Jeff Albert – Page 19 – Scratch My Brain

Bindu Tour diary – installation 6

Today we arrived in Chiasso, Switzerland. We spent the last two days in Mira Italy, which is near Venice. Mira seems to be less internet friendly, so except for a couple of expensive iPhone email checks I was offline.

We played in a cool small theater in Mira for a concert that was put on by Veneto Jazz. They are very nice people, who treated us very well, and put on a good show.

Sound check in Mira

We arrived in Mira the night before our show, so some of us took some time Friday morning to go to Venice. It was rainy, and the off season, so it wasn’t too crowded. Venice is a trip. It is an odd little confusing city in so many ways. It is also quite fascinating. We stopped in a wine shop as part of Jeb’s continuing search for a very specific grappa, and the shop owner was playing Frank Rosolino on the sound system. We did find S. Marco without too much trouble, and got back in time to catch our train. It was a rainy but fun time in Venice.

Today we drove to Chiasso, and played the last show of the tour at the Chiasso Jazz Festival. It was a pretty electric show. We all had that end of tour energy happening, and it came out in a great way.

The view from our hotel sidewalk in Chiasso

This tour has been a real treat, both musically and personally. This band is a great bunch of people, and they are each top notch, world class musicians as well. The food has been excellent almost all the way around, and Ludmilla (our manager and agent) and Matteo (our driver and man who makes things happen) have been the best.

Tomorrow is a super long travel day to get home, but hopefully my arrival in New Orleans will be accompanied by jubilant cheering Saints fans.

linguine with frutti de mare

Bindu Tour diary – installation 5 – off stage adventures

We returned to Milan yesterday afternoon. Due to an odd confluence of circumstance, we have a couple of nights off, and our management is based in Milan, so it is easiest to stay here. So far that has worked out great.

When we got back to town, Jeb commented that we should see what was playing at La Scala, and maybe catch an opera on one of our two nights here. We soon found out that Ludmilla does some work with La Scala, and pretty soon we had in our hands 5 tickets to see that night’s performance of Don Giovanni. We hopped in a cab and headed to the theater.

The theater itself is an amazing spectacle, even before the performance starts. It was packed full. We were in the last row at the very top of the house. Most of the folks in the second gallery with us seemed to be very into the music. It wasn’t a social event, it was a musical event. The crowd was pretty diverse in terms of age. I would venture to say that half of the people near us were under 50, and I saw at least a dozen teenagers.

The production was quite minimal in terms of sets and costumes. The stage was gray with only three large black movable rectangular dividers as sets. The cast were all clad in either white or black, except for the statue, who was, of course, silver/gray. The musical performances were excellent. I think a good time was had by all.

Today we had a band photo shoot. It was in a photographer’s studio. First we did some shots of the six of us without instruments. That can be a bit awkward, but we survived. As soon as she told us to get out instruments, it turned into something of a jam, so that was great. After the shooting was done, some pizza was delivered to the studio and we ate quickly before heading off to see the Last Supper.

Our hotel is right across the street from the church where Leonardo painted the Last Supper. They only let a few people at a time in to see it, and there are all sorts odd holding containers you have to pass through to get to the room where it is. They take the preservation of the painting very seriously, which is good now, I guess, because one wall and the roof of the building was blown off in World War II. Seeing the painting in its setting is pretty impressive. Leonardo had this amazing way of making the image part of the room, or maybe the room became part of the image.

After the Last Supper, Jeb and I went shopping. He was looking for a specific brand of grappa, and I was looking for gift(s) for my wife. He still hasn’t found the mystery grappa (well, the grappa isn’t a mystery, where to buy that brand of grappa is the mystery). I did find a gift for Jennifer, and when we walked into the store, one of the ladies looked at us and told us she was at our concert on Sunday. Pretty cool.

Bindu Tour diary – installment 4

We had a great gig in Padova last night. The crowd was quite enthusiastic, and demanded 2 encores. They have quite a concert series here, as you can see by the two previous shows.

After the show was another great Italian meal.

The onion gnochi was great.

Today we travel back to Milan, with a night off tonight. Tomorrow is a photo shoot of some sort. I am curious about this.

Bindu Tour diary – installation #3

When we left Paris on Saturday, I was feeling a bit out of balance. My stomach was a little upset, I just generally felt funky (the bad kind of funky). We flew to Milan, got to the hotel, and had a big dinner with the promoter scheduled for that evening. I laid down to see if some sleep would help. I soon realized that I had some sort of 24 hour virus. I’ll spare you the gory details, and just say that I missed the great dinner and conversation on Saturday, while laying in bed sore and feverish.

Our show in Milan was at 11am on Sunday. It seemed like an odd time to me, but apparently it works here. The show was sold out, and people crowded the stage for autographs after. I think the music went well, but it was 11 am and I was still not back to 100%.

Jeb and Napoleon towards the end of the autograph frenzy.

