Mar 25

It’s the Holidays…

Performing, Random Thoughts No Comments »

It was my last day of teaching for Term 1 today. I’m really glad to be on holidays now even though I have lots to do. I have two gigs this weekend, a uni assignment due on Monday, and then leave for a month at Kapooka on Friday of next week. Feeling a bit nervous and unprepared for that but I’m sure it will be fine. I hope my legs (more specifically my shins) will be OK as they have been a bit sore recently.

As soon as I get back from Kapooka I have my first semester teaching placement. I’m going to be at PLC this year and am both excited and nervous about it. They have a great music school and an excellent reputation so feel a bit of pressure. I visited the school on Wednesday and at least have some idea of what I’ll be teaching, not that I’ll be able to prepare much while running around in the bush!!….

Looking forward to a wedding gig on Saturday with a jazz trio. Should be fun. Then Out for the Count returns to the Rainbow Hotel on Sunday night.

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Mar 15

Experimenting…

Random Thoughts, Saxophone Info No Comments »

Tonight I’m going to another rehearsal for a jazz quintet. I’m experimenting with mouthpieces at the moment, trying to get a more old-school sax tone. The mouthpiece I have been using since last year (a Michael Brecker II metal Guardala) is huge and gets a loud and “big” sound, contemporary and modern. I then played with an Otto Link 6* last rehearsal but that was still a big sound. Tonight I’m going to try the original mouthpiece that came with my saxophone when I bought it, a Yanagisawa ebonite mouthpiece…..not even sure of the size. Hopefully it will produce a smoother, more mellow tone that will fit in better with a jazz quintet setting. Should be fun either way!!!

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Mar 10

Inverloch Jazz Festival report

Performing No Comments »

Well I did promise to provide some news/an update regarding the Inverloch Jazz Festival and I have not done that as yet….so here it is!!

I was booked to do three performances but only got to do 2, as the last afternoon/evening was washed out. There were storms in the area and two of the venues got closed down and one of them was a venue I was scheduled to play in. I was meant to play on each night of the festival and after the Saturday night performance I drove for a couple of hours to get to my family’s holiday home to spend some time with them. I was on my way back to Inverloch on Sunday for the performance that night when I got a call (Thank goodness!!) from Jon telling me that it had been cancelled. I was pretty close to being back at Inverloch again but turned around and made my way back to Melbourne.

I enjoyed the festival and got to catch up with some people I hadn’t seen in a long time. There was some great playing around the venues through the weekend, from what I saw and heard. I really enjoyed the Air Force Jazz Ensemble, they play some great tunes with really solid arrangements and good soloing. I had fun with the performances I did but didn’t feel I played at my best. The great thing about a music performance is that once you played it, it’s gone…..unless it’s been recorded of course!! I don’t really care to hear any recordings of my playing from the weekend this time around. I was told about some recordings that people really enjoyed that I had done earlier though so am looking forward to hearing those at some point soon.

Have a couple of gigs coming up this weekend which will be interesting. Got a couple of calls yesterday regarding upcoming gigs as well so even though I am not playing as much as I would like to be, things are still happening. Hopefully the calls will keep coming….

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