Typically I get tickets at the exact millisecond that a presale starts to absolutely ensure I get in. But I couldn’t do that with this show because of circumstances. Miles was playing in a concert the very same night, all the way in Richmond, and I wasn’t sure what time it would be over. So as a supportive parent, I couldn’t commit to Shelby. Luckily, the band Miles was in (BCMEA Honour Jazz Ensemble, which sounded great by the way), played first before the choir that we really didn’t need to hear. So as soon as Miles packed up his gear (drummers always take a long time), I shooed the family out of the church where he played, dropped mother off, dropped the family off, and high-tailed it to the Rio.

I even got a seat in the third row of the classic old theatre. As it turned out, I was about 25 minutes early. That whole time before the concert began Lynne’s music played through the PA. It was her new album, Revelation Road. I overheard a man behind me say that the entire album had cycled through three times, and he had never heard anything like that at zillions of shows he had attended over the years. It was in fact  odd to hear recorded songs that we were about to hear live. Whether it was for marketing purposes, or due to a lack of imagination, playing the headliner’s music before the gig was a misguided decision.

Why I wanted to be at the show: I have a thing for female singer/songwriters like Lynne, her sister Allison Moorer, Tift Merrit, Patty Griffin, and Julie Miller, who all have country roots but don’t necessarily stay where they came from. I saw Lynne perform at Richard’s on Richards (miss that place) in 2008. It was a much different show, with a band, that focused on songs from her Dusty Springfield tribute album (Just a Little Lovin’). And I liked it, a lot, mainly because of Lynne’s spot-on singing and stage presence.

A clip from Lynne’s Portland show, the night before performing in Vancouver (and wearing the same vest):

Why I enjoyed the Rio show:

The evening started slowly, with the odd choice of pre-concert music, and she looked and sounded kind of indifferent during her first few songs. But Lynne loosened up, especially after she picked up a guitar that clearly wasn’t tuned the way she wanted it. After her guitar tech grabbed the guitar to give it another go, Lynne said, in a deadpan voice: “This shit doesn’t happen to Joni Mitchell.”

Later, someone requested “Old #7″, a great drinking tune from her Tears, Lies, And Alibis album. Lynne shot darts in the direction of the requester and said “I don’t normally take requests.” Then she proceeded to perform the song.

She won me and the rest of audience over with both incidents. Lynne can be very gracious with audiences, but she also has an edge that makes her so interesting.

Other reasons why I enjoyed the Rio show:

• She did “Killin’ Kind”, which is a perfect pop song, and “Leavin’”, which is a perfect soul song.
• Lynne performed solo – accompanying herself on guitar – which isn’t all that rare, but I still marvel at the ability of artists to do it. I know I would be scared shitless.
• She was generous in giving a fairly long show, starting with tunes from the new album (hmmm … sounds familiar) and thanking the audience for listening to the new material, then giving a cross-section of songs from her career.
• Lynne talked just the right amount between songs, giving context to some tunes, and indirectly conveying the sense that she’s found her way through challenges.

Next time I’m buying a ticket right away.

Another clip from Portland:

I have a thing for characterful cemeteries, like Père Lachaise in Paris. I’ve been there a number of times, and on the last visit, I saw Petrucciani’s tombstone. So he’s there with Chopin, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, and other iconic artists. When I visited, I didn’t know what I know now about Petrucciani’s extraordinary life after seeing the film. But I’m glad I saw the resting place of a master musician.

How masterful was he? Check out this mind-blowing version of “Caravan”:

I’ve always resisted going to see shows at the River Rock Theatre. I cringe when I see the likes of Air Supply and Chicago in the River Rock’s weekly Georgia Straight ad. Although I’ve always said I would go if Merle Haggard showed up. (I’ve seen Johnny Cash and George Jones but not The Hag.)

Well, I finally caved when two sets of friends said they were going to see The Zombies at the River Rock. I didn’t know much about the band, aside from their great song “She’s Not There”, which the band I play in covers. So I bought a ticket. (Why are River Rock tickets so expensive? Another deterrent to going there.) I took the Canada Line directly to the Rock and walked by the depressing scene of mainly Asian people throwing their money away in the casino to get to the theatre.

