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confessions of a professional musician

Archive for the ‘Salsa’


Merry Christmas

So, as usual, my family all have some sort of musical tendency in one way or another and we dicide to record a song since we’re all together. I got my dad to play the Bossa Nova Clave pattern, my sister to play some nice melodys, and my brother to learn the bass patterns. I figured that would be the best way to play something that everyone could play together.

So here we are, playing ‘Freddie the Freeloader’ in a Bossa Nova style. Enjoy!
I think it’s an improvement from last years!


Williams Family Christmas from junk_funky on Vimeo.

Featuring:
Charlotte Williams: Flute
Jake Williams: Bass
Margaret Williams: Shaker
Ron Williams: Clave, Cameraman
Forrestt Williams: Guitar, Bandleader

BHS plays MFC:

A friend of Jarred Pope (Drummer for Crosby & MFC) is the band leader over at Bakersfield High School, and he decided to work up a little Mother Funk Conspiracy into the program. In this video, around 6 minutes, the band breaks into ‘Hammbone Steaksauce’ from our last album. What a treat!

Also, here’s an mp3 from the Sabroso sessions earlier this month (with an intro on the upright):

Lo Que Va A Pasar.mp3

Enjoy!

A 14 hour workday is like a swift kick in the shin, but you like it and ask for more.


He is done with his work shift at the music store. It was a long 8 hour day for him. Still kicking a bit of a cold, he’s standing fairly strong. On the back of his mind is the fact that he gets out of work at 6 pm and his gig starts at 6:30 pm. That gig is done around 9:00 pm and his next jazz gig starts at 9:30 and lasts until 12 am. ‘It’s going to be a long day’ he thinks. Little does he know how long it will be.

He arrives at his rehearsal space to load his equipment into his car. He pops his trunk, steps out of his vehicle, and then it hits him.

“I don’t have my studio keys!”

He panics and looks around his car, which is a total disaster already. Even if they are in there he probably wouldn’t find them.

He bolts over to the drum shop and sees a drummer that has another room in the same building, attempting somehow to get into his own room but failing. The clock is ticking at this point and he’s freaking out and makes a few phone calls. He tracks down a set of keys from another musician he shares the room with and drives across town to get them.

By the time he shows up at the gig it’s 6:45. In a mad dash to get setup and park, the band doesn’t start until 7.

Fortunately, he doesn’t crumble under the pressure of the day, and the band kicks ass. The crowd goes nuts and the Salsa band plays effortlessly. Good times had by all.

Unfortunately, due to the late start time, he doesn’t make it to the Jazz Club (only two blocks away!) until 9:20 pm.

That band starts around 9:45 and plays until 12:15 am after one break.

And as usual, Grappolos is filled with gorgeous ladies dancing to their latin jazz all night long, which helps the night fly past him rather quickly.

He walks into his house around 1 am and instantly falls to sleep, sleeping deeper than he’s slept in months.

Month Recap

April, my birthday month, has almost always been good to me. This month had some great gigs, notably the San Diego show with Crosby. Also, I did a recording session with the salsa band, Sabroso, entirely on the Upright bass,

I played with some great new musicians, honed my chops with lessons from Jedi-Master Ken Hustead, got some, learned some. Great month.

There were more than 12 gigs this last month. I’m looking to top that in may, I’ve got 5 gigs this week alone.

And just recently, I won third place in the Drum Competition. That was a hoot. I felt pretty nervous, It’s weird having the entire place stare at you for 3 minutes. I’m used to that sort of thing on stage playing bass, but it was different somehow.

There was definitely some grumbling amongst drummers. Howard, the new owner of the Drum Circuit, told everyone that I was really a bass player, and when I got third, some drummers were a bit peeved. It was all in good fun for me.

Video of Drum Competition coming soon….

How do you salsa dance? Easy, first drink. A lot.

After working at Grand Central Music all day selling guitars (the things we resort to to survive!) I went down to the Drum Circuit to watch my friend Dale Moon give a free drum clinic. I showed up mainly to support him, I already know his schtick, but I wanted to represent as a friend. To my surprise, it was standing room only. As I drove up people were literally standing outside, straining their necks through the door to catch a view.

