"Blues In The Night," a great old jazz tune

Our big band, the Cats Jazz Band of Los Gatos, meets every Thursday for practice.  This past Thursday was our last meeting of the semester and we said goodbye to our bandleader. Russell Zimmer, who has taken a more full time job as music director for a school. 

I think the best song we played on Thursday was "Blues in the Night."  It was darn-near perfect.  Have a listen.

http://yourlisten.com/Stogiebass/blues-in-the-night-07272017

Primarily posted at my bass blong, "Playing Bass."

Moondance

From last night's practice with the Cats Jazz Band of Los Gatos, California:

http://yourlisten.com/Stogiebass/moondance-07272017

Tax Season Has Begun -- the Good and the Bad

This tax season I am working for another CPA firm, doing taxes.  I have to arise at 5 AM to leave the house by 6 AM so I can be at the office by 8 AM.  Not fun, but not so bad either.  When I'm not working I get drowsy by 2 PM and take a nap, wasting much of the day.  When working, I don't get drowsy.  Give your brain something to do and it doesn't shut down so often.

My new music session with the Big Band jazz and swing group has started as well.  We are studying these songs:

1. Duet (Count Basie)
2. Fly Me to the Moon
3. Bein' Green
4. Blue Skies
5. Almost Like Being in Love
6. Bye Bye Blackbird
7. All the Things You Are
8. They Can't Take That Away From Me
9. Four (Miles Davis)

I love all of these songs, even though I had never heard of Duet or Four before.  They are jazzy and peppy.

Here's "Four" by Miles Davis.

Vince Guaraldi Died Forty Years Ago Today

Vince Guaraldi and Friend

Vince Guaraldi died on February 6, 1976, forty years ago today.

I have written a lot about Vince.  See my pilgrimage to his last gig site and his grave site at this post.  Vince Guaraldi was a talented jazz pianist and head of the Vince Guaraldi Trio (sometimes a quartet).  His most famous tune was probably "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," a cross-over jazz hit in 1962.  It was jazz, but became a popular hit, and played much on radio stations.  For me, the song had a soft, haunting quality to it, a soothing acoustic balm for a harried soul.

Guaraldi became most famous, however, when Charles Schultz of "Peanuts" fame asked him to provide background music for Peanuts televised cartoons.  Vince wrote a bunch of new songs just for "Peanuts" productions:  Charlie Brown Theme, Linus and Lucy, Snoopy and Woodstock, Joe Cool, Little Birdie, and others.  These tunes are smooth jazz.

Guaraldi's Christmas album, recorded in 1965, is still popular and you hear a lot of these songs during the Christmas season.  That's the time of year when more people find their way to this blog, looking for information about the man.

On the day he died, Vince's trio was playing at Butterfield's nightclub in Menlo Park, California, not far from Stanford University.  The band had just finished their first set, and Vince's last song was the Beatle hit, "Eleanor Rigby."  He then retired to his room at the Red Cottage Inn, just next door, to rest between sets.  While walking across the room towards the bathroom, he dropped dead.  The cause was a burst aortic aneurysm, not a heart attack, as so often been erroneously reported.

So every February 6, I think of Vince.  He died young, at age 47.  He had so much more to give, and that is the tragedy of his death, and that of all talented people whose lives are cut short.  His music lives on, however, and Vince is still an inspiration and role model to those of us who strive for musical achievement.

U.S. Airforce Band Plays Christmas Jazz! The Performance is Remarkable.

Three things I love: Jazz, Christmas and the US Military. This video combines all three for a really special performance of Christmas cheer. Enjoy!

 

Cats Swing Band, Full Recital, November 13, 2015

We had a recital for our jazz/swing band last night.  You can listen to the entire recital at the link below.

My bass playing, IMHO, has improved greatly since I joined this band.  I have turned a corner.  I am not where I want to be just yet, but I am happy with my progress.

If you want to be a successful bass player:

• Learn music theory
• Learn bass techniques
• Learn SONGS.  The more songs you learn, the easier it is to learn new ones.  

Here's the link:

http://yourlisten.com/Stogiebass/catsrecital11132015

Stogie's Band: A Couple of Jazz Tunes, Live Performance #Jazz

Here's a couple of songs my band is studying right now.  These recordings were made at our regular weekly practice.

All Right, Okay, You Win

L-O-V-E

If possible, listen with earphones, otherwise you can't hear the bass and get the full effect.

Update for Georgette:

I added some more songs.