I’ll talk about both musical and non-musical aspects of the evening. Musically speaking, the Zombies were very good. I could see why the band has been so influential (many artists – from Elliott Smith to Neko Case to the Foo Fighters – have covered Zombies songs). They wrote great, ahead-of-their-time songs (like “Time of the Season” and “Care of Cell 44″) and still perform them with a lot of vigour.

The show was part of the Zombie’s 50th anniversary tour. Think about that for a second – that’s mind-boggling longevity (regardless of the long hiatus they had). Colin Blunstone is still a wondrous singer and Rod Argent is still the quintessential rock keyboardist. As a keyboardist myself, it was a thrill to hear Argent live. And Jim Rodford, longtime Kinks bassist, was also in the band, which was a bonus.

Check out Argent’s killing, multi-keyboard solo on “She’s Not There”:

And here’s the original version of “She’s Not There”, with beautiful women in arty poses:

I didn’t care for the Strawbs, who opened for the Zombies, mainly because I found lead singer Dave Cousins’ voice grating. They haven’t aged well like the Zombies.

Now for the non-musical report. The audience at the River Rock was pretty much as scary as I thought it would be. Many older men with receding hairlines (including myself) and pot bellies. (I’m not judging, I’m just sayin’.) Then there was the Man from Glad sitting in front of me. He tried very hard to pick up the woman seated two over from him. He talked her up, and she wasn’t resisting, talking as loudly as he was – in the middle of the concert! Glad Man eventually wormed his way over to the seat next to her and soon had his arm behind her seat. After the show, however, he walked away empty-handed. She’s not there, indeed.

June 27, 2008. That’s the date when you emailed me with a recommendation to listen to a band I had never heard of: Bon Iver, who had put out an album called For Emma, Forever Ago. In the email you nailed it when you said, “Let the song “Flume” make you weep like a baby.”

Sometimes when you get deeply into an artist, you lose sight of how the enchantment began. To be honest, I had forgotten how I got turned on to Bon Iver (Justin Vernon and his bandmates). I vaguely recalled learning about Vernon from a friend in email, but I didn’t remember who and when. Gmail search gave me the answer in a millisecond.

So now, more than three years later, I’m writing to say thank you. Thank you so much for knowing me well enough and taking the time to suggest that I check out Bon Iver’s music. I had no idea at the time where the music would take me. And it’s taken me to unexpected places.

Specifically, it took me to Raleigh, North Carolina. Months ago we were lucky enough to get tickets to this week’s Bon Iver show at the Orpheum Theatre. Awhile later we booked a trip to North Carolina to visit family, and M found out that Bon Iver was performing in Raleigh, an hour and a half drive from where we were staying. The brilliant idea came up of going to the concert, even though we already had tickets to the Vancouver show.

After mulling it over we decided to go for it, because we thought it would be special given that Vernon lived in Raleigh during a critical period in his musical development (read this very good feature on Vernon’s Raleigh years in the Independent Weekly), and simply because when you have a chance to see Bon Iver, you take it. Plus I’ve never seen an artist twice on the same tour, so this gave a unique opportunity to compare performances two months apart. Finally, I love going to shows in foreign places; some of my best concert memories are from other cities – being somewhere else adds to the uniqueness of a performance.

So the three of us, including Miles (who has become a huge Bon Iver fan – those screamo/death metal days are a distant memory) made our way to the concert at the Raleigh Amphitheater, an outdoor venue. The heat in Raleigh that day was insane – the high was about 104°F. By showtime in the evening, it was still pretty hot, so that might have affected our ability to enjoy the show. That said, it was a wonderful concert. Aside from Vernon’s magnetic falsetto singing and all-round musicality, I was struck by how much was going on with the eight-piece band. The musicians adeptly switched between multiple instruments – from electric guitar to violin to keyboards to french horn and beyond – which made for a sumptuous aural palette. Despite the heat, and the somewhat soulless venue, we were glad we went to the show.

Art shot (ie photo that didn’t turn out) of Bon Iver at the Raleigh Amphitheater:

Vids I took of Bon Iver in Raleigh:

We went to the Orpheum with the kind of anticipation you have before seeing an extraordinary artist for the first time, even though it wasn’t. The anticipation paid off – it was as perfect a show as I could imagine. The Raleigh concert was early in the tour, so the band was still developing chemistry. At the Orpheum, the musicians sounded completely in sync. The songs – from Bon Iver’s two albums and one ep – sounded like they were fully realized versions of Vernon’s vision (that alliteration wasn’t intentional).

