Another large day

Today, we moved a PA system from O'brien's abode to Liza's with the help of The Fab. O'brien scooped this item from the tai chi garage sale yesterday. 2 monitor speakers, 2 mics, 2 mic stands, and a mixer. Liza and I had to rearrange the better part of the abode to accommodate the system, and our livingroom-studio now looks much larger. Last week, we also received a pair of congas from the Nils abode. They were taking up space in storage. So now we have percussion, which will sound even better with the reverb supplied by the new mixer. (I guess it could sound good 'clean', but we'll leave that for people who can actually play the congas.)

Did I mention jazz is back? It's at the Libra room from 5 til 7:30 on sundays. Of course, I couldn't go today, because we were working with the PA until a few minutes ago, and also no one is around to go with me. Jason is in Japan until around the 21st, and without him there, it's a bit difficult, especially since there's a much different group of musicians there now.

Fab and I have been practicing the tune I wrote a while back, On the roof. The form is AAB. The A sections have a quiet, rain-like quality, and the B section is loud and mostly just one chord. (That's not to say it's exactly like a Nirvana song...) The focus of the band is on providing tension and release using elements other than harmony. I got this idea when I was reading a Jamey Aebersold book, and there was a table listing different things that provide tension and release. On the tension side, there were things like playing loud, ascending lines, faster notes, and dissonant harmony. On the release side, there were things like playing soft, descending lines, longer notes, and consonant harmony. So I thought, why not write a tune based mostly on dynamics? A good thing about this format is that it forces me and Fab to listen to each other.

Anyhow, we have to have it down by next sunday - we have a half-hour performance at IDEC that we're preparing for. I am also preparing for the finest concert ever conceived, which will occur on friday. The Liars opening for Radiohead....wow.

String trio

This is a string trio I wrote in about 3 hours a few days ago. The title of it is 'Snap' - an homage to a particular video game....Fab knows. I hope you enjoy the talent of the 1-mm high musicians who live in my computer!

Click here to hear it

or

Click here to download the program I wrote it with

At least I got the tip jar once.

I had the teeth removed on wednesday with Matty, Ilsa and Kler in attendance in the waiting room. I felt nothing, and there was some bizarre fashion show on the TV in the ceiling, so I felt no desire to pay attention to the proceedings. My face was totally frozen on one side on the way home, but I was almost fully recovered within a few hours. I recuperated for the next day or so, but was awake enough on friday to see Paprika at the ahht gallery with Kler.

Sax playing was out the window for a few days, but I've been taking stabs at it yesterday and today. It does cause me pain, though, so I was forced to spread my attention equally between all of my instruments. I've been working on learning tunes off the record, which can be fun, but it can be quite frustrating. For instance, Eric Dolphy's Serene has only a bass outlining the chords, and it's not always audible, so figuring out dem changes is a colossal struggle!

A while ago, I borrowed a piano book called Blues Hannon from Marg. I was looking at it today. I figure if I can learn some basic blues piano starting now, and practice a lot, I'll be able to play things like Equinox or K.C. Blues within 6 months....school permitting. I'm not looking forward to that.

Guitar-wise, I've been working on pinch harmonics. I used to screw around with those all the time, but only on the high frets, and I didn't even know what note was gonna come out. And finally, bass-wise, I am the best bassist in the world, as usual.

I got an e-mail from Yiorgos today saying:

"Well, the rumours were true and The End Cafe has been sold. It is officially changing hands on Wednesday and will be closed down for a week for renovations. It looks unlikely that the Sunday jam will be continuing there...."

So that's that! Of course, the End gets the prize for being the first business to survive for more than two weeks in that location. So, thanks to the whole band for making it happen, and to Kler, Tamlyn, Sarah, Nello, Kim and her friend, Melissa, Kian, SAMMEH, Liam, Adrian, Watson, Jacob, Luc, Luan, Logan, Pixie, Anne, Peter, Ernie, Margie, Liz, Victor, Cole, Gary, and Ilsa and O'Brien for coming out to support us.

The band:
Jason, Joel, Jon, Jim, Jim, Jeff, Ian, Steve, Alexei, Nathan, Aleisha, Mike, Graham, Gerry, Yiorgos, The Fab (and his friend whose name Ian can never remember), Andrew, Caralyn, Catherine, Pete, Peter, The Girl with the Vibes, Eric (the one time he was there, he was great), and everyone else.

