Being half Italian and all, I find the social aspect of this quite easy. (Have you seen the Facebook group, “I’m Not Screaming, I’m Italian – That’s How We Talk”? Pretty much all of the Monaco relatives belong to that one, including me.) The real trick for me is finding the time to schedule it in, the same way I schedule in practicing (first thing in my hands every day is a cup of coffee, the second is a guitar about five minutes later) as it is something I do value, and enjoy quite a bit.
I do have the Facebook music page now, put the ReverbNation “My Band” app on both music and personal pages, and sent out an email about how I’m taking the blog challenge. And would you believe, someone joined my Street Team? It was pretty cool, and now even more wheels are turning in my head as to what comes next.
I also started a Flickr account, but that’s going to take a while. I have so many pictures to share from over the years, pictures from gigs, pictures of other jazz musicians, pictures of me with ’80s rock and roll hair…the list goes on. Can you imagine if bassist Milt Hinton had had a Flickr page? (For those of you who are asking, “Who’s Milt Hinton?”, he was a great jazz bassist who never went anywhere without his camera, thus documenting the jazz scene in a truly unique way. Check him out. Check out his playing, too, for that matter – he was one of the greats.)
I’ve read in more than one spot that it’s a cool idea to take a picture of the audience from the stage, so starting this Tuesday, at my Cornelia Street Cafe gig, I’m going to take a picture of the audience from the stage, plus random photos off stage, etc. (For you NYC people: I’m playing at Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC this Tuesday, September 7, one set at 8:30 p.m., $10 cover, really cozy Greenwich Village bar/cafe/restaurant that’s been around for 30-something years, new tunes, lots of fun.)
Twitter is by far my favorite. I love reading the little bits of information that people share, as well as posting little tidbits during the day from my iPhone. It’s like carrying everyone with you throughout the day, which I find cozy in a 21st-century sort of way.
Ariel’s book has been fabulous, though for me, it’s more like a “Music Success in Nine Months” as there’s so much to do. Getting the ball rolling in all aspects has been really empowering, even if I’m just scratching the surface. Kind of feels like planting seeds, and the trees will grow…
Oof. I like my web site and all, but it feels so one-sided. At least the blog is embedded in it now, that makes things feel a little bit better. Still, I feel like my photos are spread out all over the internet, and that nothing is contained all in one place. But I am determined! This weekend I have a big “web site pow-wow” planned where I will re-vamp everything. I’ve taken note of what’s in need of some serious fixing, and I have a good web site builder friend that has offered to help me.
Technology makes me crazy. The good news is that there’s so much of it; the bad news is…there’s so much of it! I’m committed to getting this technology stuff together, though, because it means more interaction with people who aren’t necessarily in the neighborhood but are into the music.
Thing is, I’ve always wanted to have live mp3s on the site…music you can’t hear anywhere else. I love sharing these kinds of things with the audience who checks out the band when they’re not at a gig.
I started thinking about all of my influences, and writing them down, just like Ariel recommends doing. I found out that my influences come from the darndest of places, such as
- The Muppet Show: zany musical ideas, fearless risks taken with them
- Motown: the soulful music that filled my childhood home whenever my Dad was working around the yard or doing paperwork on his day off, or if we were having spontaneous family dance parties. (Yes, this would happen occasionally.)
- Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone method: the compositional style that alienated him from many, and endeared him to others.
- Eddie Van Halen. I loove Eddie Van Halen circa 1981. When I was twelve years old, I got a hold of a can of spray paint, taped up my ballet slippers and made them look like Eddie’s guitar. (Needless to say, it didn’t go over well in dance class.)
Definitely gives a lot of inspiration for new music.
Currently I’m writing for the new Deathblow CD that I hope we can record very soon. Doing this “`15-second pitch” exercise has affected this process in ways I never could have imagined, for every idea bounces off of the pitch itself, the definition of the group’s sound in general, and the potential that has for creating music that reflects that. A “wild, joyous ride”, so to speak…
Wow! What a week it’s been! I have been spending DAYS just reviewing what I want to say in my 15-second pitch. Here goes:
A little “fire in a pet store”, a little “scratch and sniff” – Deathblow is a smorgasbord of musical adventures, firmly rooted in melodic jazz, but free enough to make some noise. It’s the Muppet Show with special guest Miles Davis: zany and creative, always evolving.
I think that the above statement is fitting. My big joke has always been that free jazz sounds like one of two things: a “fire in a pet store” or “scratch and sniff”. However, that is not all that my music is about. I am a melody junkie; I crave it above all, even if it’s an atonal melody. (I used to hum the beginning of Schoenberg’s fourth string quartet in grad school – it’s fabulous and really weird.)
This pitch also connects with what I want to share through my music:
- warmth/fun/adventure/sense of community
- jazz is like an amusement park, complete with roller coasters, ferris wheels, and cotton candy (metaphorically speaking, of course)
It is my goal to take my audience on a whirlwind adventure with my music and my band. I love this music and I want to share it. I want to hold your hand and show you a world that could go so many different places. Being at a jazz concert is like being a fly on the wall for a conversation happening between the members of the group.
