Breaking Some Boundaries

Don’t get me started . . .

I’m putting this band together, making a thousand and one decisions, and I get some “suggestions” from a comrade in Atlanta (you know who you are) about expanding the tune list into areas that are decidedly non-big band.

I’ve been writing for the 4 horn band since 2000, pretty steadily, using Mustang Sally as the central focus and going outward from there. The result is a book of about 350 tunes that cover a lot of territory, from Asleep at the Wheel (Choo Choo Caboogie) to Tower of Power to Elvis to Sinatra to Motown and on and on. This book is based on what we’ve been asked to play over the years, and it seems like it hit the spot for certain folks having weddings.

When I decided to revive the old big band, formerly the New Flamingo Swing Orchestra, I had no intention of expanding the genre list into some of the Original Recipe areas. Gradually, however I realized that with all these horns it just makes sense to take some of the OR charts and, regardless of genre, fold them into the mix for the big band. Lately I’ve done this kind of upgrade for Tell It Like It Is, What Is Hip, Always Look at the Bright Side of Life, even Mustang Sally.

The idea is to have a great dinner set, ballroom dance kind of stuff, then sneak in a few post-big band things as the evening goes on.

On one level it is truly insane to set up an 11-piece band with singers additional in this tanking economy. On the other hand, I keep reminding myself that the Depression of the thirties was the golden age for musicians, because those who could hire them hired lavishly. Here are last month’s additions to the book:

It Ain’t the Meat, It’s the Motion--Benny Carter wrote this chart for Maria Muldaur in the late seventies, and the innocent Miss Marilyn degenerates when she sings it.

I Just Want to Celebrate--Rare Earth!

You’re the Boss--Brian Setzer doing Elvis and Ann-Margaret

Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You--Four Seasons, before it was a hotel

Signed, Sealed & Delivered--Recently popularized in some political campaign

The Curley Shuffle--Back in the Saddle Band, surely you must remember

and the holy trinity of Tower of Power tunes:

Down to the Nightclub

You’re Still a Young Man

What Is Hip?

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Now if I were hiring a wedding band, I’d go with the most versatile tune list and hope they can pull it off. (I’ve heard enough rock bands try to swing to Satin Doll to know that this is the direction we have to go rather than the other way.)

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In other news, we are recording in Los Angeles. Best cats for sightreading, best studio rates, and an opportunity to record with some of the cats who did the demo recording at KingSound Studios back in 1981. Still active are Tom Scott (who was not on the demo but played most of the gigs afterward on lead trumpet), Steve Johnson on trombone, Charlie Oreña on baritone. My brother Jimmy on drums, who was in the Navy back then I think, who will play a kit supplied by the great Jimmy Ford. Going to nail down some dates when Steve gets back from Bay Area gigs next Monday.

Thinking about Kenton

I found this clip on YouTube and it might explain why, fight it as I will, I’m just a tiny satellite that once orbited Planet Stan. I was always convincing myself that I wanted to play in the Basie band, but I never got close. Kenton was another story.

I was at a concert where Stan expressed an interest in my father’s work, back when I was 14. (My dad finished the spec chart a month before he died.) Kenton expressed a passing interest in my alto playing and gave me enough encouragement to really set me on fire. I practiced more than ever, did a few gigs with my dad’s friends playing baritone, and listened to a lot of music constantly.

That was when we were in Connecticut, and we were to go back to California soon after the Kenton concert, then back to Connecticut, where my father died.

It was only later that I learned that my dad had a big band that used to rehearse when I was 12.

So, on this YouTube clip there are Quin Davis, Kim Frizell, Willie Maiden, all three of whom had played in that band, back in Orange County.

Mike Vax, the lead trumpet player, was the leader of the band I played in at the 1970 Kenton clinic in Redlands. Ray Brown, one of the jazz trumpeters, was the only arranging teacher I ever studied with besides my dad, at Cabrillo College, outside Santa Cruz.

Ramon Lopez, the guy playing congas, was my roommate when Dick Shearer, the lead trombonist and band wrangler, called me for the gig on high baritone. (Unlike most big bands, the Kenton band had one alto, two tenors, and two baris, one of whom used to double on bass sax.) Dick had heard me at a concert in Santa Cruz where the Cabrillo Band opened for Stan. The year was 1974. Stan died in 1979.

And of course, though he’s not on this clip, Tony Campise lives right here in Austin, and doesn’t get nearly the respect he ought to for all he’s done.

I think I’ll listen to “Live at the Tropicana,” one of the most straight-ahead of the Kenton recordings. Then maybe a little Basie.

Found on Google Earth

I've been thinking a lot about QE2 and what her faith will be now that Dubai's economy is crashing.

Here's a shot from Google Earth, taken about three weeks before I joined, at the Malaga pier.

You can also see her at across from the Sydney Opera House, also on Google Earth.

Anybody want to hazard a guess what'll become of her?

You never know where the music business will lead you.

Last night I played a gig in Houston with The Pictures, a band that I work with sometimes when they need to beef up the horn section by adding a baritone sax (that’s me!) and a trombone. Jimmy Shortell and I drove in a rented Hyundai to the Toyota Center, not really knowing what the event was that we were playing for. When we got there, it turned out we were playing Yao Ming’s charitable foundations annual fundraiser for Chinese disaster relief.

There being only one stage in the Arena, we shared the stage with Yao Ming. Let me tell you folks, you have no idea how big this guy is until you park alongside him and look up.

To prove my point, here is a picture of Chris, the singer in The Pictures, who is not the tallest of men (but one of the best singers in the business). As you see he goes up to Yao’s belt buckle and no further.

Yao struck me as a very gentle guy: soft-spoken and humble. He’s done a lot for earthquake relief--building schools, dealing with the ramifications of 70,000 dead. He’s a credit to the human race.

Three Little Words (no vocalist)

Here we are sightreading a vocal arrangement of Three Little Words, a song as old as dirt, which I wrote last week.

You'll have to whistle the melody after the intro, because we're still hammering out the vocal responsibilities.

The tenor solo is Tony Bray, a recent transplant to Austin from Long Beach, California. Piano solo by John Groves.

How We Spent Our Valentine's Day

We worked! ORB at Wells Branch community center. And Jan used our Flip camera to make this, which turned out to be the last tune of the night.

We'll be at their July 4 party again this year. Last year I had my implant for 3 whole days. I played, though.

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.