Specks

Yesterday Kler, Ilsa and I went to Loan and Persuade to purchase a Saxophone, who we've named Dot. We then proceeded to the Krazy! show at the VAG, where we perused some Manga and watched part of an Anime movie in a room that, contrary to what the VAG seems to stand for, was very comfortable. Then we went to the gallery cafe to sharply inhale some sustenance.

Today, we threw a frizbee around during our Cookie-walk, then Ilsa went to teach the girls in west Van. In the afternoon, I sat down at the paezano for a couple of hours and wrote a tune employing mostly Lydian (super-happy) chords. It's the first jazz tune I've ever completed! It even has a title - On the roof. Fab was over and I gave him the lead sheet to take home. We're also working on a song that will include elements from jazz, funk (ya right), metal, prog rock, and the blues.
I wrote a wicked bassline for a guitar riff of his, too.

Tomorrow, I am for sure getting my wisdom teeth out at 3 o'clock. I'll be wise no more!

The Yanks did'n invade....

I was supposed to get my wisdom teeth out today, but it turned out the dentist didn't even know if it was necessary! So I have to consult my ortho tomorrow.

In cooler news, I had a two-hour sax lesson with Jason the other day. We went over phrasing, breathing, articulation, and other important things. I've practiced a lot in the two days since, and it's hard work! I don't get bored, but I get overheated (sax playing is not particularly cooling) and tired. I have a lot of things to think about, and a lot of tunes I want to learn. I was thinking of learining Segment by Charlie Porker, and I worked with it a lot, but those quick ii-V7-i's get me! I can already play the melody for Autumn Leaves, and I pretty much have the changes memorized, so I'll work on solidifying that tune tomorrow. I also need to work on Cousin Mary, cauz it's a fave, but I still don't have it down.

Pile o' paint scrapers

So now my exams are completely done with (as of this morning). I have to pick up my report card from school on thursday between 10 am and noon, which sounds shifty. They might as well say "come to the back door and knock three times" as well.

Nils, Fab and I all rolled down to hear some ear-splitting noise at the Roundhouse last night. A cool $26 to see Evan Parker (tenor only, sadly), Barry Guy (baez and paintbrushes), Paul Lytton (drums and objects), and Agusti Fernandez (pianoforte and some kind of brick), plus The Thing with Ken Vandermark. The latter act I had never heard, so the whole event was more explosive than I could have imagined. This was my first 'free music' concert, and I couldn't believe how much better it was live!

When we sat down, Fab and I gathered round the Village Elder, Nils, and he told us many tales of the realm of free jazz. He was talking a lot about how one person might play something, then another will pick up on it/react to it, and it might just ricochet through the whole band. And when they came on, it didn't take much hard listening to notice this kind of thing; it was happening the entire time!

Paul Lytton's drum kit was surrounded on all sides by various objects on the floor, such as sticks, small cymbals, wooden frogs, paint scrapers, shells - anything that made sound. Which is everything. Most of the time he'd be reaching onto the floor to grab something new and putting it in the pile on top of his snare drum. It got full up there, so stuff was falling off constantly.

I find I like Barry Guy's playing best when he's on his own, but he wasn't without his highlights. The best part was when he had something that looked like a hairless bow shoved up under the strings, and whenever he touched it, it would rock back and forth, making a really cool sound.

Fernandez I hadn't heard more than about a minute of before. He looked conspicuous, because while the other three band members were wearing all black, he had on this lipstick-red shirt. He looked like Florian Schneider on the cover of The Man Machine. Anyhoot, he made fine use of harmonics on the piano throughout, and of course wasn't afraid to play using his elbows.

I wasn't familiar with anyone in The Thing or Ken Vandermark, but they were a treat. Interestingly, where the Evan Parker band would play in a sort of straight line, moving wherever they happened to move, The Thing tended to sort of build more. The two horn players, Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson, constantly played off each other; one might start a riff, and the other might either play lines over it or kind of expand it.

The ultimate treat with this band was, of course, getting to hear TWO baritone saxes at once!

Why everyone should learn an instrument

A persuasive essay for English.

In my experience, I’d say learning even the basics of my first instrument - the bass guitar - was as beneficial to me as learning the alphabet. First off, I will present some simple reasons why leaning an instrument is so rewarding.

