"What's the most people you've ever played in front of?" Questions kids ask....

  I had a student the other day, maybe 9 years old ask me "What's the most people you've ever played in front of?"

  I answered 3000 at Carnegie Hall. " Whoah!! Were you scared?"

  No, actually it's one of the most normal feeling moments of my life, kinda like if I was a banker and I got a job for a day at some big bank. Like, this is what I'm just supposed to do with my life.

  "What's the most scared you've been playing for people?"

  Hmm. That would be for an audience of 1, specifically my grandmother. When I was 15 she used to ask me to play guitar for her. She would read the paper while I would run through a few songs I knew. Then she would look up and say "Oh, have you started yet?"

  Brutal.....

  I love teaching kids cause they ask such great questions. Stuff I haven't thought about in a long time.

  "What's the fastest you can play?" Oh, I don't know. You've heard of Eric Clapton? "Yeah." How about Chris Impellitteri? "Who's that?" Exactly kid....speed kills. Now write me a good song.

J1

Buffet tenor saxophone mouthpiece....

As a saxophonist I still haven't found that majic mouthpiece. This madness can go on for years. I met a fellow recently who has the dream setup: a Selmer Super Balanced Action tenor in that Coltrane serial range with his $1200 Slant Signature Otto Link piece worked on by one of those famous re-facers. He was complaining about the piece being too this or that, I don't remember. He just had it re-worked and wasn't happy. Yikes. His mouthpiece cost more than my horn....and he's still not happy. I wonder what that is really all about?

I recently picked up a Buffet C2 tenor sax mouthpiece on the cheap to flip like a burger on Ebay. The auction had no description and poor photos but did say good condition so I took the gamble and won. I've had a couple of these before and I've always been able to sell them for a decent amount.

Trouble is, this is a great piece. You see them marketed as "classical" or "legit music" (what does that mean???) pieces but this piece really is great for jazz as well.

What do I like about it? First and foremost is the sound. Really is a happy place between a good Otto Link and a Selmer Soloist. More focused than a Link with that nice 'quack' on the attack that I like from a Soloist. It's dark and even, gives up the 'toasted baguette' thing I like: solid and hearty with a warm crispy exterior. It's got loads of harmonics but is also so clear in the center. Great depth.

It's easy to play, altissimo pops easily, subtone is lovely. It really likes double embouchure. I get not just a 'big' sound but the right kind of big sound. Big and muscular, not too many doughnuts big. Plenty of power despite the small tip opening.

And.....just like a beautiful sounding but quiet Selmer Airflow I played last month (Priced at $500 New Yorker dollars!) it is the most in tune piece I've ever played. This will save me and whatever producer I'm working with time on any intonation issues I may have.

I have 3 pieces right now, this one, an 80's rubber Link that I always seem to come back to and a James Bunte 42 piece which is more on the brighter more rock side of the spectrum. I'll play this Buffet a bunch and won't be surprised if I go back to my crappy Link in a month but for now I say give one of these a try. There are plenty of great options out there that don't cost Otto Link or Selmer prices. Heck, I had an old French made Bundy that knocked out some thousand dollar pieces! Experiment! Have fun and make the best music you can!

Los Angeles, dance music and MGM Grand.

I lived in Los Angeles from April 2010 to Febuary 2011, just a brief stint. I wonder sometimes what it was al about, that time. Then I ran across these 2 videos tonight and remembered, this is what it was all about....

I got to be blessed by working with some lovely folks, amongst them JMY Leary and MGM Grand.

I won't attempt to speak about dance or music here, anything I say would be jive. I'll just let it speak for itself. I'll just say that I can't imagine a more appropriate use of my work than what these folks used it for. I hope to collaborate with them again some day.

The drummer on the 1st piece is my dear friend Steven Denman. I miss him too.

Enjoy.

http://vimeo.com/37933876

http://vimeo.com/37180016

xoj1

The shame of being a good lead guitarist.

  3 weeks ago I was visiting a dear old friend from my college days who was kind enough to hire me to help rebuild an old recording console. It's always great to see this fellow, he's a true treasure and has a lovely family as well. He's one of the 3 people I still talk to from my college days, the rest I was never that close to and lost contact with the day I fled Boston. The day I fled, and I do mean fled (attempted murder got me to my safer city of Baltimore! But that story is for another blog!!!!), it was 1988. I had been a Berklee College of music student for 2 years at this point. I think the attempt on my life, well, maybe I attracted that as a way out. I didn't want to be a financial burden on my parents any longer, wanted to make my own money, carve my own path and after being the egomaniac kid I was, well, 2 years of music school, I was better than that and had something to prove. And truthfully, after 2 years of music school, I didn't even know why I started playing in the first place and didn't even know if I was any good at all! I needed to test the Kitty Hawk......

