What a weekend…

First time I can recall performing in three different ensembles during a weekend; two during Saturday and had to turn another gig down (!)

The first situation allowed me to meet new players and exchange information.

The second was my pet, the piano trio about which I have written here before (more in a second).

The third was my weekly “pit band” gig at church. I say pit band because it is similar in that much of the program is the same and in the same order week to week. Only the opening and closing songs plus something in the middle changes from week to week. This is fine with me the “never do anything the same way twice” guy, because I get to choose different percussion instruments to play the same kind of piece each week. The photo doesn’t let you see the percussion table over on the left that holds the shakers I may hold alone, or while using a stick on the cymbals. The music is basically light acoustic rock mostly in 4/4 and 3/4-6/8, with a tune that requires a 2/2 country feel every now and then. There is also the odd medieval hand drum feel, where I might play that rhythm on a tom tom with the Remo shaker/mallet thing I believe they still make. Patriotic holidays may require some military snare, and Christmas and Easter get an expanded band that may require me to play something different or lay out where I usually might have played something. There are two masses each Sunday – one with a small choir and another with just a duo or trio of singers. The only drag is that we don’t have a steady bass player. When we do, it really sounds and feels good, and when we don’t it’s nice and I think and play more like a percussionist.

The drums are great-Yamaha Recording Standard (that’s right – the ones with the wrap finish…) and what’s great is that while the Yamaha hardware system has had improvements over the years, the stuff you buy today works with stuff made 30 years ago. Aside from the non Yamaha stuff there, the hardware you see is a mix of stuff bought last year, ten years ago, and when the set was first built. I don’t think another company can make that claim.

The cymbals are Paiste Alphas. They look stunning. They are inexpensive. They sound pretty good, although the Groove Ride benefitted from a piece of tape, and the crashes suffer from gongy cheap crash cymbal effect-sounding better when played loud and with amplification. No company’s cheap crashes are thin enough to sound truly great when played softly, at least so far.

The best thing about this setup is that I stumbled upon an amazing deal on eBay in the form of a 20 inch Alpha Flat Ride which is no longer made since Paiste decided that Alphas were to be a “rock” line of cymbals. Using a flat ride on a so called acoustic rock gig helps to give the music an early 80′s Pat Metheny Group feel with a touch of jazz in the sound (we’re mostly jazz studies graduates, and we know our altered chords…) that may be unique in the field of worship music… I don’t know. And surprise- this weekend I discovered Paiste once produced something called a Sensitive China in 15 and 17 inch sizes in the Alpha line, which I never saw listed or advertised! Bummer. Now I want one. What I can get to add to the collection is an Alpha Splash, China and Swiss Crash (with the holes…) to add to the array of textures. Top that off with my contribution of Signature series Bell, Cool Bell, and two cup chimes, and you have plenty of color choices during a 50 minute set.

Speaking of texture, the piano trio gig has everyone reaching into their bag of tricks – this past weekend the bassist has raided his electric bass closet and come to the job with an octave doubler and another effect to add to his acoustic bass. The pianist brought a delay and this octave and a half, button operated, sixties looking dynaco kit synth thing with some simple waveforms and filters that is definitely a work in progress. Me? If you compare what I set up with a several posts ago with what you see below, you can tell I’ve been thinking hard about this thing, and how to squeeze more sounds into a very small space and hopefully not break the bass drum tom holder!

It goes without saying that the evening was magical. I can see it getting to the point where we don’t even discuss a set, we just go up and start playing and not pausing after songs, almost in the way Miles’ 60′s band did toward its end. Anyone may interject into the intimate conversation a tune played after a vamp appears out of nowhere. That’s how the first set started, and I just was thinking to myself “this is too damn good, too easy…”. But it’s exactly what you practice for, why you study the craft – and if you are adept at it, it does, like any great magic, look really easy.

And having played with some other folks, it’s apparent that this group of people is a cut above the others when it comes to intuition and imagination. We still haven’t really discussed what we’re doing or why. But we know we can. It does feel different, special, and better…

Our dilemma is multifold: One-finding work outside this little oasis of a semi regular gig, paying work ideally. Two-attracting an audience, one that cares and listens (although because people are there to eat sushi, they pretty much ignore us while we just take it further and further out… while keeping it so very in by playing familiar music). And three, documenting what we do for sale or some other paid-for consumption. I have some ideas, and I will document the progress as time passes. This is about to get interesting.