Category: Personal

Music is Fun!

One of my favorite trombone case stickers was given to me by Matt Golombisky, the bassist in the Lucky 7s. It is a sticker from his Tomorrow Music Orchestra, and has the line “experimenting with the idea that music’s really fun.” I love that idea. Too often we (musicians and artists of all sorts) take ourselves WAY too seriously.

This week I am playing bass trombone with the Louisiana Philharmonic on Carmina Burana. The conductor is Carlos Miguel Prieto. He gets the idea that music is fun. At one point in rehearsal he said to the chorus, “you are reading. I want music.” Not in a grumpy old stuffy conductor way, but in a “hey, it’s not about the dots, it’s about the emotion” way. He regularly encouraged the chorus to flirt with the audience, and was relaxed and funny, even when the logistical difficulties of the piece stubbornly presented themselves. Carmina is not easy to play or conduct, but he never let things get tense, even though the tension tried to bust in, almost succeeding once.

I don’t get to sneak into the orchestral world too often, and sometimes when I do, it is inhabited by too many people who aren’t having nearly enough fun to make up for the crappy money they are getting. Rehearsing with Prieto today was a great reminder of why most of us starting playing music…because it is fun. Hopefully more of that vibe will infect the LPO as his tenure as MD continues. That would be very cool for the musicians and audiences alike.

Jazz Fest – first weekend redux

I had a very busy, but fun and fulfilling first weekend of Jazz Fest. It really started on Thursday night with The Thing at the Big Top.thething.jpg This band really must be heard. The music is hard to describe (isn’t most good music hard to describe verbally?), but as I told a friend who missed the show, it is like speed metal free jazz with good taste. There is definitely a noise element there, but there were also beautiful melodies and precise ensemble playing. It was a great way to start the weekend of music.

Later Thursday night, I played with George Porter Jr and the Runnin Pardners at Southport Hall. We did a bunch of stuff from the new CD, and it was lots of fun. George said he feels like this is his best CD yet, and I am proud to have been a small part of it.

I was at the Fairgrounds most of the day Friday. First thing I heard was a little bit of the Xavier University Jazz Band. I teach trombone at Xavier, and it was nice to hear the band sounding so good. Next stop was the Jazz Tent for the Rob Wagner Trio. The sound was very good, due in part to Rob (or maybe Ben) being smart enough to bring their own sound guy (Mark Bingham in this case). The poor fest engineers have a lot asked of them and most of them do a good job, but nothing beats having an engineer that is good AND really knows you and your music. Rob’s set was very good. I dig his melodic sense in that setting.

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From there I headed over to the Accura Stage to perform with George Porter. It is quite a view from the stage to look up and not be able to see the end of the people. I had a blast playing with George (I always do). We had the “every member of the pool” horn section on the gig with Tracy Griffin, Alonzo Bowens, Brian Graber, Mark Mullins and me. I spent many a night in college listening to this band with those guys playing in the horn section, so it is a real honor, and a little bit of a trip, to now be a part of that band.

The rest of Friday included hearing parts of sets from Dr. John (which was fabulous), Astral Project, the James Carter Organ Trio, and Bonerama. It was all good. Friday night I played with Luther Kent and Trickbag and got some hard blowing blues added to the weekend’s musical mix.

I didn’t get to the fest on Saturday, but had a great day on Sunday. It started with hearing an ensemble from Julliard that featured trombonist Marshall Gilkes and New Orleans natives Jonathan Batiste and Victor Goines. I only caught a couple of tunes, but it was very happening. Next I played with Vivaz. We had a fun set, and the crowd seemed to dig it. I then hurried over to the Jazz tent to catch as much of Kidd Jordan as I could. He had Alvin Fielder, Joel Futterman, Clyde Kerr, Kent Jordan, and Maynard Chatter, Jr. on the set. It was good, but it is sometimes hard to come in on the middle of a free jazz set and get the flow of what has been happening. The big festival setting also lacks the intimacy that can make that type of listening so rewarding. But, even with the difficulties, it is always good to hear Kidd.

I was on my way to hear the New Orleans Social Club, when I was sidetracked by running into Lolet Boutte. Lolet is the mother of Tricia “Sista Teedy” Boutte, and used to manage Teedy’s reggae band Cool Riddims, which I played in in the late 90’s. Lolet has been displaced to Houston, and it was a real joy to run into her and get to visit for a while. She told me that Teedy was getting ready to go on stage with Bob French at the Economy Hall tent, so of course I had to go see her as well. The Boutte’s had been on my mind lately, so it was a real blessing to see them.