Ø It’s a challenge, and it builds patience.
Of course, the level of the challenge changes depending on the instrument you’re taking on. But in any case, your instrument will pose some immediate challenges. For instance, on a guitar or bass, you have to develop calluses on your fingers - pressing those strings down hurts. But persistence pays off quickly - you can wake up in the morning with the ability to play something you couldn’t the night before. With these rock instruments in particular, you can learn to jam with other musicians very quickly, and jamming is some of the most fun you can have.

Ø You can have fun with it at any skill level.
Part of the reason for this is that more advanced musicians will gladly jam with a beginner - in my case, when I was just a young bassist, I had the opportunity to play with virtuoso guitarist Keston Barker, a fellow Windsor Housian, and this helped me to develop. You’re always on your feet when you’re playing with someone with more experience. Now when I’m playing with a beginning player, I find it not only lets me relax a lot while playing, but it helps me learn how to play simple things.

Ø Improvement is a constant possibility.
I went to a saxophone workshop in north Van a while back, and one of the instructors, who’d been playing for (about) 30+ years said, “If I ever run out of things to practice, I’m gonna quit playing.” They talked about a pianist friend of theirs, who’d died at around age 75, and they said that up until his last month, he would still come home from gigs at 2 a.m. and then practice until 4 a.m. Whether you’re just learning your instrument casually, or you’re a 70-year-old pianist named McCoy Tyner who played with John Coltrane, you’re never gonna reach a dead end.

Ø You listen to music in a totally different way.
Of course, if you’ve never touched an instrument in your life, it’s easy to take music for granted - not to say that non-musicians can’t like music, but I myself couldn’t appreciate a great guitarist like Nick Drake before taking up the instrument.
You start to listen to everything, and picture what the music would feel like if you were playing it. You start to ask, “How is that done?” And when you start learning theory, if you choose that path, you can recognize certain chord progressions, rhythms, or scales by ear - even in sounds that aren’t music, like human speech, or traffic sounds. Also, the theory can lead you to listen to music you wouldn’t have considered before - for instance, you could just be playing Nirvana all day, then suddenly become an Eric Dolphy fan. For instance.


Now, here are some arguments that I’d like to settle.

Ø An instrument? That’s a huge commitment! I don’t have time for that!
Not true. You don’t have to devote your whole life to it - like I said before, you can enjoy yourself with only four chords. And anyways, it’s a much better way of avoiding your homework than watching the boob tube.

Ø I like music, but I can’t play it. I’m not musical.
Of course you’re not musical if you don’t try an instrument. If you try it, you are musical. No one is born with the ability to play. If you are inclined to play, you can play.

Ø But I can’t even keep a beat!
What do you think drummers and metronomes are for?

Ø I can’t read music.
You don’t need to be able to read music to play it, especially if you’re just starting out. Whatever you need to learn off the top, a friend can show you.

I’d like to conclude that music can not only improve your life in all the ways I’ve mentioned and more, but that it puts good vibes in the air and improves the quality of life of people around you. I have had two people in my co-op, people I hardly even know, come up to me and say almost exactly the same thing: “I love hearing the saxophone - I feel like I’m living in Europe!” People want to hear music. Give it to ‘em.

Today is definately a blog day.

"One might think that this blog has died but alas, no."
-Nils on Goaded by Vices
Couldn't a put it better meese elf. But a lot of stuff happened today and in the last few days.

I was home from school the other day, sick, but by the mid-afternoon I was well enough to assist Ilsa in removing the trash from our CD shelves (the first and third Hole albums? Stinko!) and bringing it to the Audiopile. We got a cool $50 worth of credit, so we got a Liars EP, Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage, and a 2-CD live set of the Charles Mingus sextet with Eric Dolphy, with $17 left. I asked them to order a 2-disc Swans set for me, which I'm insanely excited for.

Today I rose quite late, and consumed a mild breakfast. Ilsa and I then escorted Cookie to trout lake and fetched Slurpees. When we arrived home, I found a non-moving being on the bathroom floor on top of a towel. We have had many brief mouse sightings in the last month, so we found it bizarre to see him sitting still. We elected to bury the small creature. I lifted the edge of the towel, and whad du ya gno, the being moved. He scampered a foot or so, but then found himself cornered. He couldn't move very fast, and was limping slightly. We scooped him up in a paper towel and took him across to the park so that Cookie wouldn't bother us. We figured he would gain strength if we cared for him, so we put him in a large flower pot and put some things in there for him and put it in the bathtub. We decided we'd take him to trout lake and let him go tomorrow. About an hour later, we checked on him, and he looked ill. He convulsed a bit, and then he was dead. I'm glad we were at least there when it happened. We did wind up burying him.

