From Annapolis to Milwaukee - Avenue, that is...

It's been a while since the last post, I know.  Lots of things have been going on.  First off, my nephew Eric is now an Ensign in the U.S. Navy.  He graduated on May 24 from Annapolis.  We sat through the entire ceremony (in 55-degree weather with rain and wind - eesh), but also got to see him shake Barack Obama's hand. 

The day Judy and I arrived we got to see a concert on the Naval Academy grounds.  The main performer, Monte Maxwell, is the Director of Chapel Music and a phenomenal musician.  The first piece he played, Pagaent by Leo Sowerby, was a workout in itself.  Monte played it on the organ, pulling out stops, hammering block chords, and doing some intricate work on the bass pedals as well.  ("Feets don't fail me now," indeed.) 

He also had five First Class Midshipman (seniors to us non-military folk) play or sing.  One piece, Chopin's Ballad No. 1, Op. 23, was played exceedingly well by Phil Rouse, who two days later graduated with a degree in Oceanography.  (How can someone be *that* smart and talented?)  There were also performances of the old standards "Old Man River" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (well, it *is* Annapolis) by some fine vocalists, and two other Midshipmen performed pieces by Debussey ("Premiere Rhapsodie" on clarinet, and "Claire de Lune" on piano).  All in all it was an impressive show - spending a weekend on the Naval Academy campus gave me a large sense of appreciation and respect for the students. 

To more mundane ventures, Friday night was a performance of the "Bad Boys" Ensemble.  It was the "graduation" performance from last session.  The venue was Moe's, a nondescript beer-and-a-bump tavern on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood.  (They do provide the drums, though - I won't complain about that!)  Tired as I was that night, I was looking forward to playing because this outfit put a lot of work into the music over the previous eight or ten weeks, and I had a sense that the music was going to be good. 

We had an opening act - Samantha Church, a young woman who combines soul and r-and-b with, of all things, a banjo.  She busks at the Monroe Street stop on the O'Hare El, and is well worth the dollar in the banjo case.  She has a strong and very expressive voice.  Her set was well-received, and it was great to look around and see people actually listening to the music.

The "Bad Boys" ensemble went up next.  We covered several Steve Winwood-penned tunes: "Can't Find My Way Home," "Dear Mr. Fantasy," "40,000 Headmen," and one of my all-time favorites, "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys."  That gave me a chance to cross over from jazz to rock and back again.  It's a great song to play with, but I'm realizing that I can't get too hyper or free-wheeling or else I trip myself up and run the risk of throwing everything into a tailspin.

"Walking on the Wind," from Traffic's When the Eagle Flies album, was a highlight.  Our vocalist was having a rather hard time feeling the rhythm of the lyrics, and we played the song three times in a row on Wednesday's practice.  But on Friday it all came together.  He sounded great, and the song came off without a hitch.  In moments like that, one tends to think that the set is a "cinch" - nothing major will go wrong for the rest of the set.  And that was true.  "Time is Running Out" and "Vacant Chair" were both top-notch, the vocalists on "Vacant Chair" doing a great job of reading each other.  I tried to synch the right foot to Lindsay Cochrane's bass line on "Time is Running Out" to give it a little more punch.  (I think I enjoy playing that song as much as, if not more than, "Low Spark.")That was one of the better ensemble performances I've been a part of, but we still had one set to go.

The third act was a bit of a carry-over - John Mead, keyboardist Cathy Goodman, and Lindsay were joined by Peter Manis (a very solid drummer, someone I can learn quite a bit from) and David Argentieri for a set of originals.  The group, named John Cougar Melancholy, were fronted by David and Cathy.  David wears his Springsteen-as-folkie influence on his sleeve, and his songs are slow and soulful.  Cathy has a wider palate and her songs have a bit more range, from two-step to ballad to straight rock.  The songs were all well done, and some studio time for these guys wouldn't be a bad idea - they're worth hearing.

The Bad Boys went up for the final set - Al Green songs.  This gave me a chance to stay in the pocket - find a groove, and keep it.  That was the best thing for me, because at that point (12.30 a.m.) I was getting a little cloudy-headed.  I started relying on John Mead for his cues a bit more often - on "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (yeah, yeah, the Bee Gees had the original), I don't think I would have come back in on time from the breaks.  (Al Green's version is slowed down, and as any drummer can attest, slower is often harder.  Playing a slow song, while tired, can lead to unavoidable moments of ritard.)  Kip Plourde did a fantastic job with vocals, especially on "Here I Am."  He's got a voice that's well-suited for r-and-b.

