Memorial Day

Hey everybody! Just a reminder that there's no practice on Memorial Day, so work on individual parts at home over the next week, and we will resume practice on Monday, June 7th.

Also, the performance for First Friday in July (Friday, July 2nd) is confirmed, so mark your calendars that we will be playing outside in Doylestown right in front of Starbucks from 8-9 PM. We will be going through a lot of our charts and performing some of the ones we have been working on over the last few weeks (Begin the Beguine, etc....).

Have a great holiday, stay safe and healthy, and see you all on June 7th.

Practice Recap: 24 May 2010

Hey guys - good job at practice last night. I know it's been a long weekend for some and an even longer weekend for others, especially those who play and practice with other jazz groups. However, I really think we got some positive work done last night, regardless of the long weekend prior to rehearsal.

It's unnecessary to chat much about what needs to get done; I think we all know what needs to be worked on in the individual parts. There's a lot of technical stuff for Sing, Sing, Sing and focus on articulations, dynamics, etc., for Begin the Beguine and Intersecting Lines. Plus now we have our heads around The Incredibles and we should all know how to practice accordingly.

Memorial Day is next Monday, May 31st, and as such (and especially after a poll at practice) it has been decided that there will be no practice next week. So enjoy the holiday, get some work done on your parts on your own, and we will resume practices on Monday, June 7th. That being said, do not hesitate to bring up any questions or concerns about the music over the next two weeks.

It was also mentioned at practice that there is some interest in three specific pieces, and they are:

1. Channel One Suite by Buddy Rich Band
2. Prodigal Son Revisited by Wayne Horvitz
3. Nostalgia in Times Square by Charles Mingus.

I foresee a vote in the future for one of these charts (though this is not an exclusive list), and will be posting links to sample recordings soon. Please take the time to listen to the pieces over the next couple of weeks and decide which one you like most (though they are all awesome). The change jar is almost there for a new chart...

Rehearsal Tonight and Performance Recap

Great job last evening at Southampton! The small audience was extremely appreciative of the music, and there is no doubt in my mind that those who left after William Tennent played are hearing from friends that they really should have stuck around one more half hour... Anyway, I've only heard compliments about the performance, and we played some great (emphasis on great in the sense of masterpiece) charts, and there's really nothing better than that. As Pete said in a facebook post a few hours ago, this music is a total joy.

At any rate, there is practice tonight and we will be putting together all the work we've done on Begin the Beguine and Intersecting Lines, as well as diving into The Incredibles and Sing, Sing, Sing (both parts).

See you all at practice tonight, and if I was amazed at the performance yesterday, I am psyched for rehearsal wen we get to lock in all that hard work we've been doing the last couple of weeks on the new charts.

:)

Southampton Jazz Festival

The Southampton Jazz Festival is scheduled for this Sunday, May 23rd and the details are as follows:

The call time for band members (excluding the french horns) is 4:15 PM. This gives us ample time to check the set-up, warm-up at the school and be ready to get on stage after William Tenant High School's band. The call time for french horns is 4:45 PM. The address for the festival location is on the information sidebar of the blog if you need it for GPS etc., though some have already played at this location before. Furthermore, should it rain, the festival will be held inside the Klinger Middle School Auditorium, and the same schedule will be used for that day.

Dress is the same as the Duck Deli; solid colors and black. Though I expect that we will be able to make use of Klinger's music stands and that they will already be on stage for the other bands, please bring your own music stand and have it in the car just in case. The rhythm section will worry about rhythm section setup. I know that there will be two microphones for soloists on stage, and a wireless microphone for announcements and vocal solos for the festival.

The festival begins at 3 o'clock, and this is the schedule:

3 PM - Southampton Community Big Band
3:30 PM - Klinger Middle School Jazz Band
4 PM - Log College Middle School Jazz Band
4:30 PM - William Tennent High School Jazz Band
5 PM - Jazz 4 Nothin'

Please have all the charts that we played at the Duck Deli ready to perform in the same order for this festival. There should be some seating at the festival, but if you have family, friends or other guests attending, it might be wise to have a few blankets or fold-up chairs in the car. However, based on another performance I've seen there, there will probably be bleachers set up on which the audience can sit.