   So back to my friend 3 weeks ago. He was kind enough to take me to see Allan Holdsworth in North Hampton. I've seen Allan before and met him once. As soon as we sat down it took me back. Back to the same feelings I had when I saw Eric Johnson back in '89 or whenever. The audience was 96% men with a few unfortunate wives. Guitar player men. I don't remember much about the concert except I felt bludgeoned by the sheer amount of notes the 3 dudes on stage inflicted upon us. On the one hand, I appreciate the skill and the fact that Mr. Holdsworth has stuck to his chosen path for so long. It's not easy to do that. The opener was a huge Holdsworth fan. He said something about being grateful that we all got to share such a special moment in music history, when fusion was a somewhat popular form.

  Cool. I liked the people. The music? Not for me but I'm glad people enjoyed it.

  I have a problem when there are no women in the audience. I couldn't understand exactly why I didn't like it back in my college days, the music just didn't resonate with me. But when I was at sausage fest '89 starring Mr. Johnson I got it. This music is wussy and doesn't speak to half of the planet. Seriously. There is something mean about it even in it's instrumental form. I used to wonder why I didn't have more of those ultra cool looking Zappa records like my record collecting friends had then one day I got a bit more honesty in my heart: misogyny and homophobia just aren't my jam. I like The Jimi. He spoke to everyone.

  But....I am a good guitarist. Surely the song oriented indy world of the 90's would be better?

  The 90's started out good for me. I had some bands in Baltimore that were really good and I could express myself freely. Sure I was a drunk for that time, and still hiding behind a bunch of ego, but I got to play my ass off. Funk rock was king and the Chili Peppers were really good at what they did. I wasn't the biggest fan but at least I could fit in somewhere. And the more bored I got with taking my shirt off and waving my dreads around for the ladies, the weirder my music got and the more I got deeper into my own style and vibe on guitar. I stopped drinking so much on my own and realized my vibe was pretty odd on guitar. And that was a good thing. I was able to get out of the comparison phase of music making and just make honest music.

  Then I moved to Portland. Oof. This was 1995. The grunge scare of '90-'94 ended with a nasty suicide. I was sad. That band could play well too even though they downplayed it. There was a lot of passion in that now dead group. The changes left me lost. Portland was a totally different energy, different scene, different vibration. It was oddly divisive. Do I go Indie or blues or reggae or soul or rap or country? No, I don't blame Portland, I think things were just getting divided into pieces musically everywhere. Me being the hipster that I am got involved in the more indie side of things. I was not and never accepted. I was jamming with some folks one day and hit the whammy bar on my trusty old Fender Jazzmaster. The drummer, who was terrible, looked at me laughing and said "uh, you touched the bar". I said "yes, and???" "Um, nothing, I've just never played with anyone who used the whammy, that's so butt rock".

  What is "Butt rock?" Hair metal? The hair monsters never played old Jazzmasters and my style couldn't be further from theirs yet....I knew being good at my craft in this chapter would be a challenge. I suddenly felt judged, stigmatized and this sense of shame. I started to hide. The blues scene wanted me but I'm not a fan and frankly, I'd be a poseur in that scene. Reggae? I'm not Jamaican. Rap? I'm not angry. There was no passion or soul in indie for me though.....

  The indie scene was just as mean as the fusion and hair metal scene. Mean and ugly.

  I started coming across many people who were hiding. I started playing clarinet and saxophone with a Jackie O. The one place I could feel a bit safer. I enjoy playing 2 notes for 20 minutes, this was a group I could work with. But it wasn't really until I met Steve Lobdell and got in with a Rolling Stones cover band that I could actually play guitar the way I really can play and feel safe about it. The cover band, well, that's just what the audience expects. Good rock guitar. And with Steves band (Davis Redford Triad) well, he just has the gift of not caring what other people think, I only played with them briefly but it was a gift. My slow recovery from small minded indie rock hipster guitar meanness began right about this time.

  I wish I had it in me to not care about that others think, I'm better at it now. I am working on a solo guitar record that I'm a bit afraid to finish. I think the time is right and I feel like anyone can enjoy it. I don't use chorus pedals and could never grow the hair the metal guys needed. It's different. I do listen to new music as much as I can and frankly am wondering, where are the good guitar solos? Are we still dividing things so much? Why is it that I need to find the passion I need to be inspired by from records that are 45 years old or more?

  Glad to say though, this is the journey I happen to be on. If you like fusion or indy awesome. Go dig it. And whatever delight and disgust I've experienced on this road has made me the musician I am today. And today, I just enjoy putting my own truth out there for those to be delighted by and for those who have trouble with me using a whammy bar? Plenty of other guitarist to create with. Life it long, but it's still too short for shame.

