Practice on Monday Night: 1 February 2010

Oh, practice on the first of the month. We will be continuing work on "The First Circle" but also polishing some more of Malaguena. Look to some work on "Ride the Wind," the Les Hooper piece, Samba Ti Kaye and In the Stone.

Just looking ahead to the future, we will be bringing in the french horns for Malaguena at the practice on Monday, February 8th. The monster is has had lift-off; now it's time for it to move along.

Practice Tonight!

Hey, just a friendly reminder that there is practice tonight. If anyone wants to listen to the charts prior to practice, there are mp3 recordings of the following at www.marinamusic.com:

"The First Cirlce" by Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays, arr. Bob Curnow
"Samba Ti Kaye" by Mark Taylor
"In the Stone" by Earth, Wind & Fire, arr. Paul Murtha
"Malaguena" by Ernesto Lecuona, arr. Bill Holman, trans. Bob Curnow
"Ride the Wind" by Les Hooper

Be ready for the monster chart. It's on the plate for tonight. ;)

Third Practice: Monday, 25th January 2010

Hey everybody! Here is the game plan for our third rehearsal on the upcoming Monday night. I know we have been doing a lot of sight-reading and checking out charts over the last two practices as we get used to our sound , etc., and that type of work is coming to a close. Now the fun work begins! Copies will immediately be handed out at the beginning of practice for all the pieces that you don't already yet have in your folders. The order of practice is:

Warm-up with "In the Stone"
work on the samba piece from last Monday
work on "First Circle"
break
work on "Work Song"
polish some more of Malaguena

Remember that we will be bringing the horn section in mid-February, so we want to be done some a good deal of polishing Malaguena prior to that. I know that the rehearsals have been some chop-busters, especially for the brass sections, but from now on we will not be using all of our charts at every one of the rehearsals. We will polish some of them and once they are in decent shape we will get the others up to decent shape and go from there. The goal of this group was to work a few pieces and get them accurate and polished and that remains the objective. It is nice, however, that we have the filler pieces that are easier to have a slightly larger folder.

See you all at practice on Monday evening, and good job last Monday night. :)

Malaguena!

Since we're gonna be working this piece this spring, I thought it would be educational to see this fantastic video recording of Stan Kenton himself introducing his own original playing the Bill Holman version we're doing. The link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9sp6ApX4o

Note the bass saxophone sitting to the left of the tenor sax. Enjoy.

Next Rehearsal: January 18th, 2010

Hello all! I just want to congratulate everyone who was in attendance at tonight's first rehearsal of Jazz 4 Nothin'. If you couldn't be there, we missed you, but we hope to see you next week. As i write this blog post, it is almost midnight, but I can't wait for tomorrow to post how happy I am with the practice.

Malaguena sounded pretty good even missing some players and on the first run. I can't imagine how awesome it will be to have the full band playing it a few practices down the line. The First Circle is the monster laying in wait, like George Kennan's democracy monster in the mud... sorry, diplomatic history reference there. As I said, it's midnight. In the Stone is fun to play, and it makes me heart Paul Murtha arrangements.

Awesome job to our Director, Chris Horn. Everyone has busy schedules and some are driving quite some distances to come to practice, but having a solid director guiding us through these pieces, especially the tough ones, is irreplacable. I'm sure others will have more positive things to say about Chris as the weeks go on, but right now, his dedication to music and to jazz artistry in particular just shines brightly.

A special thanks goes to St. Paul's Lutheran, who continues to support Jazz 4 Nothin' by letting us have a place to practice once a week. We hope to entertain the folks there at whatever venue works best and when there is a demand for some soulful music. Because it's a church, remember?

Next rehearsal is the same time next week, and we should be up some more players in certain sections. To the Del Val kids: stick with us and you're gonna have a good time while in Doylestown.

The First Circle... I Mean, PRACTICE!

Yeah, okay, so the subject heading for this post could be taken two ways. The first could be to inform you that the first practice will be held on Monday, January 11th from 7-9 PM at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Doylestown. The other way to take this is as a hint that players should be looking at "The First Circle" by Pat Metheny. Not learning it wrong - just looking at it, 'cause it's difficult. It's like those old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Do you remember those? Well, you can choose for yourself what this blog post's subject line is trying to tell you.

But, at any rate, it would be good to definitely state that the first practice will be held on Monday, January 11th from 7-9 PM in Room E at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Doylestown, PA. The address, for those of you who need to GPS it (or check a map, use a compass, etc.) is:

301 N. Main St.
Doylestown, PA 18901

If you know Doylestown, the church is relatively easy to find and you shouldn't need a GPS at all. It's the big church across from the Dairy Queen. See, wasn't that easy? There's ample free parking in the front and back lots. Only, you want to go in the front doors (the ones with the huge, beautiful awning) and proceed downstairs by taking the first staircase to the right. There should be someone there outside to guide you to the room. If not, don't go straight and to the left - in the small gymnasium are weekly AA meetings. Also, down the first main hallway to the left are council meetings, so we should try to keep it quiet when entering, if possible. Just walk in and take the first stairs down that are to your right.

