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Indie Music Blog » Blog Archive » More Other Stuff: “Clean Feed, a label based, perhaps rather improbably, out of Portugal, is among the new leaders in creative improvised music.”
On a related note, Clean Feed is due to release the next Lucky 7s CD, “Pluto Junkyard,” on April 21. If you are new to my ramblings, the Lucky 7s is a band that Jeb Bishop and I co-lead, that also features Josh Berman, Keefe Jackson, Jason Adasiewicz, Matthew Golombisky, and Quin Kirchner.
When I first decided to be a professional musician, my goal was to be a great craftsman musician. I wanted to be the cat who got called for anything that used a trombone. My goals have since developed into more specifically artistic ones, but I feel good about what I did as a jack of many trades trombonist. I played symphonies, and operas, and reggae bands, and had cool gigs with “big acts” as far ranging as Ronnie Milsap and Stevie Wonder. Coming up in that “sideman” scene, one learns much about the etiquette and unwritten rules of behavior that one must follow to remain regularly employed. One of the rules that can vary geographically, and even by sub-scene, is when it is or isn’t cool to send a sub. In New Orleans it is never cool to send a sub with out telling he leader, but on certain gigs, it is acceptable to call the leader and say “hey, something came up and I can’t do Saturday, but Jerry will be there to sub for me.”
Today I received an email from the great trombonist/composer/teacher Ed Neumeister. If you are not hip to Ed, check him out, his stuff is great. The email was letting his mailing list know about some upcoming performances and DVD releases. (Check the website for that info) Ed came through the New York craftsman scene on the way to where he is now, so I loved it when he closed his email:
Mark your calendar now.
Hope to see you there. Thanks!
Keep in touch.
Ed
PS if you can’t make it, please send a sub….
I stumbled across this video on Jacob’s MySpace page today. I’ve got this CD, and have liked it since I got it, but seeing them perform this piece, really helped me understand the structure. The trombone dork in me is trying not to go into a long post about the cool old tuning-in-the-slide Conn that Jacob is playing, and how fabulous he sounds on it. I’ll shut up, just watch and listen.
Apparently some fun and creative Richmond, VA musicians are forming a community marching band. Their first rehearsal was today, and it drew some governmental attention. Once in high school, a police officer showed up at a jam session we were having in the bassist’s carport. That feeling of seeing a cop pull up to your musical gathering is a neat combination of fear and pride.
RVAjazz: Richmond Marching Band assembles, gets busted:
“Two police officers casually strutted over to our rehearsal in the middle of the park. Like any appropriately-sized marching band, we were very loud. We were apparently too loud for the residents living next to the park. To paraphrase one of the cops, ‘They won’t call us about people doing drugs in the park, but they’ll call about things like this.'”
I have mentioned the new TBP album here before, and the review linked below is a pretty good take on it. I really like the term “art rock song.”
Pazz and Jop with The Bad Plus | Indie Music Blog:
“I have almost always enjoyed their fusions of rock and jazz, not in the sense of 70s and 80-s era ‘jazz fusion,’ but a new hybrid that creates a type of ‘art rock song.’ The inclusion of an actual vocalist is a logical extension of these efforts.”
Pianist Geoff Keezer is offering 12 second piano lessons for free on Twitter. Interesting idea.
Streaming News from Keezer’s Brain: World’s shortest jazz piano lessons
Keezer was the pianist with Art Blakey when I heard him in 1989. Hearing Blakey and the Jazz Messengers at my first Jazz Fest in New Orleans as an 18 year old was a pretty significant event for me.
Last Friday night we had the treat of having Frank Gratkowski and Hamid Drake perform in New Orleans. The concert was at Zeitgeist, and they were joined by Tim Green (tenor sax) and Bill Hunsinger (bass and things). It was a great show. Grooves, melodies, free jazz circus music, the sound of a 1977 Pontiac that needs power steering fluid..
One thing that makes hearing great musicians even more rewarding is knowing that they are cool people too. We had a nice Bywater meat hang after the gig, with lots of sausages and salamis, and grits and goat cheese. Hmm…grits and goat cheese might be a song title.
Pictured: Frank with venison sausage, seated next to cellist Helen Gillet.
Best Of New Orleans Blog » Blog Archive » Eddie Bo passes:
I just discovered that New Orleans pianist/producer Eddie Bo has passed away. The Gambit article said he was 78. I did a couple of sessions for his last CD, probably a little over a year ago. He didn’t seem nearly that old. Rest in Peace, Eddie.
It is a good music weekend in New Orleans. Tomorrow night (Friday March 20), electronic musician extraordinaire Carl Stone will be at the CAC. That same night Hamid Drake, Frank Gratkowski, Tim Green and Bill Hunsinger will be at Zeitgeist.
Frank and Hamid are doing a series of gigs, and Frank is staying a few days longer than Hamid to do even more stuff. I will be playing with Frank on the Open Ears on March 24. All of the details of the Gratkowski and Drake residencies are at scatterjazz.com.
Apparently whoever manufactures the CDs for our friends at Cryptogramophone got some bad glue. They just released Nels Cline’s newest CD, Coward, and it seems that some of the disc trays have not been clinging to the cool art as they should. I am sure this is driving them nuts, because I know that they pride themselves on great physical art to go along with the musical art. I must admit that I bought Coward as a download, so I have missed out on the cool physical art, and the detaching tray.
Check out the artist’s response to the issue. It makes me like Nels and the Crypto gang even more.
Brilliant! (sipping Guinness whilst piano falls on my head)