We worked our way through "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," "Four Brothers" and "St. Thomas" for instrumentals, all three tunes sounding better than ever. Annie, Vicki and Dick joined us for vocals and we covered "Feeling Good," "East of the Sun," "Have You Met Miss Jones," "Centerpiece," "I'll Remember April," "What Is This Thing Called Love" and a few others.
Annie talked about the schedule for the FJF, which includes the Workshop playing from 1:00-1:30. The roster of musicians for the performance is complete and it's time to get into the home stretch.
Next week we will time the songs to make sure that we can get the set done within the 30 minutes allotted to each performance at the Freedom Jazz Festival. The set list seems to be shaping up to be "Feeling Good," "Centerpiece," "Have You Met Miss Jones?" "What Is This Thing Called Love?" "Four Brothers" and possible "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" or "St. Thomas."
Annie talked about the schedule for the FJF, which includes the Workshop playing from 1:00-1:30. The roster of musicians for the performance is complete and it's time to get into the home stretch.
Next week we will time the songs to make sure that we can get the set done within the 30 minutes allotted to each performance at the Freedom Jazz Festival. The set list seems to be shaping up to be "Feeling Good," "Centerpiece," "Have You Met Miss Jones?" "What Is This Thing Called Love?" "Four Brothers" and possible "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" or "St. Thomas."
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Independence Jazz
The first Monday jazz workshop in July was a hot one- lots of people, small room, limited ventilation... and the music too. The first hour was attended by Sam and Todd (trumpets), Romney (bari sax), Wes (tenor sax), Ira (alto sax), Paul and Tim and Craig (guitars), the other Tim (bass), Gene (drums) and Christian (piano). We also had a first time experience of having a cellist (Jeff) in the mix! Annie and Vicki (vocals) rounded out the bunch.
The song selection was again focused on the August 1 performance at the Freedom Jazz Festival: "Four Brothers," "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," "St. Thomas," as instrumentals and "Feeling Good," "I'll Remember April," "Blue Room," "What Is This Thing Called Love?" "Since I Fell For You" and "East of the Sun" being played. We also trooped through "Blue Monk" and "Black Orpheus" for fun.
Next week, same time, same place!
The song selection was again focused on the August 1 performance at the Freedom Jazz Festival: "Four Brothers," "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," "St. Thomas," as instrumentals and "Feeling Good," "I'll Remember April," "Blue Room," "What Is This Thing Called Love?" "Since I Fell For You" and "East of the Sun" being played. We also trooped through "Blue Monk" and "Black Orpheus" for fun.
Next week, same time, same place!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Cool evening, hot music
It was unseasonably cool today, only 72F for a high. We had a great turnout at the McRae Park building for the Monday evening jazz workshop. Regulars Sam (trumpet), Wes (tenor sax), Gene (drums), Christian (piano), Tim (guitar) and Ira (alto sax) were joined for the instrumental hour by the another Tim on bass, his daughter Romney on baritone sax and Todd on trumpet. Joining us later were Annie and Vicki (vocals) and Scott (guitar) and Jim (baritone sax). The main focus was again on songs to be played at the Freedom Jazz Festival on 8/1/09 (see the link over on the right).
This week I actually remembered to write down the tunes and the attendees! For the first hour we focused on instrumentals including "Four Brothers" (arranged by Christian), "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," "Yardbird Suite" and "St. Thomas" (played at a gentle, tropical, almost Jimmy Buffet tempo). The vocalists joined in and we played "I'll Remember April," "What Is This Thing Called Love," "East of the Sun" sung by Vicki and "Feeling Good," ""The Masquerade Is Over," and "Don't Go To Strangers" sung by Annie. Jim sang "Tangerine." We also played "Straight, No Chaser" as an instrumental in the middle of all the vocals.
The cool thing was that the new participants- Tim, Romney and Todd- fit in well and sounded good. Scott, a professional jazz guitarist and former workshop regular who stopped in spontaneously, added interesting ornaments and passing chords to the half-dozen tunes he sat in on. Several of the songs got their best airing ever, including "Four Brothers," "Elizabeth Reed," and "Feeling Good" in particular.
All in all a good and fun evening. Hope to see you next week! Maybe I'll eventually manage to remember a camera and to write things down...
This week I actually remembered to write down the tunes and the attendees! For the first hour we focused on instrumentals including "Four Brothers" (arranged by Christian), "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," "Yardbird Suite" and "St. Thomas" (played at a gentle, tropical, almost Jimmy Buffet tempo). The vocalists joined in and we played "I'll Remember April," "What Is This Thing Called Love," "East of the Sun" sung by Vicki and "Feeling Good," ""The Masquerade Is Over," and "Don't Go To Strangers" sung by Annie. Jim sang "Tangerine." We also played "Straight, No Chaser" as an instrumental in the middle of all the vocals.
