Musical Moment

Last weekend I was at the most amazing acoustic event. A friend, Dave Lizor, was celebrating 30 years of hosting monthly jams at his house and invited people to camp, jam and listen to numerous musical groups that emerged from the jams over the years. Late Friday night (more accurately, early Saturday morning) one advanced jam was playing everything from blues to bluegrass to rock n’ roll to jazz and Karen suggested we do “One Note Samba” then said, but that is not a good jam tune. (Normally it is not a good jam tune unless the musicians know jazz, can follow a chart or know the song.) Barry, sitting in the circle, said we should do the song because everyone in the jam was a pro who knows when to sit out and listen.

We played the song and some musicians added parts and some did not. Barry’s statement caused me to reflect that being a pro doesn’t mean you can play everything or on every tune. It more accurately implies that you can be in the game as well as have the judgement to contribute your ears rather than your notes. The jam was amazing, with everyone in the circle understanding that nuance.

Musical Moment-June 9

Tuesday I played again at the Merriam Organic Farmer’s Market (in the Kansas City area). This time it was Martha and friends, and after the gig was booked I was relieved to learn I have friends who are darned good musicians. Mike Walker (my co-writer on Play Well With Others) and his wife, Vicki, and friends, Karen and Lee joined me. We have jammed together many times and this time actually practiced to put some of our jam tunes into performance mode. The rains did not come this time but the winds were strong. Lee cut an effective creation from a McDonalds plastic cup to shield the wind from the omni mike.
I think my favorite song of the evening was Princess Papouli (who has lots of Papayas that she loves to give away). Vicki and Mike sang a duet and played their ukes while Karen added a jazzy beat on the guitar and Lee ran fingers all over that funky old stand up-bass. And I got to improvise on flute, yeah! I bought organic produce which I have been busily cooking and eating.

Moment - Posted June 8

For the musical moment last week I would pick one that happened in a put together performance for the Merriam organic farmers’ market. Bill Langsdorf and I of the Checkered Past band were filling in time before two other band mates (Lynn Snyder and Kerry Stanley) could join us after work. We jammed on Bill’s bluesy finger picking version of Amazing Grace and jazzed it up with flute and harmonies for a moment that sound like we had actually played the song long enough to be loose on it.
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