And where was Judy in all this?  Frankfort, a far south-west suburb, listening to a concert by Greg Cahill, Alan Munde, and Don Stiernberg.  The concert was at Down Home Guitars, a music store in a miniature mall.  The store itself has some extremely nice instruments, guitars and banjos mainly, and is well worth the trip if you're a guitar connoisseur who lives in the Chicago area.  It's no surprise, then, that they would get some really top-notch performers like Cahill, Munde, and Stiernberg.  Frankly, I don't blame Judy for going to that concert instead of the gig at Moe's.  She got home a lot earlier than I did, that's for sure. 

Reaping the rewards, or "We're playing *what* Traffic song?"

It's been a bit of a busy week, and I'm not being too careful with my elbow - no ice-downs, no medications, just a stubborn, old codger, "tough it out, sonny" approach.  And at church today, a mad strum-fest on "Come to the Water" didn't help matters any.  (I'm all for giving credit where credit is due, but "Come to the Water" lists 12 people in the songwriting credits, or two people for each chord used in the song.  The lyrics aren't exactly Dylanesque, either.  Twelve people?  Have fun cashing your songwriting royalty checks, guys.)

I finally made a Twangdogs rehearsal on Monday and was a bit surprised to learn that we're planning on recording a demo in about a month.  I've never really been in a recording studio before - one time I went to a weekend seminar at a studio that really did voice-over work, and I've visited Jim Tullio's studio in Evanston (http://www.otbrecords.com/studio.html), but I've never really done any recording work.  I know little of the recording process, other than it can be brutally painstaking, so I plan on bringing a book or two for a four-hour session.  We're looking at a few new songs to add to our repertoire, including one where I use only my feet - bass - hi-hat - bass - hi-hat - and that suits me fine.  A seven-member band can go from zero to wall-of-sound in two seconds flat, and since I'm a little partial to having a little space in music, I'm content to play as little as possible, or not at all if the situation arises.

Two weeks ago I was approached by John Mead to help out on some of his classes.  I'm already sitting in with the Disco ensemble, but I was also asked to help out on the Bad Boys of Rock ensemble.  Last session was tartan-era Rod Stewart, this session is Al Green and Steve Winwood, two people I wouldn't really associate with the term "Bad Boys."  Al Green may have been before that pot of boiling grits dumped down his back steered him towards Gospel, and if leaving school and having a hit at age 16 makes you a Bad Boy, then I guess Winwood falls in that category.

The class is an interesting juxtaposition in styles.  With the Al Green songs there is a very steady 4/4 pattern (courtesy of Al Jackson Jr., known as "The Human Timekeeper" for his work with Booker T. and the M.G.s, among others).  I enjoy playing the songs because 1) it's Al Green ('nuf said), and 2) it's a good exercise in staying in the pocket.  Songs like "Let's Stay Together" or "Take Me to the River" tend to propel themselves, and I think it's my job to help the other musicians on the beat.  No reason to get fancy on these tunes.

One Steve Winwood tune we worked on was "Time Is Running Out" from his first solo album.  That album got fairly slagged in the media, and I'm not sure why.  I think it may have been a bit of a misfortune to release an album in 1977 that wasn't punk or disco.  The album may have been a victim more of the zeitgeist than anything else.  But again, this is another "stay in the pocket" songs that allows the other musicians to stretch a little, but I keep the anchor so it all sounds tight.

The other song?  "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys."  As Ian Hunter says in "All the Young Dudes," "I've been waiting to do this for years."  "Low Spark" is, to me, the definitive jazz-rock fusion song.  It has the structure of rock and the syncopated rhythm and improvisational expanse of jazz.  In playing that song I found myself thinking differently than on other songs - putting myself a bar or two ahead, planning a fill here or a steady beat there.  "Am I too loud on the ride?  Am I using the same fill too often?"  It can be a bit distracting since I love the song itself, and I may be best off just listening to the others and letting the music direct me.

Still, it's a song that I like so much that I hope we don't overdo it.  But if we do, it's like o.d.'ing on pepperoni pizza or barbecue - it's a lovely way to go!