I had to write a persuasive essay for English, and duly sat down to and completed my task within 2 hours. I will post this essay, Why everyone should learn an instrument, soon. It was good to get this thing over with - it was easy, but took the mental energy of coercing myself into doing it.

At about 4, I went to O'Brien's. He had had some enormous score at a garage sale earlier - some post-college students had out a box of CD's for two bucks apiece, and he vacuumed up a dozen or so of them - deluxe My aim is true, some John Cage, Charlie Hayden, Hatful of Hollow, Basement tapes, Talking Heads:77 and The name of this band is Talking Heads (a double-live set), Hounds of love, etc. Then there was the mutha lode: a small, highly portable guitar amp. I brought the Squire with me to test it, and wound up playing around with it for an hour. It yields some massive overdrive, which is very fine, but you can also get some good clean sounds out of it. Mr. O'brien obtained all these things at the garage sale for $30. We had some fud, then Ilsa swung by and we headed over to Fab's - we were getting a ride to see Fab's play, an abridged version of The Complete works of William Shakespeare abridged. Ilsa grabbed a bite before the show, and we got in for free because we brought in a man to threaten the usher. The play was very pleasing, especially Macbeth. Fab's part was much more voluminous than previous plays I've seen him in.

I am now going to venture to the room adjacent to this one, my bedroom. The reason I'm doing this is that my bed is located therein, and my bed is where I sleep. Oh yes, the Pixmeister is coming in just a week! I'm quite excited about it. But what I'm not excited about is that I recently found out my wisdom teeth are gonna be pulled in July. Yeow!

Little sunflower

The second jazz piece Fab and I ever learned, yet no recordings have arrived on the internet yet! Well, here's one from the End cafe from March 23rd. Fab's not on this one - he had something fah more important to attend to than play some trivial cocktail music - if he was, the recording would go up on glissando. Some new material will be appearing on that page soon.

Steve Kaposy - drums / Jason Walters - tenor / Jerry Boey - trumpet / Ian Cameron - bass / Yiorgos - organ / Ridley - alto / Jim Burns - guitar

Click here!!

Mediums?

We had an English assignment in which we had to write a poem that had a lot of very strict rules. It wasn't a specific form, they were just arbitrary regulations. It had to be twenty-four lines long, and each line had to have some specific things - for example, line one had to have a noun, a number, and a colour. So I went to work on this, talked about a guy named Pauline playing a bass solo. When I had ten lines left, I thought, "Maybe I'll submit a bass solo with it!" I wrote the solo, then decided to just complete the assignment as usual, keeping the solo for something else. I was still interested in combining two media in one piece, though. I told the Cosmic Cop about it, and asked if she'd be instristed in cola-BO-rating on something. She agreed. Now, I've been working on some music for three days, and am going quite fast. When it's done, I'll record it and submit a cassette to the Cosmic Conundrum and she'll illustrate it. And it just might be the greatest piece of art of all time!

Short story

This is my first ever attempt at writing a short story - it was for skuule. Anyway, I kinda like it, so here it is.

