And, I'm Out...

All right - leaving on Sunday for two months. Crazy. Hopefully I will be diligent about keeping everything up to date while I'm gone. I know I'll have the time, just not the best internet. Hoping everything works out!

Comes In Bunches

Again I find myself at a crossroads waiting for a call back about possibly leaving on a cruise gig. Again it is about three days before I would have to go; and, I need to know as soon as possible to find a replacement for another possible thing I would have in Iowa this weekend. Not to mention that stuff I would have to go out and buy before then (like a tenor case that won't collapse if I have to check it, as well as possibly fixing my tenor so it isn't being made functional with masking tape...). So we'll see - this would be a two-month gig on Holland America, a length that is attractive to me as I don't like to be away for too much more than that. I really could use the money at this point as I have been freaking out a bit about my finances. Basically, while I can live rent free (and largely bill-free) until June, the gravy train comes to an abrupt halt at that point. This way I could go out and come back on much more stable footing while having time to hang out, do some projects, and mobilize the sax section for Celebration Iowa once again while getting a chance to work with good friends.

On the lighter side, I finally got a call today asking me to sub (apparently they just got my background check the other day. Apparently I also don't have any new violations to worry about...) while I also got a call from a guy at a restaurant in Cedar Falls that I had applied to on a whim in one of my moments of panic about my future. Seems like they only call when you (maybe) don't need them anymore...

So, assured that I won't get a call at 5:45 in the morning asking me to a school in the morning, I am going to undertake my nightly ritual of which I have become fond - wine and a book (who knows when in my life I'll have time to do that after this stretch!)

Wow, I really use a lot of parenthesis.

If You Like Jazz...

You very well might like this. If not, well, life changes might be in order.

With the extra time that I have right now, I’ve decided to start doing some transcription projects and writing them down. Right now I’m undecided whether to focus on a few individuals or just put together some kind of bari sax compilation. Either way I began with Serge Chaloff’s recording of “All The Things You Are” from his album Blue Serge. I might take some of these down eventually if I get any kind of publishing deal worked out for them; but, for the foreseeable future please feel free to download them and use them at your discretion. I think the biggest thing I took away from doing this transcription was noticing how largely diatonic this solo is, and how he uses the entire range of the instrument (low Bb to altissimo G). Also, the I tried to cop the articulation the best I could and notate it as such; if you have the opportunity to listen to this track (or really any of Chaloff’s solos), you will notice how he has a tendency to tongue much more than most players, every note in many places, with unconventional patterns in other places as well (slurring from the downbeat to the upbeat). This reminded me of Dexter Gordon, who tends to tongue every note often as well, while still somehow swinging it beautifully. So yeah, enjoy and let me know what you think!

(This is in .bmp for now – hopefully get .pdf’s going soon!)