Dreamsville (Practice Sesson)

Cute (Recital)

Corcovado (Practice Session)

Satin Doll (Recital)

Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Recital)

Embraceable You (Recital)

In a Mellow Tone (Recital)

Band Practice - Jazz: L-O-V-E!

It had been a depressing week for me, so I didn't want to go to band practice.  I did, though.  I felt obligated since I am the only bass player.  However, when I got there, I felt like playing when I heard the horns, piano and drums warming up.

This semester we are working on some new songs.  Tonight we practiced Dreamsville, Corcovado, and L-O-V-E.

I was able to sight read the music pretty well, and was pleased with my ability to do so.  I started reading music one year ago this month.  I am becoming, more and more, a "literate musician."

I really dig the song L-O-V-E.  It has been recorded by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble and many others.  Don't remember it?  Listen to Buble in the video embed below. (Please excuse the misspellings and such -- apparently the vid was made by someone for whom English is a second language).

A Swingin' Safari! Great Jazz From 1962 #jazz #swing

When I was in high school, I lived in San Jose, California with my parents. They ran a music school for guitar in Salinas, California, and on Saturdays would drive there to teach. One Saturday in 1962, I tagged along. There is a stretch of highway there that is lined with tall Acacia trees, and which was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Vertigo." As we were cruising through these trees in my father's 1961 Cadillac, a song came on the radio that I had never heard before. It was called "A Swingin' Safari." I loved it immediately and was thoroughly enchanted by it. Now, all these years later, I still hear it playing in my head whenever I drive that tree-lined highway.

Thanks to YouTube, there are several good versions of this song in video, but I like this one best. Cute early 1960's girls don't detract a bit. See and hear for yourself.  If you can listen to this song and not feel happy, there is something wrong with you.

 

Sally's Blues and the Lost Cues (Music!) #vinceguaraldi #jazz

This is jazz, baby.

"Sally's Blues" is part of the "Lost Cues," songs and snippets that were recorded for "Peanuts" television specials, but some didn't make the cut and get into the final film.  Having never heard some of these songs before, I was very surprised to see (or hear) just how great and how timeless they are.

Have you ever heard of these Guaraldi tunes:  Play It Again Charlie Brown, Centercourt, African Sleigh Ride, There's No Time for Love Charlie Brown, Woodstock's Dream, or Pitkin County Blues?  This is jazz at its best.  I purchased both albums of The Lost Cues from iTunes.  They cost $9.99 each.

 They are often quite different from what you would expect for a Charlie Brown theme, but at the same time, very cool, very hip, very melodic, very inspiring to the musical part of your soul.

A Celebration of Vince Guaraldi's Sacred Concert of 1965 - Grace Cathedral #jazz #vinceguaraldi, #peanuts

As a Vince Guaraldi fan, I have met and made contacts with other fans through articles on this blog. I received an invitation from jazz pianist Jim Martinez to attend the 50th anniversary sacred concert of 1965. Jim's jazz quartet will be substituting for the Vince Guaraldi trio/quartet, as alas, the great Guaraldi is no longer with us. Vince Guaraldi was the jazz pianist whose jazz trio provided much of the theme music for Charles Schultz's "Peanuts" television specials.  Some of Vince's most famous hits include Oh Good Grief, Linus and Lucy, and Christmas Time Is Here.   His biggest hit, not related to "Peanuts," was undoubtedly Cast Your Fate to the Wind, a jazz piece that in 1963 became a cross-over hit in popular music.  I still love that song, and it remains one of my favorites of all time.

Vince Guaraldi died of an aortic aneurism (not a heart attack, as is so often wrongly reported) during a gig in Menlo Park, California, on February 6, 1976. He was only 47, and could have given so much more to American music. Every Christmas, the hits on this blog linking to Guaraldi increase dramatically. "Peanuts" Christmas themes are played on television, and many folks note that the music is attributed to someone named Vince Guaraldi. They google the name, and begin a search for who he was and how he died.

Among Vince's accomplishments is playing for a sacred concert in Grace Cathedral Church in San Francisco. His sacred concert took place on May 21, 1965.  A couple of years ago I drove by Grace Cathedral while doing some accounting work near it.  I thought about Vince's sacred concert, and felt sorrow that I had not been there and did not hear it.  Now, however, I can experience a worthy facsimile of it, by attending this celebratory concert on August 15, 2015.  So can you.

You can read more about it at the website All About Jazz.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, please come and hear this musical tribute to a very great musician.

