So You Want To Play In a Band Part 19

OTHER MUSICAL EVENTS

Jerry Byville has been involved in a music program that he put together for a local charter school. The program is to introduce the students to jazz by way of improvising. This is no small task due the differing levels of musical background of the students. This program was to culminate with a short performance during a dinner held at the school.

To create a successful experience for the kids Jerry utilized some of the Jamey Abersoll back up CD’s. These are a great teaching tool; the musicians that play on these CDs are some of the top players in the Jazz world. (I will pop one of the CDs in my car player just to hear the musicians laying down a solid track that is always in the pocket.) In another life Jerry taught school as a Shop Instructor. After school he took the time to teach jazz improvising right in the shop room. As with those kids and the ones he is teaching today, they are very fortunate.

The day of the performance was about a week away. I was asked to sit in with kids along with Al, Todd, and Jerry. The plan was to have a couple of “ringers” to be sure the song got started and then get out of the way so the kids could do their thing. I stopped in at practice the day before the performance. The kids were very excited about playing. They all had chords (3rd‘s) they would be improvising written in pencil on their music. The songs Jerry had selected are as follows; “C jam Blues”, “Basically Blues”, “Watermelon Man” and “Blue Train”. I told him these were great selections…. Blue Train really. I watched seasoned players have a train wreck with Blue Train. He told me that’s why I was there. Throttle down this is Jerry after all.

The night of the performance I arrived at the school and was surprised at the number of people there. We began to set up. I pleased to see that Jordan, a drummer I played with in the NMC jazz band, was sitting in to help out the rhythm section. Bass lines were being laid down by Anthony Weber, an employee of the school. Keyboard duties were being more than handled by Steve Stargart- One the best players in Traverse City.

After announcements and introductions the first chart was called. C jam started with a lone trumpet and to that was added a second trumpet, saxophone, trombone, and a flute section. Every student took their turn improvising. We did a call and response with the audience. The song ended with that same lone trumpet. It was pretty effective. The rest of the performance went well. Even Blue Train went off without going “off the tracks”..

As the performance came to a close I wondered if the kids really understood what just happened. With musicians from many walks of life and varied musical experience all in one place creating music together, that is the true meaning of a “jam session”.

So You Want To Play In a Band Part 18

Let’s catch up. In December BlueShadow played at the Elk Rapids Town Hall, again playing the Patsy Cline tribute. This time was a little different- the band paid for the Hall up front, counting on the door receipts to cover our expenses. The weeks leading up to that night we were sure we were going to take a bath on this one. Joanie appeared on 2 local radio programs and Todd added a short blurb on the end of one of his radio adds. We printed more fliers hoping that we could get a better turn out. The night came, along with the threat of rain/snow. The Band went into set up mode and people started to arrive… turns out we had a great night (SRO). In order to shoot video that included Motown, we changed clothes and played a short Motown set as an added bonus.

First week of January there is 2 feet of snow on the ground and 10 degrees outside, so of course Jerry wants to talk about Jimmy Buffett tunes to help sell the BlueShadow Band this summer. You got to have a hook of some kind; “Sounds of Summer” is the name of that hook. Jerry assured me that he will come up with the charts. A week later he had “Volcano”, “Come Monday”, and “Its Five O’clock Somewhere”.

Going Forward

With a new promo pack and DVDs, Jerry and I met with HERTHA (Historic Elk Rapids Town Hall Association). They liked the “Sounds of Summer” idea. We were booked for 3 weekends. Encouraged, I visited The Patio (Holiday Inn). We talked about the theme and I set the “Sounds of Summer “ hook and reeled in 3 Saturday Gigs for the summer. I believe I may have left her with the idea that we have a steel drum. I’m sure Al can pull it off. I wouldn’t be surprised if he played lead steel drum in a past band. That’s just the way Al rolls.

I am still holding jam sessions now and again at Espresso Bay.

Well that’s all for now, with the Band is learning Jimmy Buffett tunes. I am being told that I will have to learn to play the Guiro. What’s a Guiro?!