Sightreading Rehearsal, and Our Flip Camera!

We had an excellent rehearsal last night, playing stuff that no humans had played before. Until now, the notes were in Finale and I was depending on the playback sounds in QuickTime. Plenty of stuff was plowed through, all of it found to be worthy of further attention. Now all we need is a place where coffee or beer is served. I’m afraid Jimmy’s music room, while it sounds nice, is too small for folks to come and hear us.

Participating: Paul Baker and Tony Bray on tenors, Chris Kapral on baritone, Kevin Flatt and Jimmy Shortell on trumpets, Ulrican Williams on trombone, Ulrich Ellison on guitar, John Groves on piano, Kris Afflerbaugh on bass, and Jimmy on drums. We ran several vocal charts, but no canary. I want to hear the band parts first. The gentlemen did an outstanding job. Here’s the first read of my adaptation of Billy May’s Front Page Rag, from the movie of the same name. Not an easy piece.

. . . And that brings to mind that Jan and I bought a Flip movie camera. I am a very happy adopter. I have a Canon HD movie camera, but I seem to always have too few arms and legs to operate it. This Flip is just a point & shoot, but sometimes that’s all you need. It’s a cinch to capture video and it records sound pretty well, although I could have presented something better than my back when I was playing clarinet on Front Page Rag.

Whatever Happened to Rebirthing the Band?

From Historical Artifacts

Good news! I've been stumped to find a studio where we can record, because we need: a large room, a couple iso booths and a piano.

I found a place that's close enough to my house that we go by there maybe 5 times a week, mostly to bring the corgis to the park. I walked into the place with Leroy Rodriguez and announced that we had a big band to record, and Mike, the engineer, just about split in two smiling.

There are a few details yet to be worked out, and Jan and I are going on vacation for the next 2 weeks, so I won't reveal all the details yet. But I hope to have some good news when we go up the gangway or before. Looks like we could record as soon as Valentines weekend.

Toying with an Idea

My dad--topmost picture--wrote the charts for this album, recorded in the early 1960's by a high school stage band from Kentucky.


I heard from one studio today, with the requirements: piano, space, mics. The guy wants a grand for the day.
I have half a mind to do the recording in Los Angeles, with the cats I used to play with wherever possible.
So, as much as I like the studios here, I might have to go back “home” to southern California. I called Steve Johnson and he thinks he’s got a place. Stay tuned.
Writing a chart of “Yours” for the next gig, which is in Edinburg, which might as well be in Mexico it’s so far south.

Looking for a Balance

I need for several things to line up in my little universe for this project to gain enough traction to come close to completion.

First I need the material, that is to say enough vocal charts to get it moving. Then I need the folks to play the charts. Both of these things I’ve done to the point where I can put a little checkmark next to the items they represent on my iPod Touch.

Then I need an engineer who understands how very different this kind of recording is from the “normal” three-piece power pop combo, a room big enough to accommodate us all at once, and a piano, a real, live piano of the non-electric sort.

These are the three items that I’m stuck on right now. All bets are off if I can’t find these three things. I know a lot of guys who take this recording business very seriously here in Austin. In order to track this band I just wonder what it’ll cost me to have all three of these things at once.