  There was a night in Belgium that said it all for me. We had just finished playing a gig and the audience was not satisfied. They got in my face actually: "we paid good money to see this and that was not your best!" They were right. So in this group, well, we had little vibe cause none of us had really spent time together before except for me and the drummer. So he and I played the other guys off the stage. I wasn't a good horn player at this point but decided to give it my all. The audience started cheering and smiling. They showed their appreciation. One cat got in my face smiling and said "Now that is what I am talking about!!!!"

  In that moment it became all to clear. You can have all your stupid concepts and bullshit up there but in the end it's still just music which is still about showing up, doing your best, telling your truth and SOUL BABY, SOUL! The rest is just....bullshit.

  Do your thing and tell the truth. And do try to speak to the whole planet.....please!

JB

I had a dream last night that I got a great deal on a Selmer Mk 6.

  I spent the last 2 nights up the Hudson River with my dear friend Miyuki and his lovely family in their amazing house. Needed to re-charge the ol' batteries, just changed jobs and just moved into a new pad and, well, NYC can be exhausting.

  So I was in this deep sleep this morning and I had this lucid dream that I had just gotten a great deal on a Selmer Mk6 tenor sax at Wally's Music in Oregon. I had gotten tired of the key work on my old horns and to get more work I bit the bullet and bought this Selmer. I was talking to people in the dream about my justification of it, I now had a variety of necks I could try out on it blah blah and Wally's had given me $1200 for my horn which is more than I paid for it. My high end would improve etc, more work, good investment etc. I felt really stoked and had this feeling like I had passed through the fire somehow and grew up finally. Welcome to the world of sounding like someone else! I've made it!

  All the while I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I was giving up a piece of myself, my identity, my vibe to sound like an acceptable sax player.

  Then I woke up really sad with this sense of longing for what I had. I woke up feeling like I had given in and made a terrible mistake. It took about 10 minutes to realize my old horn was still in the room and nothing had really changed. It took me the morning to remember that I love my horn and more so I love my connection to my horn.

  Not that there is anything wrong with a Selmer. Give me one and I'll take it and make the best use of it I can. Maybe it would get me more work? I don't know. I heard that was true from some people. But you know, I tried a bunch of horns the other day and I sounded like me on all of them and mine killed the others, more guts, more....me. I can't escape me, I can only accept me and work on me. All good reminders. Spending all that  money won't fix any bad habits or improve my sound. I know this already.

  Sheesh, a dream. It's amazing how deep this all gets in there......

J1

A missed opportunity

  Some years ago in Baltimore I gained a reputation for having a kickass pile of old amps. Occasionally through the studio I worked for, Hound Sound, I would get a call to rent one or two. I got a call from a guy who wanted to rent all of my lovely amps, he wasn't a musician, he was a lawyer pumping his money into a band to get a record produced so they could ride the wave of the grunge scare of the early 90's. We set a price and a delivery date. The lawyer dude was very nice and had a lot of questions that extended beyond my amps, they went into the territory of how to make a good record, something I really had little experience in myself as my own band had not made a great recording yet.

  So I met with him and he discussed the project. It was a band called Bloom and they were from College Park. From what I could gather, they were metal dudes who played in different bands and they secretly liked The Smiths, The Cure etc. so when Nirvana broke with that heavy sound and really fucking good songs they could come out of the closet and mix it up. This was the early 90's and hair metal was hilariously still alive at Hammerjacks in Baltimore, gasping with emphysema, and we, the 20 somethings were taking over with new sounds.

  The lawyers questions started to disturb me. Everything was comparative. How did this band get this sound etc. It was all about other bands and not so much about Bloom, the band he was loading up with cash. I'll say it again: The second one starts to compare is the second one starts to destroy. This band didn't stand a chance with this kind of thinking and action, but whatever, I'm only renting some nice old Marshalls, Fenders and Gibson amps to them.

  3 days into the session I get a call. They don't know how to use my amps. They are too simple. Where is the distortion channel? Can I come in and show them how. I had a nasty cold and agreed to do so if they paid me a lot more money. No problem! Just please get here fast, we need to track guitars!

  I arrived. Oh God.....

  First thing out of the lawyers mouth: "We are trying to get a 'Living Color' sound, can you hook that up? Which amp should we use?" They had this poor friend in with his absolutely craptastic VHT half stack. They were trying and trying to get that "Cult of Personality" tone. It wasn't happening. In a moment of pure passive aggressive dickishness I quietly set up my old Marshall plexi half stack, plugged in a Tube Screamer and hit a big old E chord with every knob dimed. The sound of Satan sent the poor fellow flying across the room. I said "Is this the sound?" The VHT guy says "Uh, yeah." I tell him to please leave the room and take that sad VHT with him.....

  Next up: "Can you get this U2 sound like on Joshua Tree?". See, lawyer dude had a stack of about a dozen CDs that he was trying to get the band to mimic. I set up my ancient Gibson amp and a delay.

