Yesterday I went to a concert at the Vancouver Public Library as part of the Sweet Basil Jazz Festival – vocalists Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Karin Plato, and Jennifer Scott, singing with the Chris Sigerson trio featuring Rene Worst on bass and Tom Foster on Drums. I especially enjoyed Jennifer Scott’s version of Felicidade by Jobim. Funny, I found out later that this was the first time the group had played together, and was the first time the trio had seen these arrangements.
Had a lesson with Chris Sigerson today. Worked on a Cedar Walton tune called Holy Land. holyLand.mid. This one is like a jazzed-up gospel tune, with a classical-style piano interlude in the middle. I also had prepared There is No Greater Love, for which he showed me a cool “deceptive cadence” Ab7 A7 BbMaj7 instead of going directly to BbMaj7. And we worked a bit on All Of You, where he showed me this really cool #11 voicing for Bb7b9 (B,D,E,Ab), as well as pedalling over Bb for the A section. An exercise he gave me for improving my sense of time is to look at my watch and try to count 15 seconds without looking, and check to see if I’ve kept good time. This will be fun to try whenever I’m waiting for the bus. A phrasing tip he gave me was to make up some nonsense words that have a rhythm to them, and think of them when playing.
Today I saw the Metronomes at the Silvertone on Commercial Drive. Colin suggested we go, since the guitar player, Neil Cruickshank, plays in Leisure Lab.
Very funky, inspiring stuff. Makes me want to JAM!!! The pianist had a good setup – a Rhodes/Synth combination – it was interesting to observe his technique: at one point during a funk tune he was moving his whole forearm up and down rapidly, playing in perfect syncopation. He was also doing very interesting moves with his left hand – not just filling in chords but rather adding a tasteful rhythmic element. Too bad the audience turn-out was not too great – most of the audience members were musicians themselves. I wonder whether you have to be a musician to appreciate this stuff.