Short_story_Ridley_Budden

The colour of the overcast sky was matched by the concrete landscape surrounding the small coffee shop. Though the area was under constant construction, it was always eerily quiet. The grey attire of the ground and buildings were like the visual equivalent to a low drone - comforting in a way, but relentless - smothering. Walking into the establishment, it seemed to me that everyone tried to avoid sitting near the western wall of the place, where the largest window was, but it may just as well have been that no one wanted to get in the way of the man behind the counter. He had spilled something and was quietly shouting at the rag he was using to pick the mess up. Despite the clean-looking man’s antagonism towards his task, and the clientele’s lack of enthusiasm to interact with him, the interior of the coffee shop wasn’t as hostile as the outside. I recognized some of the people sitting down, but I wasn’t sure whether I’d actually met any of them before or not. I was taking a seat, having decided against getting anything until the man at the counter had calmed down, when by coincidence my friend, Leung, came out of the washroom and took his place at a table facing away from me. His bag and coffee were on the table already. He was dressed for summer weather, looked like he was getting ready to go on an adventure. Watching him take in his beverage was as enjoyable to me as consuming one myself. He held his cup and stared into empty space, and turned his head when the door opened and a man walked in. He was a close friend of Leung’s whom I’d only met once before in passing, and whose name I couldn’t remember, except that it sounded Irish. He was wearing a surgical mask, since he had just come in from outside. He said hello to Leung and nodded at me. “Hey,” I said. Leung heard me greet his friend and turned around, surprised because he hadn’t noticed me before. He said hi, then turned back to the Irish man, who was still standing just inside the door. He never sat down - he just lingered next to the door, as though he had a time limit. They talked for a moment while I stared at the wooden floor - Leung was congratulating the Irish man for something or another, while the latter just kind of sloughed it off. “To tell you the truth, I’m still a bit drunk,” he said. When I looked up, he had taken his mask off, so I could see his face. As he continued talking, there was nothing about his speech or movements that seemed off, but it was in his face - he had on a cartoonish expression, and parts of his beard looked almost like it had been drawn on with crayon. He was definitely intoxicated. He looked like a beatnik. “Well, I’d better head back to work,” he said after a few minutes, replacing his mask. As he turned to go, he took a sticker out of his pocket that said “I am red” - some kind of political slogan. He tried to stick it to the inside of the window, but had forgotten to remove the backing from it. It just didn’t seem right. I stood up and took it from his hand and said, “Get out of here, you’re drunk.” He left without a fight, and I placed the sticker in my own pocket. Leung had gone back to sipping his coffee and hadn’t noticed any of this commotion, and I decided to leave him in peace. I watched the Irish man disappear around the corner before I went outside myself. I had a horrible feeling about what he might do - he had seemed harmless enough at first, but that was inside. Even stable people could do weird things outside, brought on by the way their footsteps would echo inside their own bodies. I put on my own mask as I walked down the steps of the coffee shop.

It was rare to see a car in the area, but there was one parked outside a construction site right nearby. There were two workers talking next to it. They said nothing to me, but if they had, it obviously wouldn’t have been friendly. I got the impression that the workers didn’t like being there, noiselessly shading in the skeletons of future towers each day. They existed only to work hard and hate themselves. They were known to sometimes explode with their suppressed anger, with a force as powerful as a maternally enraged gorilla.

I was walking past the side of a tall building that was usually covered in posters, but that had recently been hosed down. Without looking, I removed the “I am red” sticker from my pocket and stuck it to the wall, very casually. I had nowhere else to put it, and it would get covered up by another poster soon anyway. Half a block on, the sidewalk ended abruptly at a brick wall. Every step I took towards it, I felt it impeding me more. I wanted to walk through it, and reached out to touch it, hoping it was possible. The cold, rough surface told me to stay out. Knowing I couldn’t just made me want to embed myself in the mortar all the more. I wanted to be very small and live where derangement couldn’t follow me. But I duly continued walking down the middle of the street, and saw the Irish man turn the corner just up ahead. I ran forward and peeked around the corner at him. When I was sure he wouldn’t notice me, I crossed quickly to the other corner. He turned his head just before I was out of his line of sight, but didn’t seem to care that I was there. I was relieved by this. He was heading in the direction of his workplace, so I felt secure that he wasn’t going to do anything in bad taste. Considering my chore complete, I headed up the street. It went up a slight incline, and ran alongside a park with a single enormous tree in it - the only green space in the area. The sun was beginning to come out, and so were the people. They seemed almost to bubble over the crest of the hill and into the park - their bodies would one day sink into the grass and fertilize it. I wondered whether the park would one day be engulfed by cement, or whether reeds would penetrate the surface of the streets over the years. I guessed it had to be one or the other.

Journal from February twenty-second

Tea is the life-blood

When ya wake up, ya gotta have that extra kick. And while many choose to destroy their existence with coffee¹, tea is clearly the superior beverage.

Tea has meant a lot to me since I was very small. I started with regular, and remember clearly the first time I was offered earl grey tea. I was no older than five. Earl grey is one of my favourite teas², and some others are green tea with brown rice, peppermint, and Cambridge. What is Cambridge tea, you ask? Here’s how to make a cup for yourself: get a cup and fill it slightly less than halfway with milk, and fill the rest of the cup with hot water. Then, add a teaspoon of sugar, and a tiny amount of vanilla extract. To top it off, sprinkle some cinnamon and grated nutmeg on top. It’s the house specialty!

Now, let’s get back to my love of tea from an early age. I recollect a time when I was just four years of age, and my parents and I had just finished eating supper. I had begun to walk away from the table, when my parents offered me a cup of tea. Naturally, I couldn’t refuse! So, I started back over to the table, and as I neared it, I fell forward, catching my lip on the edge of the table as I went down. I had to go to the hospital to get my lip glued back together! So you see the things I go through for a damn cup of tea!!