  A real problem was revealing itself beyond not knowing how to use my amps, these guys weren't a real band. They were in the studio without having played a shitload of shows, that crucial time where you are gardening and the fruits of that garden is a vibe, a sound, an identity. They didn't know how to play together. They didn't even know their own material. They were arguing throughout the session about how to play their songs. This pissed me off. There were loads of bands around that had talent, good songs, passion, a good sound but no money and were too fucked up on drugs to get it together. I'd rather they get documented for being good at what they did than these Bozos. I did everything I could to maintain a cheerful attitude and be nice even with a cold but then....

  "Sooooooo, we want this Nirvana type explosion here just like on 'Smells like Teen Spirit', can you hook that up?" "No, I can't and nobody can, it won't happen" I responded in a rare moment of brutal honesty. "What do you mean??? Why can't it happen???!" asked the lawyer.

  "Listen to what you have recorded already, you did the drums and bass yesterday, you didn't record the full band, there is no energy in these tracks. It starts here and peaks a minute into the song and flatlines like a dead opossum. If you want this to work you need to leave here now, practice as a band a lot, play some real shows, not 'showcases', get rejected, get loved, get ripped off, get pissed off, feel good, feel shitty, have a good show, a bad show and learn how to be a real band if you care otherwise you are wasting your money and you are wasting my time which I for one do not appreciate, now give me my money and I'll go home, eat some chicken soup and watch a movie. Call me when you are ready to rock...."

  Heads were down in that special shame position. Nobody argued with me which surprised me. I was expecting someone to tell me to go fuck myself but instead they all started fighting amongst themselves, blaming each other for not practicing enough blah blah. The Lawyer settled up and apologized.

  Why did I call this a missed opportunity? Well, I basically took on the role of a producer, which is a thankless task sometimes. It was a blrurry boundry. Rental guy to producer. It felt shitty to say what I said the way I said it but I couldn't see the opportunity before me which was, I was merely telling the truth.

  Producers get paid much more than rental guys. I actually like the role now. Bite your tongue and great work won't happen. And there are better ways to communicate than how I chose to that day. If I had to do it all over againI would have said: "If you guys want to make a good record hire me to produce it." And I would have set a price. I already had their respect. I could have created a fun challenge of taking a crap band and turning it to gold. Alchemy. Yeah, I like the sounof that. Alchemy Productions.....

  Amen. And Bloom guys, wherever you may be. Sorry for the crap mood that day! I do wish you the best.

  Jef#1

Mistakes.

  Played a solo gig tonight in the hood with Ohioan and Ember Schrag. Really nice evening! Susan Alcorn played pedal steel with the 2 other acts, those of you who don't know her, she is what I consider a true master. Heavy player. Transcendent. Risk taker. Always an honor to share the stage with her. My man Ryan in Ohioan I've had the pleasure of seeing grow for almost 9 years now. He took some lessons from me back in the day and he's playing so beautifully now. Showing up every day for your vision makes you good at what you do! I'm really inspired by him. And of course my main man Bob Jones on the turntable and Iphone Deejay! I feel gooooood!


  It's the first solo set I've done where I only played acoustic guitar, no pick, just my now blistered fingers and my trusty old guitars. I even.......sang. I want to do more of that. I'm writing more singy songs these days, it's the final frontier for me, voice, clarity, melody, connectedness.

  My man Aaron said to me that he liked seeing my mistakes, my struggles with the instrument on stage. I really liked hearing that. For me making music is reaching to be the best you can be then reaching beyond that into the land of dis-comfort. I grew up on Billie Holiday and Jimi Hendrix. There is so much passion there it sounds like the music could simply explode into disaster. They knew their limits and explored well beyond those limits right there in front of you, a journey. Music only really does it for me if I feel that tension of "this could totally fail! HERE WE GO!!!!"

  I've heard if there aren't any mistakes you ain't trying. I like to say if there aren't any mistakes you aren't exploring. That journey is hypnotic for the artist and the audience alike.

  I've had perfect shows before on tour. Perfect meaning the perfect storm meaning: connectedness with audience, each other, selection of music, performance, chance, RISK! I could always predict the next show would be awful. There is something about the human way that needs to repeat. You have a great experience, see a lovely sunset, have a shag that blew your mind and heart to little pieces, and immediately the mind wants a repeat performance. Joy turns into pain through pleasure seeking. Next night would be an insult to the audience cause the audience is different, it's a new day, the molecules in your body are different, you feel different, it's an insult to the self to try and re-capture yesterday! And what made that performance yesterday so perfect? The imperfection of it. Hard to get the head around it but I say, see for yourself. What do you think? The moment is truth! Best not to try and turn it into religion! The next night is a continuation of the journey, please, just let it be no more or less than that.

  So grateful to have wonderful people around me. Grateful to be able to make music with many of them and share with the rest. What a wonderful dream......

xoj