There were some differences between the shows. In Raleigh, Bon Iver did a terrific obscure cover of Björk’s “Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)”, featuring multi-instrumentalist Reggie Pace as a human beat box; they didn’t do that tune in Vancouver. But here, there seemed to be more opportunities for the musicians – like saxophonist/circular breathing whiz Colin Stetson and drummer/keyboardist Sean Carey – to stretch out. The sound was also better at the Orpheum, not to mention the non-sweltering temperature.

In my world, getting a tip on a new band is the best possible gift. Through a casual email, you gave me that gift. So thank you.

Cheers,
C

Jian Ghomeshi did an insightful interview with Justin Vernon on Q – check out the interview.

Compare and contrast – “For Emma” and “The Wolves (Act I and II)” in Vancouver:

Very sad. It’s hard to believe that it’s come to this for one of the greatest ever soul and funk artists.

The news today is reminding me about the time I saw Sly perform (and I use that word loosely) in Paris. In July 2007 we lived in Paris for two weeks. Before arriving in the City of Light, I did what I always do before travelling somewhere: I researched what concerts would take place during our stay. Part of my research was seeing what was on at the Olympia, a legendary music hall in Paris (everyone from Edith Piaf to Led Zeppelin has performed there). Fifteen years earlier, while living in Paris for two months, we went to a bunch of memorable concerts at the Olympia (David Byrne with his Rei Momo Latin band, Khaled, Les Negresse Vertes).

So I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw that Sly & The Family Stone were scheduled to perform there on July 23, 2007. But I knew all about Sly’s long history of erratic behaviour, so I hesitated. I decided in the end to go for it, because when would I get another chance to see Sly?

All of the seats in the Olympia can either be in place or removed, and it was the latter that night. The sold-out hall was completely packed with people, including many who had probably gone through the same inner dialogue that I had before spending 55 euros on a ticket.

The show started well with the opener Martha High, who sang for years with James Brown. Martha’s soulful voice was in fine form, and her band the Shaolin Temple Defenders (great name) brought it. Then Sly’s band came on. It didn’t include the great bassist Larry Graham, but it did include original Family Stone member Cynthia Robinson on trumpet and vocals. Plus family members Vet and Lisa Stone were in the group. This version of the Family Stone sounded great as they performed a number of tunes. But where was Sly? I was starting to get nervous, and thinking that I should have listened to my intuition and saved my euros.

He eventually came on stage. His voice reflected the hard life he’s led since his glory days, but still had enough of that character I love from the classic Sly & The Family Stone tracks. He played a keyboard and also came out to the front of the stage and generally showed a lot of energy for a reclusive/aging/fading rock star. The problem was Sly only performed for about 15 minutes (his band was up there considerably longer). Sly left the stage at least twice, and the video below of “I Want To Take You Higher” captures his immortal words before one of those exits: “I’m going to go take a piss. I’m old.”

While I didn’t get my money’s worth, somehow I didn’t regret going to the show. I got my 15 minutes of Sly, in Paris no less, and that was enough to qualify as a memorable concert experience. In light of Sly’s situation now, it probably was my one and only chance to see the soul/funk master.

Videos I took of Sly & The Family Stone at the Olympia in Paris:

Postscript:

September 27, 2011

After Sly was outed as a homeless person, I had a feeling that it was just a matter of time before goofy things started happening, given America’s obsession with alternately worshipping and bringing down celebrities. It’s starting. Today, TMZ posted a video interview with Sly, who did the interview while lying down in his van. As one of the commenters on the video put it, you can smell a reality show coming. Meanwhile, whatever shred of dignity Sly has left is being further eroded.