I want to change the conversation. I don’t want people to feel that they have to say, “I don’t understand jazz.” What is there to understand? It’s like going on a roller coaster ride: people don’t say, “I don’t understand this ride,” they just ride it and these unexpected twists and turns and drops happen, sometimes out of nowhere. It’s exhilarating for some, while others hate it.
This is what I think jazz is. There’s nothing to understand. What it does take, however, is an open mind, and a sense of adventure. You may have a little bit that’s familiar – a melody, or a bass line – and then the fun begins.
Being a jazz musician, it’s so easy to say, “well, the music speaks for itself – I’ll just keep playing and eventually people will notice.” This is true, but it only goes so far, especially with technology being what it is, and the fact that there are a lot of great musicians out there making really incredible music. I’ve already been to three concerts this week alone, and could have gone to more had my schedule allowed it.
Creating a 15-second pitch was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do. I now realize that by not doing it, it’s also one of the biggest things that’s been holding me back.
When I saw that publicist Ariel Hyatt was starting another Blog Challenge based on her book “Music Success in Nine Weeks”, I relished the opportunity to participate. Finally, I would be accountable for a strict timetable where I would have to produce results weekly. I have to admit that while I have concrete goals in mind, I am easily distracted by what the myriad aspects of being a freelance musician in NYC bring to the table (students, gigs, etc.) and I’m constantly getting off track.
The sad truth of it is, I’ve been on week one of “Music Success in Nine Weeks” for a while now. In between writing down my goals I’ve kept busy playing gigs with my band, Deathblow, and as a sideman; composing new music; serving as Head Director of the National Guitar Workshop’s three satellite campuses in IL, TX, and VA; and teaching private students. Not much time to be mentally prepared for anything, working that much.
Thus, the first personal goal for the next 12 months: “stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off.” Sure, there’s lots to do, and being a typical crazy New Yorker does not help matters, but the fact remains that I do have goals, and I want to be playing festivals with my band, and put out a new CD next year, and reach out to audiences who haven’t heard the music. I also have to make a living in this crazy town, which requires teaching a lot of students and taking gigs with others where I can get them. (Thus the headless chicken scenario.) Fortunately, the next few weeks are a bit quieter, something I haven’t had in about ten years, so I’m looking forward to getting super-organized and breaking these goals down into smaller steps.
My music career goals for the next twelve months are all about getting my band, Deathblow, to the next level. We’ve played shows in NYC, but that’s the only place we’ve played; we have one CD out, but the band has evolved in a way that sounds much different from what we were playing before. We need to get to some festivals and play bigger venues – that’s part of the big plan I wrote down.
A few months ago, I was thinking about artist-run organizations in New York City, such as Connection Works and the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, and realized that there is no such organization in my neighborhood of Long Island City, Queens. Next thing I know, I’m emailing every jazz musician and jazz aficionado I know in my neighborhood saying, “Hey, let’s start the Long Island City Jazz Society! Let’s have a meeting at LIC Bar (one of the local watering holes) and discuss.
We met on a Sunday evening in May, about a dozen strong. A lot of us were meeting for the first time, which was really nice. We then bounced some ideas off of each other on what we wanted to do about jazz in our neighborhood. Sadly, there is not one venue devoted to jazz in LIC, a problem we plan to solve in the not-too-distant future.
Our next meeting took place at Cranky’s Cafe, a quieter spot down the street. It was then that we started planning our first mini-festival, to take place in two locations: Gantry Plaza State Park and LIC Bar.
On Tuesday, August 24, at 8 p.m., I’ll be playing a concert with my neighbors Steve Blanco (piano), Peter Brendler (bass), and Christian Coleman (drums) as part of the “Live at the Gantries” concert series, located at 49 Avenue and Center Blvd. Following our set will be a jam session at LIC Bar, just down the road on Vernon Blvd and 46 Avenue.
LICJA’s mission is to bring jazz to Long Island City through concerts and workshops that will provide the community with this great music. We’re very excited about it!
From 1991 to 1993 I was blessed to have studied with the great guitarist Ted Dunbar. Ted had a very organized curriculum for his students which included scales, arpeggios, intense training in harmony and a method book that took one tune through all 12 keys and explored all of the intervallic concepts and chord/scale relationships for improvisation. It was intense and it took no less than several hours a day to even scratch the surface of what Ted was teaching us. He had the perfect combination of strict discipline and compassion; he cared deeply about his students and wanted the best for all of us. It was one of the best experiences of my life and one that informs my playing every time I pick up the guitar.
In addition to the above studies, Ted had all of his students learn 38 bebop heads, a list he compiled himself and played every night before bedtime. (I play them every morning before breakfast.) In his Jazz Improvisation class, every musician was required to learn all 38 of these bebop heads – drummers would have to play them on either piano or vibraphone – in one semester’s time.
Here’s the list. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Technology being what it is today, it’s nice to make a playlist of all of these tunes to have them all in one spot, then play along.