I did finally catch some of the New Orleans Social Club, as well as a bit of The Revealers, Dr. Lonnie Smith (who had a fabulous sounding Peter Bernstein in his band), and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

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The find of the day however was Banda el Recodo. I saw their three huge tour busses emblazoned with their logos when they arrived earlier in the day. Fortunately Ben Lyons prodded me to go check them out. Imagine if you put Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, the Jackson 5, and the Rebirth Brass Band in a blender. Add a touch of Ricky Martin and the LSU Tiger Marching band. That would get close to the vibe of these guys. The first thing you notice are the matching intricately decorated blazers and the slick choreography. Then you realize that there are 4 clarinets. It isn’t until later that I noticed that what I though was a stringed instrument of some sort playing the upbeats was actually two alto horns. These guys were so tight I couldn’t hear that it was two people, I had to see that it was too people. The sousaphonist was astounding. It was quite a show.

The highlight of the weekend however was playing with Bonnie Raitt to close out the Gentilly Stage on Sunday evening. A horn section made up of Tracy Griffin, Alonzo Bowens, Reggie Murray and me joined Bonnie and her band for a medley of New Orleans classics to close her set. Ivan Neville was also sitting in at that point, and when Irma Thomas walked out during “I Know”, the crowd went nuts. Bonnie’s band is great. It is always inspiring to hear the tops of the professional music world, and these guys are the tops. They are clean and precise and deeply soulful all at the same time. What a treat.

And what a great weekend. Of course, when your weekend ends with a kiss on the cheek from Bonnie Raitt, that’s usually a sign of a good weekend.

My lousy Sprint/Nextel experience

I like capitalism. I like the idea that businesses that provide good products/services, and good customer service can do well. If I get bad service, I tend not to make a big stink, I just spend my money elsewhere in the future. The way mobile phone businesses operate in the US makes that very difficult. We are forced to pay huge extortion fees to get out of contacts when we are displeased with the service that is provided through that contract. As I just found out, some companies even tax us on those extortion fees.

I had a contract with Nextel (Sprint). There were two phones, each with their own number, sharing a pool of minutes. My stepson lost his phone. I asked to have the number disconnected. I figured since we didn’t pay any extra to have his ohone on the plan, and this change would have zero effect on the sizeable amount of money that I was paying to Sprint/Nextel every month, that it shouldn’t be a problem. I was told that it would cost $200 to disconnect that line. When I explained that they would not be losing business, I was told that it didn’t matter. While this news did not make me happy, the way it was delivered made me livid. The attitude that came from the person on the Nextel end of the phone was essentially “What are you gonna do? You can’t leave it will cost you $400 to get out of two lines.” Now that was never said, but that’s the vibe I got. Never once was I told that they were sorry that they couldn’t do what I wanted. I was never given any sort of reason why they couldn’t do what I wanted. The fact that I was unhappy seemed to not phase them at all. That was my real problem with the conversation. Not that I didn’t get what I wanted, but that they didn’t care if I got what I wanted.

Now this is a no win situation for me and a no lose situation for them. My choices are: to keep doing business with a company that I have now determined cares more about getting as much of my money as possible than fulfilling my needs as a customer, or to pay the extortion fees to get out of my contract. They can’t lose. They either keep getting their high monthly charges or get the extortion fees.

I decided to pay the extortion fees and switch carriers. Nextel wouldn’t turn off my service when I asked them to, I had to pay for the rest of the month, so that added close to $100 to the extortion fees. Today I got the bill for the extortion fees, and it included TAXES and FEES on the extortion fee. I called to complain and was told that any charge that went through their system is charged the sales tax and Universal Service Fees, and it couldn’t be changed. (Read: screw you, you have to pay us, the lawyer or fight with the credit bureau isn’t worth the $500 we will eventually screw you out of before you can be rid of our bad service.) So no one actually said that, but that was the message, and he was right. The $23 in taxes and fees tagged on to the $400 in I-don’t-like-your-service-and-want-to-end-my-contract extortion fees, which were tagged on the to three weeks of service I had to pay for after I asked the service to be turned off, all cost less that the hassle of fighting to restore my credit after I don’t pay the bill. So again, I can’t win and they can’t lose. They can provide subpar service, and all I can do is pay the extortion and move on, hoping for better results elsewhere. But at least I can also tell my side of the story.

RIP Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill passed away today April 20, 2007. Peter Margasak has a nice piece about Hill’s life on his Chicago Reader blog called “Post No Bills.”

My first exposure to Hill’s music was instigated by a comment from Ed Petersen. I was taking composition lessons from Ed and he told me a piece I wrote sounded like something with an Andrew Hill vibe. I wasn’t very familiar with Andrew Hill’s music, so I bought Point of Departure. I liked it and more albums followed. I don’t know that I have written anything else reminiscent of Hill’s writing, but I sure have enjoyed listening to his music.