Some people, who think they’re really “hard-core”, always take their tea black. I, however, always take milk and sugar in my tea, whatever kind it is. It tastes better! Now, I’m going to finish this cup of mandarin orange spice tea.

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1: Alright, I have nothing against coffee - I enjoy a good old cup every so often - it’s just that the ‘morning kick’ is usually associated with coffee, and I had to make it clear that I much prefer tea for this purpose.

2: The best brand of earl grey is Ridgeway’s Organic. It comes in a blue box, and is obtainable at Donald’s Market and Capers. It’s about five bucks a box, and the boxes contain forty bags. Even with that many bags, we still go through a box a week!

Note: The title and inspiration for this journal came from a conversation I had with Phoebe on the bus today. I said, “Tea is the life blood of….” and she rejoined, “life!”

An old tradition revived

Remember how I used to write about dreams all the time? Well, I have something for ya.

It alllll started about a week ago. I was playing guitar, and I thought, "Hey, I'll try to figure out how to play 'Purple Haze'!" I couldn't, so I quickly gave up. Then that night, I dreamt that I was trying to play it again, and still failing. It took place on some kind of soccer field with a hill and a huge fence.

After fruitlessly trying to play it a few more times in reality, I had another dream about it. Then last night, I finally figured it out! I don't remember who I was with, but I told them, "Oh, I'm glad I figured that out, 'cuz I keep having all these dreams where I'm trying to play it!" Then I woke up.

Another entry about jazz at the End cafe? Boring!

That may seem like the case, but it's quite different now, because I'm not just listening anymore. I wrote a journal about it on January 27th.

Original title:
"Why this journal is late"

The reason I couldn’t submit this journal last monday is simple: I didn’t have time to write it on the weekend, because I was getting ready to play at the End Café on sunday night. So now I figure that I ought to write about what that was like.

Two sundays ago, The Fab and I were listening to live jazz at the End Café, as usual. Then Jason, the tenor player, came up to our table and asked, “So, when are you guys gonna come and play?!” “When we’re good enough,” I replied. “If I waited until I was ‘good enough’,” he said, “I would never play.” He made us promise to bring our instruments the next week. So we did.

We had four songs in our repertoire: “Equinox” by John Coltrane; “Little sunflower” by Freddie Hubbard; “Tune-up” by Miles Davis; and “Mr. P.C.”, also by Coltrane. I had been nervous the whole day. When I stepped onto the stage, though, all my questions of “What scales should I use?” etc. just disappeared. The band was Jason, Ian (bass), Graham (drums), and Jim (guitar). Ian began playing the distinct intro to “Equinox”¹. I was standing next to Jason. Were we going to play the melody together, or would I play it on my own? I opted for the former. Then, when it came time for solos, Jason and I soloed at the same time (I guess you’d call that a duet). This went on for some time - the drums got louder and more intense.

One of the most interesting things about the experience was finally being able to hear what musicians talked about on stage. Jason was guiding me through it: “After this bass solo, there will be a drum solo, then there might be a vamp coming up, or we might just go straight back to the melody, so be ready for that.” The said drum solo was incredibly dynamic - during one insanely quiet bit, I was kneeling right next to the bass drum, wondering if anyone else could even hear it.

We then played “Little sunflower”, and took a break. Fab and I returned to the stage at about twenty-to-nine for the last two songs of the night - “Tune-up” and “Mr. P.C.” Both were much faster then we were used to, and the band was bigger - we were joined by Jerry (trumpet) and another Jim (alto). There was also a different drummer, Alicia. My solo on “Tune-up” was probably my best that night, and Fab’s solo on “Mr. P.C.” was explosive. Jason told us, “You’re welcome to come back and play any time you want.” It was an excellent learning experience.

And That is why I didn’t do any homework last weekend.

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1: “Equinox” is most commonly played in the key of C minor, but according to The Jazz Theory book, “the best players like to play it in its original key, C-sharp minor” (the latter being a harder key to play in). When Jason asked which key Fab and I played it in, he was quite impressed that we fall into the “best players” category.
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We played the following week as well, but only on two songs, and took a break on the third week. This coming sunday, we'll play again, and just an hour ago I learned a new song: "Maiden voyage" by Herbie Hancock. I'm going to aim to learn Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" soon as well.