LAST NIGHT EVERYONE WAS A HERO. PARTICUARLY VIC AND BOB

Listen to the start of this version of Chameleon. That could be our Paul playing. Too many extreme words are used to describe jazz. I'm not going to go over the top, just describe it in a modest way.

Its awesome


Maynard Ferguson band 1974.

LAST NIGHT
We experimented with all sorts of ways of playing together last night. We focussed on simple blues songs so didn't have to bother much with changes. We had great results from everyone absolutely everyone.

Vic and Bob got to play something together which they have never done before, and I'm not sure you can hear it on any other jazz band.

Vic started experimenting with implying the root note, breaking the time on bass. He and Bob on kit then started to play a rhythmic line in unison. Vic led and Bob copied. I've never heard this before anywhere and it sounded effective. Must work on that boys - it can be built into a routine. They added improvised breaks by signalling to each other - pity the keyboard chap wasn't watching. Very effective tension added.

Paul is a really nice jazz player with ideas all of his own. He is not afraid of playing a long note, or stabbbing short repeated ones, and just leaving space. It gives his solos an original quality. We were asking for this kind of thing and Paul met all of the brief. Paul will often play the unexpected, and that grabs attention.

Geoff used a chromatic note and held it in one of his solos. It worked, we all said so. He also has a very distinctive sound of his own when he solos, he is quiet and relaxed and fully in control. To make us smile, he put in an unexpected quote. Very effective.

New player Steve had a fearsome introduction and held his own with everyone. Billies Bounce is not the easiest song to read if you've never heard it before, and Steve went for it, and embellished it cleverly. The piece was badly scored on the chart, so he just improvised over it and came back to the tune. Not many people could do that at a first workshop. It is a fearsome coming to these things for the first time.

NEXT SUNDAY THE LAST THIS YEAR. We'll do some more of last weeks, but over a regular 11 V song this time. We'll probably use Blue Moon as our practise piece for this. Step it up a gear from Blues.

Bring Cantaloupe, Chameleon, Love for Sale and Lover in G and F concert.

John

The Jazz Smugglers bands in Sussex
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