My First Jazz Band Recital Goes Well

Last night my Big Band, now called "the Cats Swing Band," gave a recital to mark the end of the semester. The Apostolic Church on Parr Avenue in Campbell, CA were kind enough to make their church available for our performance, and the pews were filled with friends and family. 

I played my acoustic string bass, and all the band members loved it more than my bass guitar.  My friend and attorney, who plays alto sax in our band, said that there is "no comparison" between the sound of my stand-up bass and my bass guitar, and he favors the former.  I agree.

However, a string bass requires a lot more stamina, and I need to improve mine. I was pooped by the end of the performance.  Playing a stand-up bass is much more physically demanding than playing a bass guitar.

Everyone told me I played quite well, but being my best critic, I am far from satisfied. I was, however, blown away by the enthusiastic audience, who broke into raucous applause when our lead tenor sax player soloed.  They broke into applause several more times before the performance ended.  This was thrilling for me, as I have played in many bands, but have never experienced this before. 

Everyone in the audience was grinning, open-mouthed, from ear to ear, including my always grouchy little wife. Afterwards we had a pot luck dinner. The band was ecstatic over the successful performance.

Listen Here:  Link to Band Performance.

If you are able to listen, please use headphones in order to hear my bass!  

Band Practice: Progress!

Last night was the first session of my Big Band class.  It went very well.

You can read about it here.

Musical Interlude: Harlem Nocturne

"Harlem Nocturne" is a hauntingly beautiful, slightly mournful jazz piece that brings to mind Harlem at night. It was the theme song for the television series "Mike Hammer" a few decades back. With thanks to Pheasant Plucker for recommending it.
 

Music Update

I have been reading my bass clef with increasing speed this week.  Sometimes I find myself sight reading (seeing the note and playing it simultaneously) and then I think, "I'm doing it!"  Reading notes is not that hard.  The secret to gaining most skills is patience and repetition.  Take it one measure at a time.  Don't worry about speed at first, that will come automatically (and more quickly than you think).  Knowledge is not acquired instantly, you accumulate it with experience.

I'm playing my big stand-up bass, and I do get tired standing up too long.  So I bought a wooden 29 inch stool from Walmart for only $20.  This allows me to play the bass sitting down, sort of.  Since the stool is tall, I can still handle the tall bass.

Possibly my biggest musical goal has been to play stand-up bass with a jazz and swing band.  However, how do you break in?  Where do you start?  I could never figure that out.  This class, however, appears to be the door.

My Next Project: Playing Bass With a Big Band

Lately I have greatly dispensed with my chronic depression through interesting projects.  The first was saving two baby birds, Robins, taking care of them until they could fly.  They grew, they flew.  I wish them well.

The second was restoring a 70 year old German army helmet.  This was fun because when I started the project, I had no idea what I was doing.  I googled.  I noodled.  I learned.  Amazingly enough, the project was a huge success.  I have never been "handy," so my success in this was an enormous high for me.

My next project is playing string bass with a big band, playing swing and jazz.  I have already begun, having my first practice last night.  The project is actually through an adult education class, with a band leader and various musicians.  There is a big brass section:  a baritone sax, an alto sax, a trombone and three trumpets.  We could use a drummer and a tenor sax.  A guitar is coming.  As for me, "I proudly took my place, as the one and only bass" (from the Music Man).

My attorney (and close friend) plays alto sax, and invited me to join this group.  We are having a ball doing it.  The challenge for me is reading notes.  I do read bass clef, but not nearly fast enough; I can't really "sight read," but this project will help me do that.  I found myself straining to read the notes, and it was challenging, but I am sure I can do it, with enough study and practice.

I used my Fender Jazz Bass guitar for this first meeting, but will bring my Calin Wultur Panormo string bass to the remaining sessions.  A big band must have a traditional string bass; bass guitars are just too rock and roll.   I splurged on a better pickup, a Fischer, at $200, for my string bass.  Yes, string basses do need amplification (all those horns are loud), but this pickup ostensibly does not alter the warm, woody twang of the bass.

Our first three songs to practice are (1) Sing, Sing, Sing (2) Greensleeves and (3) A String of Pearls, all from the American Songbook of great old standards, which make for excellent jazz pieces.