The cool thing was that the new participants- Tim, Romney and Todd- fit in well and sounded good. Scott, a professional jazz guitarist and former workshop regular who stopped in spontaneously, added interesting ornaments and passing chords to the half-dozen tunes he sat in on. Several of the songs got their best airing ever, including "Four Brothers," "Elizabeth Reed," and "Feeling Good" in particular.
All in all a good and fun evening. Hope to see you next week! Maybe I'll eventually manage to remember a camera and to write things down...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
"Hot" jazz on 6/22/09
It was a hot Minnesota day and I had to miss the jazz workshop due to a prior commitment. From our special correspondent, Sam Fiske, on the scene at McRae Park on 6/22/09:
"Attendees: Christian Lamot, Gene Egan, Ira Adelman, Matt Riley, Wes Simmons, Vicki Earhart, Sam Fiske and Annie Favors. Plus Susan a vocalist and a trumpet/guitar guy stopped by to check us out. Hope to see them again.
Worked during the instrumental hour on expected tunes for the Freedom Jazz Fest: Four Brothers, Elizabeth Reed and St Thomas.
The gals sang several great tunes including: Since I Fell For You, Hello Young Lovers, Soon It's Gonna Rain."
A note to the readers of the blog- we could really use a steady bassist, that's been one important instrument missing from the lineup. Sam plays bass sometimes but prefers trumpet and Don has graciously filled in as needed, but we really need a steady player to make the commitment for coming each week. If you play bass or know someone who does, let them know of our need!
"Attendees: Christian Lamot, Gene Egan, Ira Adelman, Matt Riley, Wes Simmons, Vicki Earhart, Sam Fiske and Annie Favors. Plus Susan a vocalist and a trumpet/guitar guy stopped by to check us out. Hope to see them again.
Worked during the instrumental hour on expected tunes for the Freedom Jazz Fest: Four Brothers, Elizabeth Reed and St Thomas.
The gals sang several great tunes including: Since I Fell For You, Hello Young Lovers, Soon It's Gonna Rain."
A note to the readers of the blog- we could really use a steady bassist, that's been one important instrument missing from the lineup. Sam plays bass sometimes but prefers trumpet and Don has graciously filled in as needed, but we really need a steady player to make the commitment for coming each week. If you play bass or know someone who does, let them know of our need!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
The Half-way Point
June 15th is the halfway point of the year, to my way of thinking, and with the solstice only a week away it's the astronomical halfway point as well. Given that summer hasn't even really started, that's a depressing thought. So enough of that!
The workshop met again on Monday 6/15/09. For the first hour the instrumentalists had a space to work on tunes for the Freedom Jazz Festival. Attendees included Wes (tenor sax), Gene (drums), Paul (guitar) and Tim (guitar). Later Craig (guitar) also joined us. We played several tunes but not very diligently, "Ornithology" being the best of the bunch. We also looked at the A section of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" to check out the harmony part I wrote for Wes; the end result of that it that it goes back into the hopper for further development as the harmony was technically correct but sounded wrong.
Vicki (vocals) and Annie (vocals) then joined us and a little later Norman (piano) also arrived. Vicki tried out several new-for-her songs ("I Remember You" and "The Man I Love" being two of them). Annie sang "Invitation" and several others (I really should write these thigns down). We also played "Blue Bossa."
All right, that's the report for halfway through 2009. Next workshop is 6/22/09 from 6:00-8:45.
The workshop met again on Monday 6/15/09. For the first hour the instrumentalists had a space to work on tunes for the Freedom Jazz Festival. Attendees included Wes (tenor sax), Gene (drums), Paul (guitar) and Tim (guitar). Later Craig (guitar) also joined us. We played several tunes but not very diligently, "Ornithology" being the best of the bunch. We also looked at the A section of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" to check out the harmony part I wrote for Wes; the end result of that it that it goes back into the hopper for further development as the harmony was technically correct but sounded wrong.
Vicki (vocals) and Annie (vocals) then joined us and a little later Norman (piano) also arrived. Vicki tried out several new-for-her songs ("I Remember You" and "The Man I Love" being two of them). Annie sang "Invitation" and several others (I really should write these thigns down). We also played "Blue Bossa."
All right, that's the report for halfway through 2009. Next workshop is 6/22/09 from 6:00-8:45.
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