It is almost impossible for me to have any sort of meeting with anyone these days without a clipboard, college-ruled paper, and a sharp pencil in hand to take notes. Sometimes people get flipped out. My friend Irene, on the other hand, is used to me following her around with my clipboard and making her repeat things very slowly so I can write them down.
One of the highlights of my week is band practice. It’s even better if we are not preparing for any particular gig because then there is time and head space to truly collaborate, and I’m not just barking orders for the sake of efficiency. Two of my very favorite musicians were at my house last night: Sam Bradford and Ted Ervin, and we had a blast. (The gin and tonics helped too.) Here are my notes from the rehearsal. They’re what I call scribble charts.
Trouble is, now I have to convert all that code into charts that other people besides me can read. Even more than that, I realized that I better get my butt in gear and learn “My Love Is” TODAY if I’m going to be ready to rehearse that with Ted tomorrow morning. He learned every note of Christian McBride’s bass work on that Billy Myles tune! And, God-willing, we’ll debut it this Friday at New Orleans. Check out this very cool version of Diana Krall singing it with Christian.
Okay – now I’m going to rehearse myself!