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 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!

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.

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.

The evening was a success and we’ll be doing the 2nd Tuesday of each month at Seven Main for the foreseeable future, starting on March 13th.

BTW, it will be an early start: 6:30 pm. The coffee is great, the deserts are amazing and the vibe is very relaxed. It kinda has to be in that cozy space.

The orchestra is filled with great local talent: Neil Barlow’s waving the stick, his multi-instrumentalist wife Kim is drumming, and Sherisse Stevens on piano rounds out the rhythm section with me on bass.

Trumpets are John Minnis (who recently took over teaching the music program at Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School) and Merrill Perret, who just moved to Muskoka. Trombone is nicely covered by teacher Alana Hall – who seems unfazed that I’ve displaced her from the bass chair she played in previous years.

The saxes are Rick Lamoureux on alto,soprano, flute and clarinet and the prodigiously talented Naomi Higgins (a grade 12 student in John’s music program) on tenor and baritone. Gerry Gerhart is using his electronic wind synthesizer to cover everything from oboe to cello, with Tom Hutchinson doing the real violin playing.

As usual, comedy abounds in the pit. It’s always a blast working on these things, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.