How do you explain…

How do you explain to your 6 year old daughter that one of her classmates has been shot and killed by his own father?

What is wrong with our society? We need to be better people to each other. We need more peace in our own lives, so we can encourage peace in our fellow humans’ lives. We need to support and love each other. Not just our families and friends, but the freaks and the weirdos and the people that we don’t understand, and the people that scare us. Those are especially the people we need to love and support.

Please pray for all of us to be able to treat ourselves and each other with respect and dignity and love. If you don’t pray, chant or meditate or play long tones, or do whatever it is you do. Our world, and our childrens’ world depends on it.

Monk Institute announcement @ Loyola

Today I had the pleasure of attending the standing ovation fest that was the Announcement of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz relocation of its college level program to Loyola University New Orleans. As an alum of Loyola, this good news for me, because my degree’s value just increased noticeably due to my alma mater having a cool new roommate. As an adjunct faculty member at Loyola this greatly increases my chances of running into Herbie Hancock or Wayne Shorter in the cafeteria…or maybe it doesn’t.

The first part of the ceremony was the regular “guys in suits introducing each other.”

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There were some encouraging remarks, especially in terms of how the Monk Institute sees its role in revitalizing New Orleans. Herbie Hancock put it well: “When jazz flourishes in New Orleans, New Orleans will flourish too.”

Terence Blanchard spoke passionately about the role of music educators in his life. He repeated some good advice he received years ago from Alvin Batiste. “The easiest thing in the world is to play like Coltrane. The hardest thing is to play like yourself. Then you are open to rejection.” Terence also related the closing of a story that Wayne Shorter told him. “It takes courage to be happy.”

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The next class for the Institute’s college program was introduced and they played “Just Friends.” Next they were joined by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, and Thelonious Monk, Jr. on “It Don’t Mean a Thing.”

The whole ceremony was positive and it gave me a new ray of hope for New Orleans. Hopefully we can stay in this positive light.

My apologies for the crummy camera phone pics.

Noise complaints could silence jazz at King Bolden’s

New Orleans CityBusiness — The Business Newspaper of Metropolitan New Orleans: “Noise complaints could silence jazz at King Bolden’s”

Actually, they already have, at least temporarily. I was quoted in this piece.

“If we start closing the places where we can be creative and practice our art over stupid stuff it makes you want to leave,” said trombonist Jeff Albert, a King Bolden’s regular. “Before the place was King Bolden’s it was a gay strip bar/disco club. How can having a jazz band be a downgrade from a gay strip club/disco bar?”

I just want to clarify that if it had been a straight strip club disco bar, my point would be the same. Either way it would have been louder than an acoustic jazz group with no PA. Leo Watermeier, the same moron that has been busting WWOZ’s balls for years, had this to say later in the piece:

Watermeier said he doesn’t lament the loss of another jazz club in New Orleans.

“I don’t think there’s a huge market for more jazz places,” he said. “Even Donna’s struggles. It’s mostly a tourist thing. Locals don’t go sit and listen to jazz bands.”

Every time I have played King Bolden’s the crowd has been mostly if not all locals. King Bolden’s has been the site of some really great music. Vibrations that can make the world a better place. I’ve blogged about a few of them.

Offbeat doesn’t get it, or just saying “thank you” would be fine

offBeat Magazine has this interview with Harry Connick, Jr., Branford Marsalis, and Anne Marie Wilkins. The interview was conducted by Jam Ramsey, the publisher, and Alex Rawls, an editor.

Rawls: Does it strike you as odd having a Musicians’ Village where musicians are, at least at this stage, the minority?

Marsalis: There is a federal statute that says you can’t build homes with public people’s money, and say that they’re reserved for 100 percent of anybody. There was a time when you could do that, but we’ve gone past that time. We get 2,000 applications, and of those 2,000, 10 percent are musicians. So what do we do with the other 90 percent—“Sorry, not a musician. See ya”?

[It’s not obvious how the Fair Housing Act would prohibit an all-musician village. While that would certainly go against general notions of fairness, Section 804 (a) declares it unlawful to “refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer, or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.” Throughout the act, those are the conditions under which discrimination is illegal; occupation is not mentioned.]

The last bit in italics is an editor’s note. That is exactly how it appears online and in the print version. I hope I am misreading this, but it appears to me that the editors of offBeat are quoting Federal statutes to make the point that it is not technically illegal to deny housing to someone because they are not a musician. Even though the editors admit, “that would certainly go against general notions of fairness,” it seems that they are badgering Connick and Marsalis about the lack of musicians who have qualified for housing in the Musicians Village, and in the process making the implication that non-musicians should be denied housing in favor of musicians.