Yesterday around 6:30 p.m. I was walking home from the subway after a successful day of teaching and a trip to Staples for printer toner, all ready to go home and do some serious work, when I ran into my neighbor, Drew, in front of Kitty and Dog Lounge (our local pet store). Next thing I know, Louie walks out of the store with his dog, Dexter, and we all walk down the street towards our block (yes, we all live on the same block). We pass El Ay Si, the newish comfort food place, and the fabulous photographer (and another neighbor) Jesse Winter is sitting at the bar with his friend/next-door neighbor, Morgan. We talk and next thing we know, Dexter is tied to a parking meter and we’re at the bar having a drink. Dexter doesn’t like this, so Louie brings him home. While Louie’s bringing Dexter home, my husband Andrey walks by, sits down and starts drinking Louie’s beer. (Louie shows up about 15 minutes later and orders another beer and then drinks some of Andrey’s beer later on.) Then our next-door neighbor Nick comes by and orders a beer, then our other next-door neighbor Anthony walks by (but doesn’t stay), then I get a text from Christian Coleman (great drummer, also a neighbor)…next thing I know, it’s three and a half hours later and I have to go back into town to hear Brenda Earle’s band at Cornelia Street Cafe. After the gig I come home at 11:30 to find Andrey asleep in bed; he says that he didn’t come home until 11, that several more neighbors came by, and that he ended up having a burger at El Ay Si.
So much for getting work done, or going home before the gig, but the fact that I live in a city as big as New York and things like this happen makes me really happy.
In my efforts to remain more than just a “guitar player”, I occasionally dabble in the more “civilian” pastimes. One of those is mahjongg.
Despite having played mahjongg since 2002, I am still pretty horrible at it. My friends are very understanding, though, and through thick and thin (i.e. grad school) they put up with me and teach me the rules all over again. This Monday we will play mahjongg again, the second time in a month, so hopefully there is chance of improvement…
Happy New Year, everyone! I know, I know, it’s been a long time…but it’s a new day, new year, new decade, even, so here’s a new post.
I was looking at last year’s posts and realized that there was only a dozen or so. I hope to fix that this year!
The year is already off to a great start. New Year’s Eve was spent with our good friends Cindy and her daughter Lydia. Every year (since 2000!) it’s the same lovely tradition: a cheese plate with olives and what Andrey likes to call “smashed fig” (pressed fig with almonds), followed by a delicious seafood bouillabaisse with parmesan-toasted baguette “croutons”. We watch the ball drop on TV (this year on a live internet feed instead), have a champagne toast, and play a game of Scrabble or Monopoly for the next few hours.
The last time I had a gig on New Year’s Eve was for the millennium. At the time, I was working as a secretary and my boss needed a band to play a New Year’s party at his country club in Long Island. Even though I am primarily a jazz musician, I promised to put together a band that could play “dance” music. We ended up playing more old-school soul music (as opposed to the “Electric Slide”) but it went well, even though there were some moments that were a bit stressful when people were makingrequests and we didn’t know the tunes. I swore it would be my last gig leading a “club date” band as it’s not my forte, to be sure!
I’ve been unemployed on New Year’s Eve ever since, and to be honest, it’s fine by me. I still have memories of struggling to find a cab while schlepping my gear; being grabbed by the waist while on stage by a drunk audience member at Louisiana Bar and Grill in 1997 (screaming at him got his hand off me right quick); getting a funny feeling when the vocalist sang a particular line in the tune “Old Folks” (”someday they’ll be no more Old Folks”) only to find out that my Aunt Alice had passed away sometime that evening. Not the greatest of times, to be sure.
The only “club date” band I play in now is one that only plays a very specific repertoire of Motown and old soul classics, and whoever hires us can request songs in advance, but there are limits as to what we will play. This has made those gigs few and far between, but always a ton of fun for both the band and the guests.
Anyway, back to New Year’s…so I slept kind of late today (10 a.m.), got up, practiced, had breakfast with Andrey. We have no plans today – not even my usual gig at the synagogue is happening – so I’m home enjoying the sunshine, the quietness of the day. I’ll pick up my guitar again after this and write some new music.
Speaking of new music, Deathblow got together the other day to play three new tunes of mine, and it was pretty fabulous. Michaël, Sean, and Satoshi are just incredible musicians who aren’t afraid to participate in shaping the course of how the tunes will go. They never cease to surprise me with what they can do with a simple lead sheet of mine.
Deathblow has a gig at The Stone coming up, which I’m super excited about. The great saxophonist/composed Matana Roberts curated the month of January at The Stone, and she asked us to play on Tuesday, January 12 at 8 p.m. We’ll have mostly new music.
We’re also playing at the 2010 Winter Jazz Fest on January 9 at 7:45; we have a 40-minute showcase where we’ll play our four strongest tunes. This one’s going to be great, too as we’ll be sharing the night with a bunch of other great bands such as Elliot Sharp’s Terraplane and The Claudia Quintet. I’m looking forward to both listening and playing!
I hope that your New Year’s Day is a good one. ‘Til next time…
