The last few days have been somewhat hard. I have been trying to get Tin Pan out to Central Park for the initial hit of the season but the clouds have been against us. Today is the day, however. It’s going to be 50 and sunny so we’re gonna go get some.
On Tuesday, Tin Pan / Baby Soday did a private party at a bookstore cafe called Rapture on Ave A. (Jared, Patrick, Peter Ford, David Langlois, Jesse) The best part about it was the sound. Their were microphones for the vocals. Everyone could hear each other very well. I had wished we were recording because the first few tunes were some really good music. We were very happy with the sound on stage and were grateful that there weren’t trains coming at regular intervals. It was a fun, hip, LGBT crowd. They dug us, we got paid extra!
Afterwards everyone but David went to Mona’s to hang out. It was right around the corner. The banded sounded SO GOOD! They played two very sedate, calm swinging tunes that made me happy. The scond was “Mood Indigo.” That melody is so strong and pretty and cats we’re so in the groove that when it came to improvise, everyone stuck real respectful and close. It was a nice change from the party we were just at. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have been playing so much, but I was more than happy to just listen and enjoy. I was moved. It was good. Nick Russo on guitar and banjo, Cassidy on bass, Gordon Webster on piano, and Dennis Lichtman on clarinet.
I wound playing some pool with Patric, Jared, and Gordon. Finally got around to playing some music and it was a joy! We played Honeysuckle Rose first with Ehud on piano. I got into a real zone where I was so relaxed. It was like I didn’t need to own any of my decisions on the horn. It was this happy pouring out of sound with a great kind of curiosity about what would happen next. That feeling lasted all night until I felt my lip getting a little tired.
The next day, Wednesday, Tin Pan decided to meet at Union Square because the weather wasn’t happening. I had my little flyers and my mailing list and the new CD’s and the brand new book of music I prepared. I felt like the session was more like a rehearsal for Shanghai Mermaid. We haven’t played as a quartet in a while. Even if we sounded great, 12pm-2pm is not a great time slot to be in such a noisy place in the middle of a rainy day. We made a few people happy but it was no great shakes.
Later, we all met up at the Shanghai Mermaid spot where we did a rehearsal with Juliette and Veronica Varlow. Veronica was so cute in the way she explained every single gesture of how she was going to do her act. “Then I’m going to take my right glove off, one finger at a time with my teeth, like this…” Us four boys were utterly hypnotized!! Stefan came up with a nasty groove and the band fell in. My specific job is to watch and accent every little shimmy shake and glove-pull. Tuba Joe recorded the number for Veronica to practice too and he sent around the mp3 to everyone last night. It kind of put the idea in my head that I should pretend I’m accompanying dancers even if I’m not. The phrasing and spacing of my ideas and the rhythmic thrust of what I was doing (I know) were very strong.
Today, off soon to the park…