First Jazz Ensemble Rehearsal In Fremont
Jazz ensemble rehearsal this morning was freaking awesome. Just as I expected, playing with an elite group of musicians versus our typical sucky jazz band is so much more fun. The musicians are as follows:
Charlie Madding: trumpet
Lucas Hopkins: alto saxophone
Taiki M.: tenor saxophone
Jacob Speer: trombone*
Jake Nunn: guitar
Chris Hewitt: piano
Kennedy High musician: drums
Kennedy High musician: bass (I didn't catch their names)
* He wasn't able to show up today, but will for future rehearsals.
I think we may also have a french horn player, but for the time being, this is how our little group of musicians is built. The bass player and drummer are insanely good, and with Jake on the guitar, actually knowing what he's doing, and me on the piano (what can I say, heh), we've got a really strong rhythm section.
Charlie's trumpet playing is awesome--haven't heard him play in almost a year; Lucas and Taiki on the saxophones have always sounded great, and Jacob, as difficult as he can be to tolerate at times, is a great trombonist.
We read more than ten tunes today, and recorded two of them. I have to say that they sounded pretty dang spectacular, especially "Girl From Ipanema" and "Ain't Misbehavin'". We read those tunes from the jazz books that our school also has, as well as some Taiki had already given me. My favorite was "Rain Delay" where it's just Cmi7/Fmi6 comping the whole song.
The hour-long ride there and back to Fremont wasn't that bad. Driving took place at 9 - 10 AM, and 12:30 - 1:30 PM, with a rehearsal/snack break in between the driving (obviously). I notated part of my jazz composition, "Jazzology", for the guitar (using chords and various rhythms I have memorized in my head), and it looks pretty adequate.
The next rehearsal for this gig is on February 4th, same time, but possibly a different place. We're most likely going to have everyone again, including Jacob, if luck prevails. February 28th will sneak up on us very quickly, that's for sure!
~Chris
Charlie Madding: trumpet
Lucas Hopkins: alto saxophone
Taiki M.: tenor saxophone
Jacob Speer: trombone*
Jake Nunn: guitar
Chris Hewitt: piano
Kennedy High musician: drums
Kennedy High musician: bass (I didn't catch their names)
* He wasn't able to show up today, but will for future rehearsals.
I think we may also have a french horn player, but for the time being, this is how our little group of musicians is built. The bass player and drummer are insanely good, and with Jake on the guitar, actually knowing what he's doing, and me on the piano (what can I say, heh), we've got a really strong rhythm section.
Charlie's trumpet playing is awesome--haven't heard him play in almost a year; Lucas and Taiki on the saxophones have always sounded great, and Jacob, as difficult as he can be to tolerate at times, is a great trombonist.
We read more than ten tunes today, and recorded two of them. I have to say that they sounded pretty dang spectacular, especially "Girl From Ipanema" and "Ain't Misbehavin'". We read those tunes from the jazz books that our school also has, as well as some Taiki had already given me. My favorite was "Rain Delay" where it's just Cmi7/Fmi6 comping the whole song.
The hour-long ride there and back to Fremont wasn't that bad. Driving took place at 9 - 10 AM, and 12:30 - 1:30 PM, with a rehearsal/snack break in between the driving (obviously). I notated part of my jazz composition, "Jazzology", for the guitar (using chords and various rhythms I have memorized in my head), and it looks pretty adequate.
The next rehearsal for this gig is on February 4th, same time, but possibly a different place. We're most likely going to have everyone again, including Jacob, if luck prevails. February 28th will sneak up on us very quickly, that's for sure!
~Chris