Friday, September 16, 2005

art of the jam 18

wreck room wizard o' sound andre edmonson had another commitmment, so jam-meister lee allen decided we'd go on the small stage by the window over in "wreck west." lee walked in singing funkadelic's "standing on the verge of getting it on." it just so happened that i'd been trying for 10 yrs or so to find musos who could play that song, so we opened with it, kinda setting the tone for the night, which was energetic and funk-wah heavy. (joe cruz nailed the drum part the first time, too, and yes, we _did_ play it again later.)

lee had hinted that some heavy jazz cats were coming, which actually motivated me to practice over the w-e, something i never ever ever do. funny: i think after four months on this gig, my chops are starting to come back.

jesse sierra hernandez set up his congas 'cos he had ppl to impress -- in this case, a bunch of brits who'd come over to accompany a kimbell exhibit that was just closing back across the pond. he'd had 'em drinking margaritas at joe t. garcia's for four hours, then brought 'em to the wreck so they could hear him play a pummeling solo on "oye como va." steve huber played his violin from the bar all night, running without f/x 'cos lee unplugged 'em after the third or fourth blast of ear-imploding feedback.

jeffa the nylon-string gtr dude showed up without his partner fern and played a little on the indonesian strat clone with joe, steve, and lee (on congas). they made some connections and jeffa gave me a copy of his sleeplab cd which i stupidly left in the bar during my drunken 3am load-out; hopefully it'll still be there the next time i go back.

later, a couple of kulcha far i boys (bassist john shook and drummer jeffrey williams) showed up with zimbabwean singer andy brown in tow, taking a break from rehearsals for a 3-week u.s. tour. they jammed a bit with andy on gtr, then lee took over the squier to ride their groove through an extended funk excursion. i got back up to play some hendrix with shook and jeffrey (kinda wishing kulcha gtrist ron geida would make it out; it's funny how many toons "impulse of will" plays that ron and i used to play in our late, unlamented days as "the occasionals"). then lee and joe came back to finish up, and john stevens from confusatron took over gtr duties for "voodoo child," playing long, flowing lines that cascaded like molten silver.

from my perspective, it was a great night: i got off, and we had a bunch of jammers, in keeping with lee's vision of "an ever-changing lineup of musicians." only non-snazz aspect: no andre, so no recording. feh.

as g. clinton would say, "stick it in yr ear and dig it..."

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