Having kacked (translation: made mistakes; sucked) terribly at last nights rehearsal, I was anxious to get to rehearsal this aft. Right now I’m waiting (along with all the wind players) for the strings to finish their run through of the string orchestra selections.

We’ve already run the big challenge piece for me: the Moldau. Im convinced that Smetana’s wife left him for a clarinet player just before he wrote the thing.

The pic is Thomas Jones conducting a rehearsal Vivaldis Concerto for Four Violins.

Chick Corea on Tuesday night, North Bay Symphony rehearsal last night, gigging with Big East at The Brownstone in Orillia tonight. Its been nuts!

Chick was great, especially the first half. He was playing solo piano, and did some pretty free improv on standards and Monk tunes for the first act. Second half was Bartok and Scriabin. Not exactly Spain, but I admit I have pretty pedestrian taste.

NBSO rehearsal was also good, particularly since I moved last week, so I hadnt practiced at all.

Tonights gig is happening. The band is having a blast! Bass through an amp…. What a racket!

Drove to North Bay last night – in a snowstorm – for the first rehearsal for the North Bay Symphony’s “By Request” concert.

Good rehearsal: The Moldau, Porgy and Bess, the Darth Vader theme march (this IS a by request concert), and the Mozart Horn Concerto, plus a few other selections.

IMHO, and based solely on last nights experience, playing clarinet in an orchestra is very different from playing in a big band or concert band. Quieter than a big band, of course, and a lot less playing than in concert band. I presume this is because in a concert band, the clarinets are functioning as the string sections.

Anyway, I have a lot of work to do on the clarinet, so I’m going to stop typing and get to it.

So, I just did the first of a series of gigs at the Seven Main Cafe with Big East.

The small space means no drummer, so it was a quartet: Singer/songwriter James Jones (a hunk of raw talent if I ever saw one) who co-leads with Kip Daynard on keyboards. Guitarist Mark Sylvah rounds out the band and I play bass guitar. Basically everybody sings except me. That might change if I start drinking again. Continue reading →

I’ve been playing in musical theatre shows since high-school. But playing bass in a theatre orchestra is a new thing for me. I’m not a strong bass clef reader, since jazz bass playing is mostly about walking over chord changes, and I’m loving the challenge. Continue reading →