This should be a good performance for us and allows us to branch out from the Doylestown area. And remember, with a lot of middle school and high school music students in the audience, it's important to remind them in any way we can that jazz music is awesome, the big band is back, and it's here to stay.

See you all at Southampton! :)

Practice Tonight!

Hey everybody! This is the last practice before the Southampton Jazz performance on Sunday evening, so please make sure that you have the older charts and the newer ones in your folder. It would be nice to fix a couple of things in some pieces ("In the Stone", etc.) and review some others before we go back to work on the "Begin the Beguine." Also, I hope some of you have looked at "Sing, Sing, Sing" - we may be looking at some of that piece tonight.

Last week's practice was very good, and we just need the continual focus in order to work a lot of the key unison passages / coordinated phrases in these (mostly) medium-advanced - advanced charts. Having recently spoken with a number of people who have heard us play, they have specifically cited how they were impressed with the work ethic they could see in our faces while we were playing the music. One lady even came up and said something along the lines of, "Every face was absolutely concerned with the music. None were distracted and not doing the work. It was evident that all had worked hard and you can see it and you can hear it." (This was a review from the Duck Deli performance). Others have begun to compare us with other groups, saying that you can hear the difference between a group that really practices and one that just plays the music - they've greatly appreciated this. So thank you all for your hard work at practice in the past and in the future, and for all the work you do with the music outside of practice. This band can really make a difference.

On a side note, a few people in the band have let me know, positively, about their availability for July the 2nd. We will need to know by the end of the week if we have enough of a band around that day so that we can contact the organizers of First Friday and let them know if we can play for them or not. If you have time before practice tonight, please check your schedules for the holiday weekend.

Sing, Sang, Shipped!

So, here's an update: new charts are on their way! The books which contain the full "Sing, Sing, Sing" have been ordered, as well as "Georgia on My Mind," and... well, let's leave that last one as a mystery for practice on Monday night. A few people know what it is, though, and they're excited. Because it's fun.

Change 4 Charts is responsible for the purchase of the books containing "Sing, Sing, Sing" and a lot of other filler charts that will no doubt be useful at some point in the future. "Sing, Sing, Sing" had the highest number of votes from all members on the blog for which charts we wanted to do, and it felt appropriate that the change jar went towards that chart.

At any rate, there's practice on Monday, so keep working on "Begin the Beguine" and "Intersecting Lines." I am floored that we got both numbers off the ground so quickly on Monday, and yes, they were rough and we're going to have to put a lot of time in on them - but it was awesome nonetheless. I know that some were shocked that we made it through those pieces on the first night - a pleasant surprise, but a shocking one.

Have a good weekend all, and get ready for the next practice. We all know on an individual basis what has to get done now for the music.

New Charts! (a.k.a. "Practice Tonight!")

Hey everyone! Great job on Saturday - I think we really wowed the crowd even if they didn't get out of their seats - but with the weather I think perhaps they may have become plastered to them, so that's not on us.

At any rate, we made it through "The First Circle," which is something in itself, and "Malaguena" sounded good (we'll just take it faster next time, I promise!). (Pete, did you get that? It's the George Lucas instruction: faster and more intense = awesome. I added that last bit. About the awesomeness.)

Now, even with Sunday, May 23rd as the next upcoming performance, though, we are switching gears and looking to some of the new charts. Be ready to start work on "Begin the Beguine," "Intersecting Lines," and "But Beautiful," and be assured: "Sing, Sing, Sing" is on the way.

But yeah, great job on Saturday and let's have fun tonight as we look to some new stuff. After all the hard work and some recent tedious practices with Metheny, I look forward to these practices where we start some new charts.