Category: Gigs

AJO Tonight and Weekend Picks

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I’m directing and performing with the Asheville Jazz Orchestra again tonight (Friday, August 8, 2014) at the White Horse in Black Mountain, NC. The show starts at 8 PM and we’ll play two sets of big band jazz. If you’re in the area looking for live music, please consider coming on out.

Here are some music related links for you to check out this weekend.

Low-Down Sires Busk

The first time I ever performed on the street (AKA “busking”) I had just graduated high school. A sax player heard me play and we talked for a while about a band he was playing in. A month later I went off to college and coincidentally I met another member of that band, eventually leading into me recording and playing some gigs with them. Recently I started busking again with some friends I play trad jazz with. We’ve found it to be a fun way to practice new material, essentially becoming a way to make a bit of money to rehearse. Sometimes if we’ve got some down time on an out of town tour we will go out and play on the street to not only pick up a few more bucks but also plug our gigs later. If you’re interested in trying out performing on the street, check out this advice on How to Busk.

One piece of advice I often give to my composition/arranging students is that they should show their parts to players that perform the instruments they are writing for. Even instruments in the same family will differ in terms of playability. For example, I sometimes get parts written by trumpet players that lay horribly for trombone because they took what they wrote for a trumpet and simply transposed it down an octave. Horn is a particularly challenging instrument for me to write well for because it has some idiosyncrasies that don’t translate from the other brass instruments. Fortunately, John Ericson has given us 9 Ways We Can Tell a Composer or Arranger Doesn’t Know How to Write for the Horn.

Did your metronome battery die? Or maybe it’s just too quiet and you need to blast a metronome through your computer speakers. Here’s a handy (and amusing) online metronome that simulates a pendulum style metronome.

And lastly, since school is about to start up after our summer break, here is a list of Ten Things You Should Never Say to Your Music Teacher. The tone may be tongue-in-cheek, but the advice is golden!

MusicWorks! Asheville

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I’m very excited to have joined MusicWorks! Asheville as a teaching artist last week. MusicWorks! is an El Sistema inspired after school program for children in Asheville, NC. It’s under the direction of Brian Kellum. We’re working with students at Hall Fletcher Elementary School, along with Hall Fletcher music teacher, Melody McGarrahan.

MusicWorks! is an intensive artistic and social program inspired by Venezuela’s El Sistema, offered after school in the city of Asheville to children in underserved populations that uses music education as a transformative and Empowering tool to teach life skills.

Right now we’re starting with kindergarten and 1st grade students. Next year it will expand to include the rising 2nd graders and include new kindergarten students. It’s our goal to grow the program every year in this way.

MusicWorks! Asheville was the recipient of a grant given for music education to the Asheville Symphony Orchestra.

Weekend Picks

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I’ll be playing and directing the Asheville Jazz Orchestra again at our monthly show at the White Horse Black Mountain in Black Mountain, NC this Saturday. The first set of big band jazz starts at 8 PM. I’m excited about a couple of “subs” who will be playing with us. Visiting from Michigan State University, Joe Lulloff will be playing alto sax. Brad Jepson, one of the co-directors of the Greenville Jazz Collective Big Band, will be playing in our trombone section. It should be a particularly hard-swinging band this time around, so I’ve put a bunch of challenging charts in the set list. If you’re in the area, come on out.

At any rate, it’s Friday and here are some of my picks for your music-related surfing this weekend. Enjoy.

I’m involved in a few nonprofit organizations devoted to music education and end up performing at fundraisers from time to time. Chris LeDrew makes a compelling case for Why Musicians Should Never Donate Their Talents.

DarwinTunes has put together an interesting musical project. Using loops and  they allowed the music to evolve through public choice. You can listen to some of it, and participate yourself, at their web site.

Here are 20 handy Jazz Musician Tips. A sample:

If the ensemble has to stop because of you, explain in detail why you got lost. Everyone will be very interested.