O Tannebaum: My Favorite Vince Guaraldi Christmas Jazz (Video)

I love the music of Vince Guaraldi, and the Christmas season always makes people aware of him. He was the jazz pianist and composer who wrote and performed the musical scores for the "Charlie Brown" cartoon series, including "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which is played every Christmas season on television. It first appeared for Christmas in 1965. My favorite Guaraldi Christmas tune is "O Tannebaum," which is German for "O Christmas Tree," if I am not mistaken. Guaraldi's mellow jazz interpretation of this song is fantastic, and I particularly love it when the string bass and drums start several measures into the song.

Here it is:  enjoy!


 

Dave Brubeck, Jazz Great, Dies at 91

Dave Brubeck, famous jazz pianist, has died.  He is probably most famous for the song "Take Five."  Here he is in 1966 playing this great hit.

See Rick Darby's poignant tribute to Brubeck at Reflecting Light.

Vince Guaraldi at the Piano: Derrick Bang's Book on a Great Pianist

I am reading Derrick Bang's recent book, "Vince Guaraldi at the Piano." I met Derrick online when he contacted me over my posts about Guaraldi, a personal hero of mine as well as Derrick's.

 Derrick's book is quite compelling, describing the exciting San Francisco jazz scene of the 1950's and Vince Guaraldi's place in it. Vince Guaraldi is well known for his hit tune "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" as well as his association with Charles Schultz and the comic cartoons of "Peanuts." Guaraldi supplied the original jazz accompaniment to "Peanuts" cartoons and television specials.

Vince was taken from us too soon when he died at the age of 47 from an aortic aneurysm, often incorrectly described as a heart attack. He had just played the last set of his life at Butterfield's nightclub in Menlo Park, California, when he took a break to relax in his nearby motel room. It was there that the aneurysm burst and Vince died instantly, without even a chance to have a last word or say goodbye. The date was February 6, 1976.

Intrigued by his music, I yearned to learn more about this enigmatic jazz musician. I visited his grave near San Francisco where he is buried in a common grave with his mother, Carmella. I visited the site of Butterfield's in Menlo Park and the motel next door where he died (the building that was Butterfield's was torn down some months after my visit).

Thanks to Derrick, I am learning a lot more about the life and career of Vince Guaraldi (known as "Dr Funk" among his fellow musicians). Derrick Bang's book "Vince Guaraldi at the Piano" was based on many interviews with the musicians with whom Vince played music, as well as access to newspaper clippings and other family records. He was allowed to peruse Carmella's diary and newspaper clippings of her son, and thus able to string together the disparate facts of Guaraldi's life and career. Derrick was also able to obtain photographs of Vince from throughout his life, from childhood on, from family members, singers and former band mates.

Vince Guaraldi at the Piano

There is a photograph of a young, clean-cut, tuxedoed Guaraldi with his lovely bride, Shirley, in 1953. Other photos show him performing with famous jazz musicians like Carl Tjader.

One of Guaraldi's former girlfriends told me that I have a "man-crush" on Vince Guaraldi, and she is no doubt right, but there is nothing gay about it. I love many men and women whom I never met and never will meet in this life. They inspire me with their creativity and passion for life, their courage, their heroism, their example.

Vince Guaraldi is one of them.    Not just because of his great music, but because he was a little guy with small hands and short fingers who should never have been a piano player, but who refused to quit.  Derrick Bang likens Vince to Charlie Brown, the Peanuts character who was one of life's perpetual losers.  Charlie never won a baseball game, never got the little red-haired girl he secretly loved, who only got rocks instead of candy in his Halloween sack, never received a card on Valentine's Day.

But Charlie never quit, never stopped trying.  Vince was like that.  He learned to use his small hands on the keyboard in highly effective ways and it worked.  He overcame many discouragements, firings and failures, determined to make an important mark on the music world.  He succeeded, and no doubt would have extended his fame and musical creations greatly but for his sudden death at a young age.

I feel that Vince's untimely death was a great cosmic injustice, and I feel like arguing his case before the Court of Heaven.  Then I remember it will do no good.  Heaven has its own ways and purposes and we can only accept what it decrees.  Still, there's a part of my mind that wants to fight about it.

Now I have to dislodge my kitty cat from my lap and get outside where I can light up a cigar and continue reading Derrick's great little book.  What can you do?  You can listen to the sampling of his music below and perhaps gain insight into my admiration for Vince Guaraldi.

Jazz For Cows (Video)

These Dixieland Jazz musicians show up in a cow pasture and serenade a herd of cows. The cows' ears go up and they all turn towards the band and slowly advance forward in a line. The cows are curious and even seem to like it. Now if cows can learn to love jazz, can progressives learn common sense? Nah, I'm afraid that's stretching credulity to the breaking point.