Then to Grappolos, the best jazz gig in town. Oh, how I miss that place. Darrel Voss plays there every thursday, and for the last two months, my schedule didn’t work with his rotating cast of players. Now it’s the ‘Darryl Voss Latin Trio’ with Larry Errone on Piano, who is a superb latin jazz player.

The vibe in there is so happening. It’s turning into the hip spot. The people I recognize were people I know are too hip for me. And I’m pretty hip, dammit!

Beautiful shaking of the hips, people lost in the rhythm. Dim lights, loud atmosphere. Drinks flowing, the owner being a big fan of Latin music. Building up energy with thematic, climactic solos that ecstatic reactions from kids who don’t normally listen to jazz.

I’ll be there every other thursday for the next two months, and it’s now the highlight of my week.

Salsa on Youtube:

Sabroso played last Thursday night. This footage is pretty much a timbale feature, considering the timbale player’s wife, filmed it, and it smokes:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5Fd1tthytw]

The best part in this song is when Dave (timbales) fakes us out with his cue at the end of the solo. It’s supposed to be this great, big drum roll, then full band break with a horn line. He rolls the big roll twice before he breaks and you can see and hear us all laughing and yelling!

Great Show

Sabroso opened for Sambada last night, and it was a smokin hot evening!

The band sounded great, everyone pretty much kicked ass. No one made any major mistakes, intonation was great, good times. I did have a little problem with the upright feeding back due to the massive subwoofers under the stage at Downtown Brew. Kip (the sound man AND the guy who runs the building I rent my rehearsal space) is my homey so he did the best he could and rode the faders. Everyone said the bass sounded huge and good.

Dave absolutely KILLED it on the timbales. I asked him about that cause he tends to blow licks at rehearsals, and his response was to the effect of, “Hey, that’s in rehearsal. This is live, it’s time to do it right!” What a pro.

Sambada is a great band. Afro-Brazilian funk. Everyone in that band can really dance. They all trade instruments throughout the course of the show too, which I thought was cool.

I don’t normally dance much, but I pretty much danced all night long with some lovely people. Good times.

Fist real Salsa gig goes well. The people danced the night away….

Amongst grey clouds and talk of rain, we went ahead and setup for an outdoor gig last night.

Sabroso played our first gig with two more on the books this month. Man, when this band is hittin, it hits hard. And of course, for the level of difficulty of this music and for it being our first live show, there were problems. And it always seems that everyone I know who shows up to see us play always see the disaster songs and leave. That ALWAYS happens.
But we had our moments.

So I worked at the music store from 10am - 5:30, then straight to the gig. Finished around 8:20, hung out for a while, went to Linneas ‘Jazz Jam’ night and jumped in for a song before heading home.

It was then that I realized why my playing was sub-par this evening. 2 reasons:

1) I didn’t eat since lunch.

2) All the salsa and jazz I’ve been playing in the last 2 months have been almost exclusively on upright bass. Due to weather concerns I played electric tonight, which screwed up everything for me.

and 420 and music don’t work together.

My Christmas Break

I haven’t had anything to post about for a week, what with Christmas and no gigs and all. But here’s a music related incident anyhoo:

I’m at my folks’ house for the break, in Southern Oregon, just outside of Medford, and I’m kind of having music withdrawals. So I organize my family to show them some of the new salsa music I’ve been learning and playing. I pick a simple and recognizable piece. What better than ‘Oye Como Va’.

My little brother Jake is 15 (Happy Birthday!) and is playing the baritone sax, little sister Charlotte is 13 and playing the flute. My father Ron is a great lover of music and was instrumental (no pun intended) in my decision to pursue music. However, he is not a musician. So imagine my surprise when he was holding down cowbell and clave patterns!

Here’s a short clip of us playing just the first part of the song. For having NEVER played any music of this type, and still being somewhat beginners at their instruments, I’d say we sounded pretty good and had a load of fun!

Williams Family Salsa on Vimeo
Thanks to Margarette (my step mom and great classical flutist and family music director) for the camera work!