The promoter gave us a great lunch at the hotel after the gig. These Italians can eat, and they do it quite well. Jeb had a great line in the dressing room before the concert. He filled his cup from a somewhat generic looking coffee thermos and said, “wow, they just don’t know how to make bad coffee in Italy.” The lunch was good and huge. My body still wasn’t quite ready to eat it all, but I had tastes and it was great, especially the saffron risotto in a parmesan cheese shell.

I slept the rest of the afternoon, and was finally feeling completely like myself again by 9pm or so. Jeb and I went for a longish walk, and I finally got to see some of Milan. We ended up walking by La Scala, which was cool.

The statue of Leonardo in the square opposite La Scala Opera.

The part of Milan that we walked in has a great cool old city vibe, although there seemed to be a few too many McDonalds.

I wonder if Milanese folks that are visiting New Orleans or Chicago say things like, “why would we eat at McDonalds here, we can do that at home.”

Bindu Tour diary – installation 2, or name dropping

We played the first gig of the tour tonight. It went very well considering that we made the record in May, and haven’t played together since. We ran some stuff at sound check, and the great musicians in the band did what great musicians do. Every cat in this band is absolutely world class, and it is a great pleasure an honor to make music with them. I’ll try not to assume that you know who I am talking about. The band is Hamid Drake on drums, Jeff Parker on guitar, Josh Abrams on bass and guimbre, Jeb Bishop and myself on trombones, and Napoleon Maddox on all manner of vocally created musical sounds.

Tomorrow we travel to Milan, where we play Sunday morning.

I have always heard about how these European festivals can turn into big musician hangs. Tonight we split a show with Kahil el Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble with special guest Neneh Cherry. Ernest Dawkins and Corey Wilkes were in Kahil’s band, along with Matthew Kent and Franck Orall. Also hanging out were William Parker, Billy Bang, Nasheet Waits, Flip Barnes, Rob Brown, and Rasul Siddik, plus a bunch of other cats that I didn’t get to meet. We are all staying at the same hotel, and ended up at the bar across the street after the gig. Neneh told me that her father, Don Cherry (the great musician and trumpeter, not the hockey guy), used to play the the Dr. John record with the Meters as the band (“Right Place Wrong Time”) all the time. Pretty cool.

Bindu Tour diary – installment 1

The Hamid Drake and Bindu Tour is underway. The first performance is tonight in Cachan (just outside of Paris). I left the US on Wednesday, and arrived in Paris Thursday morning. I was successful in my effort to not go to sleep until Thursday night, and I feel pretty good today.

Last night we went to a lecture/symposium at University of Paris Diderot. The subject was Don Cherry, the speakers were Hamid Drake and Kahil El Zabar. It was hosted and translated by Alexandre Pierrepont. The was a good bit of insight presented on Cherry’s life and music, and music in general and drumming in particular. I’d like to hear it again, minus the jet lag.

Earlier in the day, Jeb Bishop took me to a la Biche au Bois, which is a great little restaurant that has developed quite a following amongst the Chicago improvisers. The food was great, and I fulfilled my cultural study needs by getting a full on almost two hour long déjuner.

I started with les œufs aux mayonaise.

Next was the coq au vin, which I was told is a must have at this place, and it was fabulous.

Next was le fromage.

…and I couldn’t pass up le creme brulé avec armignac.

Lunch was followed by une promenade sur la Champs-Élysée, and my touristing was complete. I have rehearsal in a few minutes, so hopefully the next installments will be more about music than food.

Hamid Drake & Bindu – Reggaeology Tour

noise birds

I think one of them has been copping Donald Miller licks.

(via Greenleaf)

studio story

Stories: Sinatra, Herman and Manne – Rifftides:

“Interviewer:
Have you ever gone into the studio and had someone say, ‘I want you to sound like the guy who did the drums on … ?’

Shelly Manne:
I did a date with Jimmy Bowen, the song was ‘Fever.’ I had never worked with Jim, but I had made the original record of ‘Fever’ with Peggy Lee. It actually said on my part, ‘play like Shelly Manne.’ So I played it just like I played it originally. The producer stormed out of the control room, walked over to me and said ‘Can’t you read English? It says ‘play like Shelly Manne.’

When I told him I was Shelly Manne, he turned around and went back into the booth. I think he’s selling cars now.”

Energy Efficiency in the Arts | SOUNDSLOPE

Over at Soundslope, Dan Melnick has presented a thoughtful look at the intersection of the energy economy, and the creative music economy.

Energy Efficiency in the Arts | SOUNDSLOPE:

“An interesting feature of the career of any successful modern jazz or creative musician is the huge reliance on the European market for work. I don’t have any numbers to back up this claim but I know through conversations and anecdotal evidence that the ability to play in Europe regularly is an essential part of any musician’s career who attempts to play this music as a full time occupation.

…

How would our artists be effected if it was no longer practical for promoters in Europe to fly them over for gigs due to rising transportation costs? Or, even if they could continue to do so, if it cut into the artists’ bottom line, essentially coming out of their paycheck?”

I’m all for world travel in the name of music making (I’m heading to Europe in a week and a half myself), but as Dan alludes, it would be great if we could make good livings closer to home.