I had bookmarked this page with a black and white photograph of Louis Armstrong In Egypt. It talks a little bit about the United State’s “jazz diplomacy” during the Cold War. Coincidentally, I recently came across a very well done colorized version of the same photo (and 53 other colorized historical photos).

And to finish off this week, if you ever suffered from self-defeating thoughts about maybe not just having the natural ability to play music, watch this amazing horn player.

Upcoming Gigs and Weekend Picks

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I’ve got a couple of upcoming public gigs coming up in the next three days. Tomorrow, (July 19, 2014) I’m playing traditional jazz with the Low-Down Sires at a lindy hop dance called The Process in Richmond, VA. I’m afraid I don’t know more of the details about the dance, but if you’re a swing dancer in the area or just a fan of trad jazz you can probably get in touch with someone through that Facebook link above. Next Monday, (July 21, 2014) I’ll be sitting in again with the Greenville Jazz Collective Big Band. We’re playing at Grille 33 in Greenville, SC. If you get to come out to either, please be sure to say hello to me.

If you’re too far away to come hear me play, here are some of my music related links for your weekend surfing.

Nikolaj Lund is a photographer who takes photos of classical musicians and puts them into a unique perspective. Take a look at some of them on his web site.

Hal Crook is a fantastic trombonist, composer, and the author of some of my favorite books on jazz improvisation. The Berkley College of Music, where Crook is on the faculty, has posted a downloadable library of play-a-long tracks Crook put together for improvisation practice.

An old manifesto from 1992, Dennis Báthory-Kitsz urges musical organizations that It’s Time to Bury the Dead. Here’s a quote to whet your appetite.

Is there anything new on the menu of the Vermont Mozart Festival or the Killington Music Festival? Does either the professional or amateur musical community of our state and beyond show any commitment at all to the music of their own age? Indeed, does the listening public have any clue what a wealth of music is consciously and maliciously being denied them? No, no, no and no. Of course not! Pleasant advisory committees, cheerful compromises, and polite accommodations are doomed because such efforts attempt to deal with a special, entrenched group of diseased minds called necrosones, those who make their living by exhuming, stuffing and mounting the music of dead composers –composers who demand neither royalties nor attention to the artistic thought behind what they once did. Necrosones will never change because they cannot, because they are not artists nor are they sympathetic to art. They are vampires.

To finish things off today, here’s Oleg Berg’s treatment of the classic Beatles recording Hey Jude, but tweaked to put it into a minor key. One of the things I love about great music is that it is often still strong when it gets twisted around like this.

Weekend Picks and Upcoming Gigs

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It’s Friday, so you might be looking for some music related web sites to browse this weekend. But first, if you’re around Hendersonville, NC tomorrow night (Saturday, June 21, 2014) come out to the Southern Appalachian Brewery for some local beer and traditional early jazz by the Low-Down Sires. The music goes from 8-10.

If you’re around Greenville, SC, you need to check out the Greenville Jazz Collective Big Band. The will be playing two sets on Monday, June 23, 2014 starting at 7:30 at the Mellow Mushroom in Greenville. Bassist Shannon Hoover and trombonist Brad Jepson co-lead the GJC Big Band, but Brad will be missing this show. That’s unfortunate, but Brad asked me to fill in for him, so I get to jam with them.

Here are my weekend picks for you.

The Greenville Jazz Collective web site. Start there and let the music play while you look at the rest. Live recording from the Altamont Theater in Asheville, NC.

Practicing a Difficult Passage Effectively is advice by hornist Jonathan West. He discusses several ways to make your practice time more efficient and there’s probably something new in there for almost everyone.

Writing for Slate, Jan Swafford gives a very nice summary on how our concept of intonation in western music has changed over the centuries. The Centuries-Old Struggle to Play In Tune starts in antiquity through the development of equal temperament.

And lastly, settle back to listen and watch the greatest 4th chair trumpet player who ever lived, Pete Barbuti.