I am not sure what offBeat’s motivation could be in doing this. It seems to be in vogue lately in New Orleans to find anyone who is trying to help, and give them crap about not helping “fast enough”/”the right way”/”the way we used to do it”, etc. This approach obviously makes everything run better (where’s that sarcasm emoticon again?). Why don’t we find everyone that wants to do some good in New Orleans and f*** with them until they get fed up and leave? Then we wouldn’t have any more carpetbaggers like Harry and Branford coming in here and trying to provide affordable homeownership for a city that has a dire housing need.

To even suggest that we should discourage non-musicians from receiving Habit for Humanity assistance is ludicrous. That is in no way different from saying that you can’t live here because you are black, white, straight, gay, or a writer for a mediocre music magazine. To make Harry and Branford defend this issue is appalling. It is a non-issue, and should have been from first glance. Those guys don’t have to do what they are doing. We should be thanking them, not giving them the 60 Minutes treatment.

Rawls: I understand what you’re saying about the housing rules, but this has been pitched as “the Musicians’ Village.”

Marsalis: It’s a musicians’ village in a peripheral sense. You can’t find me a single piece of documentation that says, “We’re building homes only for musicians.”

[True, but New Orleans musicians have a reason to think otherwise. That was certainly the tone of the initial message, so much so that none of the stories written about the Musicians’ Village printed in New Orleans mentioned that the village would not be reserved strictly for musicians. Only one Associated Press wire service story raised that issue; it quoted Jim Pate, executive director of New Orleans’ Habitat for Humanity, as saying, “Habitat cannot reserve houses for a specific group, and non-musicians would also live in the village.”]

I remember from the beginning hearing that the Musicians’ Village could not be reserved for musicians only, and it made perfect sense to me then. If the New Orleans press missed that part of the message it is because they are either incompetent, irresponsible or both.

After offBeat ran their first 60-Minutes-wanna-be piece on this, the Times-Picayune ran a big story on the injustice of musicians being denied homes in the Musicians’ Village. It was presented in a way that led one to believe that because our city flooded, we should take all of the irresponsible musicians with lousy credit that never could have bought a house before, and buy them all houses. They talked about how hard it is to get gigs post-K and how tough it is on the musicians. The photo used on the front page of the story showed a musician sitting in a FEMA trailer with a large TV that barely fit in the small trailer in the background. If you want to spend your Red Cross money on a big ass TV, that’s fine with me, just don’t make me listen to you bitch about your credit afterwards. Not long before that story ran, I received a last minute call from the premier local jazz club to bring in a band the next night, because the act they had booked cancelled the day before the gig. This is a good guaranteed money gig. The guy that cancelled was the guy in the paper in the FEMA trailer with the big ass TV. “Times are tough, but it’s easier to whine about it than to get my business together enough to do the gigs I have,” is the message that is being sent.

I’m not in any way saying that we should not be helping people. We should be helping people. As Harry said about the Habitat staff in the offBeat piece:

These guys are bending over backwards to help people, doing more even than I thought they would: There are legal services available; they’ve got credit counseling. It was actually a surprise to me how available all this stuff was to the applicants. It’s just a matter of calling, setting up an appointment, and doing a little bit of work.

offBeat stirring this pot in this manner is irresponsible. If they want to stir the pot, why not get on the city about the crime. A student of mine was robbed at gunpoint, and bound and gagged in his own home last weekend. Stir the pot about that. One annoying French Quarter resident/irritant is trying to get one of the few modern jazz venues in town shut down. Stir the pot about that.

offBeat won’t say this, but I will. Harry and Branford, Thank you very much for what you are doing. It is people like you that have the best chance of saving New Orleans from itself. Don’t let the bastards get you down.

The peculiar pleasure of earplugs. – By Thomas Beller – Slate Magazine

The peculiar pleasure of earplugs. – By Thomas Beller – Slate Magazine

Then one day, upon arising into the quiet post-shouting hour, I left the earplugs in. I went about my morning in the apartment and then ventured outside with the earplugs still in my ears. I could hear people speaking, I could hear sounds, but it all took place at a remove. And yet I did not feel farther away from everything. I moved through the streets as though in a dream, but, as with a dream, somehow more attentive and aware than usual. Up to that point the purpose of earplugs was to keep things out. Now I perceived a new dimension to earplugs—to keep things in.

I keep a pair of earplugs in a case on my keychain. I rarely wear them in non-musical situations (well, a couple of the bands I wear them with might qualify as non-musical situations), but wear them often on loud gigs, or especially when I am an audience member and the music is loud. The remove that Beller speaks of has come in handy on some socially and musically painful, but very well paying gigs. I am trying to steer away from those sorts of gigs these days, but the earplugs are still on my keychain.