Sly & The Family Stone, more than 40 years ago when they were at the height of their powers, on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour:

But saying I was busy is just a lame excuse. I could have blogged if I really wanted to. It’s not like there was any shortage of topics. As always, I went to many concerts in the last year, and I could have reviewed any number of them. In case you’re wondering, since that Bublé show, I’ve seen the following artists:

The National, The Walkmen, Arcade Fire, Calexico, Broken Social Scene, Big Boi (the last time I had to accompany Miles to a concert – no more hip hop and metal for me), Sufjan Stevens, Gorillaz, N.E.R.D. (Pharrell Williams), Lila Downs, Concha Buika, Junip, Galaxie 500, Rufus Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Grinderman (Rufus/Teddy and Grinderman, featuring Nick Cave, on the same night!), Leonard Cohen, Black Dub (Daniel Lanois), the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (doing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 and Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125, including the Vancouver Bach Choir singing “Ode to Joy”), Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses, Owen Pallett, Donny McCaslin, Orrin Evans (McCaslin and Evans in NYC), Ernie Watts and the Capilano University “A” Band, Salif Keita, Robert Plant, Fleet Foxes,  the Pixies, Imaginary Cities, Tonbruket (Dan Berglund), Robert Glasper, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Trombone Shorty, Lucinda Williams, Ana Moura, The Bad Plus, Colin Stetson, Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Richard Galliano & Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Atomic, L. Subramaniam, Spirit of the West, Dan Mangan, Gillian Welch, Rosanne Cash, The Jayhawks, Solas, Kathryn Calder, Jenny Whiteley, James Cotton and numerous other artists at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Bon Iver (along with the Rosebuds in Raleigh, North Carolina), Beirut, the Decemberists, Okkervil River, Charles Bradley, Iron & Wine, Marketa Irglova (of the Swell Season), Devo, the Pointed Sticks, the Lewis Nash Quintet, Karkwa, and Aidan Knight.

Some photos I took:

L. Subramaniam at Summer Live:

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at the Folk Fest:

Kathryn Calder at the Folk Fest:

Okkervil River at Malkin Bowl:

Devo at the Vogue:

And that doesn’t include the band I play in, OEQ, performing at Kits Neighbourhood House and the Kitsilano Showboat, and Miles performing with the TD High School Jazz Intensive band at David Lam Park and the UBC Senior Jazz Band at the Chan Centre.

But no, I didn’t write a word. Until now. Although simply posting a list of concerts doesn’t really count. That’s more bragging than blogging. (I thought it would be an interesting exercise to go through Google Calendar and make a list of all the concerts I went to in the last year. My conclusions: I go to a lot of “alternative” shows where most of the audience is half my age – will I still be doing this when I’m 64?; I have no idea whether my concert-going is slowing down or keeping pace with past years; I’m a lucky guy to be able to see so many shows; and no wonder my hearing is going.)

I’m still not going to write anything of substance about those concerts, most of which were wonderful. But this is my way of easing back into blogging. I was wrong to think that blogging isn’t a must-do for me; writing has been a big part of who I am since Grade 9 (when I had an epiphany, in English class, that I could write), so I NEED to do it. Stay tuned for some actual writing.

Rush
Yes finally, THE HOLY TRIUMVIRATE! The time had come for Vancouver to experience the Time Machine Tour. Since June 29, 2010, Rush had been playing the same setlist, consisting of new and old material, as well as Motion Pictures in its entirety. Coincidentally, even though my friend and I had bought tickets ourselves, my other friends who had bought tickets were sitting really close to us. It was the set-up for the perfect concert. With the humorous video opener that led to the band opening with the anthem “Spirit of Radio”, I actually ended up sitting back for most of the first set. The first set consisted mostly of newer songs from Snakes & Arrows and Clockwork Angels, as well as songs from most of their 80s albums. I was surprised at how many fans knew most of those songs by heart. However, I was so glad that they ended the set with “Subdivisions”, which got the entire crowd singing along.

After the intermission, Motion Pictures started and the rest of the night turned into an air-drumming frenzy, for myself and everybody else in Rogers Arena that night. At one point, somebody dressed in a Canucks jersey appeared out of nowhere onstage, as well as somebody dressed as a bear in a Bruins jersey, which resulted in a hilarious fight as Rush played on. Ending with a video featuring the Rush-loving characters Peter and Sydney from the movie I Love You, Man, the concert came to a close with the sudden realization: are these guys ever gonna stop being amazing?!?!

Christian McBride
Straight off the bat, I was totally blown away at this concert by the solos by everyone in this quintet. Warren Wolf (vibraphone) and Ulysses Owens Jr. (drums) were especially demonstrating their incredibly dynamic abilities on their instruments. Wolf played licks that I didn’t even know were possible on the vibes, and at one point during the set, McBride called him the “Mike Tyson of the vibes”. Owens Jr. really stood out to me mainly for how dynamic his solos were. It was a great concert that inspired all of us from HSJI that were in attendance.