Swing X Filming July 6, 2013

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This weekend I’ll be up in Cincinnati for filming in the movie, Swing X.

SwingX is a modern day “fish out of water” comedy. Jason is a clumsy IT specialist who when suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed, is mistakenly hired as a dance teacher at a local school. Something seems better than nothing and hilarity ensues as he tries to stay one step ahead and falls head over heels into the world of Lindy Hop.

We all experience fear and uncertainty in everyday life, whether it’s the fear of being judged by those around us or the fear that our actions will fall short. SwingX uses the positive, high energy world of Lindy Hop to demonstrate the benefits of facing challenges head on.

Lindy Hop as a dance form has a long and colorful history. SwingX is a funny, quirky, and touching story that draws its inspiration from the rich style and community of Lindy Hop.

No, I’m not dancing in it. The Low-Down Sires is providing some music for the sound track and we’ll be filming a couple of scenes where we’re the band playing at some dances.

I don’t have our exact schedule yet, but I think that I will off Friday night and Saturday afternoon, so if anyone is up in Cincinnati and wants to get together for a lesson or for a beverage drop me a line.

Update – So the final title of this film was Ctrl+Alt+Dance. I can be seen in the background during the big dance scenes in the movie. I haven’t watched the film beginning to end because it’s, frankly, not that good. You can see me briefly in the trailer.

Smoky Mountain Brass Band

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I’m very excited to announce the following, from David Pressley, the president of the Board of Directors for the Smoky Mountain Brass Band.

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that David Wilken has accepted our offer to become the Director of the Smoky Mountain Brass Band. Dave will begin with the November 6th rehearsal.

The SMBB has been performing since 1981 and played all over western North Carolina (and elsewhere). I’ve sat in with the group from time to time already, performed with many of the members in other groups, and have been attending performances for a while now. It’s quite a treat to get the chance to conduct them now and I’m looking forward to starting up this November.

Thanks to the Board of Directors and the rest of the Smoky Mountain Brass Band!

Salute to U.S. Armed Forces and Happy Independence Day

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Happy Independence Day to all the U.S. readers. The Trinity Jazz Orchestra posted a video on YouTube of them performing my arrangement of the Armed Forces Medley last year on the 4th of July. It’s a good performance and very well produced.

While I’m at it, if you’re in western North Carolina looking for something to do to celebrate Independence Day (2012) tomorrow you can come out to hear me perform with Linda Gentille and the American Big Band at the Smoky Mountain Performing Arts Center in Franklin, NC.

Thursday evening (July 5, 2012) the Asheville Jazz Orchestra is playing a free concert at Furman University’s Music by the Lake concert series. We start playing at 7:30 at Furman’s outdoor amphitheater in Greenville, SC.

If you come out to either show be sure to come up and say hello.

Ben Folds on Being a Musical Artist

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I’ve enjoyed Ben Folds’ music for a while.  While I enjoy his piano playing and singing, I personally find his song writing to be particularly interesting.  I think he’s developed pretty original original style.

Recently I found an essay Folds wrote and posted on his Facebook page.  His post has a lot of great advice for aspiring artists on topics of finding your own voice, hard work, dealing with criticism, and developing technique.  He starts off by quoting Neal Young:

“Take my advice – Don’t Listen To Me” – Neil Young

Whether or not your a fan of Ben Folds it’s a good read for any creative artist.  I recommend you check out the full post.

Getting (and Keeping) a Gig

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Like many musicians, I’m not really all that interested in the business side of music.  I mostly want to create music and prefer to let other people handle the details of booking, managing the budgets, and stuff like that.  Unfortunately, real like doesn’t always let me work this way so I’m constantly trying to learn more about how the business works and improve the way I promote and manage my own music and the groups I work with.

Heather McDonald has written a series of articles dealing with the music business and one of them concerns how to get a gig, and also importantly, how to get asked back.  She lists several important things to keep in mind when you’re promoting your band.

Continue reading “Getting (and Keeping) a Gig” →