So practice and see you at practice. Hasten the day! (Not really, because it gets dark way too early.)

;)

On Sock Loss

Just so everybody knows, one of our drummers is currently looking for one of his socks as he lost it listening to The First Circle. If you find his sock, please contact jazz 4 nothin' so we may keep it for him until we are done learning that piece (out of fear he may lose it again).

Note from Albus Dumbledore: "You can never have too many socks."

Start listening to The First Circle, like, yesterday.

Artemis and Apollo

Just a minor note:

Artemis and Apollo, the minor-ish (and if you listened to the sample, you know what i mean) ballad, is being ordered this week. You will probably see it on the first practice if shipping goes well.

Folders and Charts, Oh My!

Some of the following was on an older blog post and some of it is new information, so here is some quality info. for Jazz 4 Nothin'.

Most of the folders have been handed out; if you have not yet received your folder, either you have contacted Alison or Jon and they are sending it to you by mail, or you have not contacted them and you should do so if you wish to look at your parts during the winter break. The first practice is on January 11th, and performance dates are starting to appear on the schedule starting possibly in mid-April.

The following are links to recording samples through www.marinamusic.com, and you are urged to check them out, with special emphasis on "The First Circle" and "Malaguena": (When you click on "download mp3" either the page will move forward to a quicktime player or it is a free download which you can either "open" or "save" - just follow the instructions - it's all free). Also look for youtube recordings of other bands playing the piece, but make sure you have the correct arrangement.)

"In the Stone" by Earth, Wind & Fire; arr. Paul Murtha
http://www.marinamusic.com/detail.tpl?sku=D4396&show=res&cart=1261183120129833&keyword=in%20the%20stone&where=title&where1=comparr&where2=desc1&andor=wo&

"The First Circle" by Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays; arr. Bob Curnow
http://www.marinamusic.com/detail.tpl?sku=D2372&keyword=the%20first%20circle&where=title&where1=comparr&where2=desc1&andor=wo&

"Artemis and Apollo" by Johnny Richards; arr. Bob Curnow
http://www.marinamusic.com/detail.tpl?sku=A3213&keyword=artemis%20and%20apollo&where=title&where1=comparr&where2=desc1&andor=wo&

"Malaguena" by Ernesto Lecuona, the original Stan Kenton Orch; arr. by Bill Holman
http://www.marinamusic.com/detail.tpl?sku=A3131&show=res&cart=1261183120129833&keyword=malaguena&where=title&where1=comparr&where2=desc1&andor=wo&

Have a great holiday season everyone, and if you are on facebook, join the Facebook group (search "Jazz 4 Nothin'") and join the discussion there. Remember, practices will run from 7-9PM at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Doylestown, PA, and in a week or two, directions to the church will be posted in the blog.

3 Out of 4 Charts

Hey everybody, another major update:

The band now has three out of the four charts for the first set and copies are being made that people can take home to practice (the originals are not being distributed). Folders are being compiled and we are hoping that as many of the members of the band who can will meet this weekend (over coffee or whatnot) to pick up their folders before the holidays, meet other players and get logistics.

There is also a slight change to the set order. It now reads as follows due to interest by many players to do a certain piece as a closer. This is the best chart suggestion that one's heard coming from a saxophone in all time. And the heavens opened and a voice proclaimed: thou need Malaguena and I make this saxophone player my messenger. And the trumpet rang out in response: YES! YES! YES! Malaguena. And all was awesome in the world.

As a side note, three french horns will be contacted to do this chart, but it does call for four horns which are not optional. So we need one more french horn.

Here is the edited set list:

In the Stone by Earth, Wind and Fire, arr. Paul Murtha
The First Circle by Pat Metheny, arr. Bob Curnow
Artemis and Apollo by Johnny Richards, arr. Bob Curnow
Malaguena (orig. Stan Kenton Orchestra Arrangement comp. and trans. by Bill Holman)

Of all the pieces though, band members should start listening to The First Circle, in order to get used to the pulse. DON'T LEARN THE RHYTHMS INCORRECTLY. Do some research on the piece and check out the sample page of score from www.marinamusic.com. Open it as a pdf and print it out and look at the clapping parts at the beginning. Get used to the 12/8 to 10/8 bars. This weekend, with whoever can meet up, we will be discussing how to practice this piece in particular.

Take care everyone with the winter weather!