One of the best things about being a part of the jazz intensive is you get free tickets to select shows. These are the shows that I’ve seen so far:

Dan Berglund’s Tonbruket
After I arrived at Performance Works for the second set of Dan Berglund’s Tonbruket, I walked up to the venue to meet with the other members of the HSJI who had just gone to see the first set. As much as they had tried to describe the performance, they were mostly at a loss for words. I felt the same after seeing Tonbruket. If you recognize the name Dan Berglund at all, it might be because he was previously the bassist for Swedish trio e.s.t. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio), which came to an end after the tragic death of Svensson. Tonbruket is completely different from e.s.t. The array of sounds and tonal subtleties coming from all kinds of genres combined to create something incredible. The addition of pedal steel to the mix changed the vibe as well. As a drummer, what I took from the performance especially was the nature of the groove, which was always there. And I definitely cannot complain about the fact that this was an extremely tight-knit band. Thank you Tonbruket for a great start for my jazz festival experience this year.

Robert Glasper Trio
I cannot explain how stoked I was for this show. Ever since my friend introduced me to pianist Robert Glasper’s music last summer, I have been in love with his music, which draws on influences from both jazz and hip-hop. With a good sense of humor to get the audience engaged, Glasper and co began the set with ease and confidence. Drummer Mark Colenburg’s style is very similar to regular Glasper drummer Chris “Daddy” Dave in the way that they both love demonstrating their abilities to use the whole kit, while also playing very “beat-based” grooves for most of the songs. The trio seamlessly played through songs from Glasper’s albums as well as some classic J Dilla beats. Another great crowd-pleaser was how the trio transitioned through popular songs, going through tunes such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “Changes”, “Time After Time” and “Kiss From A Rose”. Although I loved the way all three of them interacted that night, what stood out for me was Glasper’s consistency, playing beautifully in context within whatever style he was playing.

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society
Wow. If I could really sum this up somehow: a perfect accumulation of innovative sounds and moods for the modern big band. I don’t have too many words to describe this performance, but I can say that all the songs were very cinematic, as each song had an interesting backstory which Argue explained and obviously had a very thorough understanding of. The highlight of the performance was actually during the encore, which featured a solo from Ingrid Jensen on trumpet. She just went insane and blasted through the complex changes, while maintaining musicality. I thoroughly enjoyed Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, as the music was like nothing I had ever heard before from a big band (and did I mention that Argue is a native British Columbian?!).

Brasstronaut
As hard as I tried to enjoy this show, I just could not. Brasstronaut was just average for me, if not less (maybe it was the fact that all the concerts I had already gone to were amazing?). Walking into this concert, I only received the vague description that they were “indie rock/jazz”. I didn’t feel like the music was very jazz at all really. I mean, sure there was a trumpet and a clarinet but they rarely got a chance to solo, plus most of the time they were only playing harmonies over the already pretty generic sounding songs. There were definitely some unique moments because of the instrumentation, but sadly these moments were almost ruined by various technically difficulties with the sound.

Eivind Aarset Sonic Codex Orchestra
The sight that immediately struck me as I entered the Roundhouse Performance Centre: 2 drum sets! Should I also mention all the percussion/electronics surrounding those drum kits? Of course the table for guitar effects and the Mac laptop caught my attention as well. The first song began slow and spacey with mainly guitar noodling, but caught me out of nowhere as both of the drummers established a great groove. I’m usually a little skeptical about two drummers playing the same thing at the same time, but it only added positively to the thickness of the groove. There would be times when there were shots that the drummers would both catch, and the fills that each drummer would do in between contrasted really nicely, to my surprise. The performance evoked feelings that were totally otherworldly.

My official excuse for this reckless behaviour: I did it all for my mother. She’s a fan, so I bought the tickets for her birthday. Mom obviously couldn’t go by herself, so I was just volunteering myself to accompany her.

Here’s my dirty secret: Weeks before my wife suggested giving the concert tickets as a present, I actually thought about buying myself a ticket. I even went as far as searching for a ticket online and finding one before pulling myself back from the precipice of the “Submit Order” button. As someone who has embraced alternative music for most of my adult life, I couldn’t picture myself enjoying a whole evening of his music or partaking in the lovefest that would be a Bublé concert in his hometown. But I didn’t hesitate to click “Submit Order” the second time around. Why?

