Hey friend, how’s your day? I’m still recuperating from the drive and the gig this past week. I’m managing to get a few chores done so I don’t feel the day is a total loss, but mostly it’s about resting. Y’know, it used to be that a drive across the province followed by playing for a few hours was no problem. Frankly it’s still my idea of a good time. But apparently my body has a different response. Oh, I still think it was nice to do, but it’s going to take a few days before I’m up for much. Remind me to be gentle with myself in the meantime, eh?
It really was nice to do, though. I’ve been lucky enough to play more than a few weddings in my time. The whole day was just right–the weather stayed fine, the setting was lovely, people were nice, heck even the speeches were just right. And it’s always particularly nice to be asked to be part of the ceremony. Good to be reminded too, in plain words, that real and meaningful support of friends is considered an essential part of a healthy marriage. Was good to see that support in evidence. Yeah, I think these guys’ll do okay.
Mostly I was there to play the bass, and to help out musically with the various folks who offered a tune or two in honour of the event. I think it all turned out pretty well. And I had the pleasure of playing with a tenor sax player who really knew the repertoire. At one point the sax player and the pianist were pulling out things from the book of infinite wisdom (usually called ‘the fake book’) and asking me if I knew this one or that one. My response, of course, was ‘No, but that’s never stopped me before.’ So I had the pleasure of reading a whole bunch of tunes cold. Was huge fun. Didn’t do too badly, neither. Although I had to laugh at one point. See, the sax player names a tune, calls out for ‘a medium swing’, then counts it out and we’re away. There wasn’t enough time for me to explain that I couldn’t swing ‘medium’ if my life depended on it. No, when it comes to the bass I’m afraid that when I swing, I swing hard. The guys didn’t seem to mind, though.
But the whole thing really was a gas for me on a personal level. See, when I was a kid I fell in love with Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman… Heck, that Carnegie Hall version of ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ is still one of my favourite recorded performances ever. At one point I could sing the whole thing, like some people can do ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, y’know? And that lovely rolling rhythm that makes swing sound the way it does, that was the first rhythm I could internalize. And because I could feel the rhythm inside of me without anyone actually playing it, I would keep that swing rhythm going while I sub-vocalized endless solos. I couldn’t play a one of them, of course. But I could sure hear ‘em. I guess that’s where that ‘having music in my head’ thing all got rolling, really. And even though my playing’s improved, to this day I’m still writing things that I can’t play.
And all else being equal I still have a tendency to swing. Hard. Now you know why.
So, yeah, it was a good night.