In 1997, when I was writing a bi-weekly column about Vancouver’s jazz and world music scene for the Vancouver Courier, I did a piece on Bublé. I heard him sing at BaBaLu (now Doolin’s Irish Pub), where he had a regular gig, and interviewed him backstage. I ended up doing a favourable column, as this excerpt shows:

“With his well-coifed hair and sleek blazer, he exuded the image of a swingin’ entertainer. Bublé also sounded like the real thing. He confidently crooned tunes like “Pennies From Heaven” and “The Lady Is A Tramp”. He even succeeded in doing “Danke Shoen,” a Wayne Newton hit, without reducing it to kitsch.”

I wish I could say I predicted stardom for him, but I didn’t. At the time, nothing really stood out about meeting Bublé, other than him being friendly and easy to talk to; it was just another interview of a local up and coming artist. But when I feel like celebrity name dropping, I tell people about what happened some time after the article was published – Bublé called me out of the blue. Just to chat. Really.

My Bublé encounters from 13 years ago prompted me to pay more attention to his ascending career than I would with other name artists. I also developed a guilty pleasure in listening to his pop tunes like “Home” and “Haven’t Met You Yet”, not to mention his silky version of “Me and Mrs. Jones”. So forces were conspiring to get me to Rogers Arena, regardless of my reservations.

Bublé doing “Home”, my ultimate guilty pleasure song by the Burnaby boy, at Rogers Arena:

What I liked about Bublé’s concert:

• The swing songs and classic ballads – that’s what he does best, despite what my naysaying wife is murmuring in the background as I write. She says Bublé is too “smooth and breezy” and lacks “aching soul”. (Isn’t the wife supposed to like Bublé and not the other way around?) My view: He intuitively understands the genres he sings in and has a credible delivery that sounds effortless.
• That he employs a large group of young musicians who have legitimate jazz chops.
• His jokey manner – he makes people (like my mom) laugh and be happy, and I even allowed myself some smiles.

What I didn’t like:

• His take on rock tunes like “Heartache Tonight” – do we really need to hear him cover second-rate Eagles songs?
• The woman sitting behind us who kept whistling and screaming at a high-pitched, piercing level.
• His jokey manner – I get that he’s an entertainer but after awhile the banter feels overwrought.

I generally enjoyed the show. It was a huge step up from the last concert I went to with my mum, André Rieu, which was beyond horrid! I took Bublé’s performance for what it was – pleasant, tuneful music, good value entertainment (despite the ticket price) and not profound art. But now that I’ve closed the circle from BaBaLu and that phone call, I can move on. While I’ll keep listening to him as a guilty pleasure, I won’t be tempted to click “Submit Order” again.

Here I am today, a couple years later, having finished playing the jazz festival with the TD High School Jazz Intensive. It was a crazy week of playing in the jazz intensive, and I learned a lot from our director Nicole Mitchell and the people I played music with. We played songs by composers ranging from Duke Ellington to Maria Schneider. From day one, I knew that it was not only going to be a challenge for me, but for everybody as well.

Ever since I started playing drums, I’ve mainly been a rock drummer. My high school stage band plays songs that aren’t as challenging as what this group does, so I was pretty nervous going into this. But for myself, it was interesting to learn from the older drummer and see what he was doing stylistically. Sure, I didn’t have nearly as much experience, but I felt almost guilty at times for not knowing exactly how to play a certain groove, or know what to do in a certain musical situation. I watched and listened carefully so I could really understand the musical form and also the musicians’ interpretation.

I was also introduced to the music of Anthony Braxton. The song we played by him was “Composition No. 58”, which starts as a march, then turns into a really crazy time signature changing monster of a song. Although it sounds complicated, it was fun and interesting going between the different time signatures and also with the free jazz solos, including one I did.

Now that’s only one song, there were other songs that were just as complicated, if not more. From what I heard from the other musicians, Nicole chooses harder songs every year. I had never seen musicians around my age work so hard on songs. After this experience, I feel like I have to step up my game to play the best I can if I get into the band again next year. Many of the students from this year are graduating, so I’m not sure how the list of songs for next year will turn out. Whatever the songs are, if I get in, I’ll be ready.