con struct
Platinum Member
Sorry about this long post. I wanted to talk about my experience that the Atlanta Jazz Festival yesterday.
We had a big air conditioned RV for a dressing room/pre-gig hang-out area. Nice! The sax player hung out in the bedroom, warming up. The stage was bloody huge, I played a really nice Pearl drum kit with Sabian cymbals, there was a great crowd, nice weather, everyone having a good time in the park. And the band sounded great, I thought.
Oddly enough we were the only band that was 100% acoustic, the only band that did 100% original material and the only band that "swung." Everything else was more electric/funk oriented. Lots of slap-bass and heavy back-beats throughout the day. But the crowd still seemed to dig our more "purist" music.
The VIP tent was were all the "stars" were hanging out, eating all that good food. Marcus Miller was walking around with a plate of fried chicken. I saw Sonny Emory sitting at one the tables eating. I had the fried shrimp. There was a fully-stocked bar and a gigantic buffet heaped with food, there were sofas and tables and chairs and a big-screen TV where we could see what was happening on the stage. Class-A stuff, man. It was like being in the Rolling Stones or something.
The festival was a huge event. It was like a rock festival almost, very professional and well organized. There was a ton of gear on the stage, two different kinds of drums (the Yamaha kit was enormous, way too big for me!), lots of amplifiers and keyboards, stage crew guys running around with walkie-talkies, people driving golf-carts, tons of security. With all the little buildings and tents and the RV campers for the performers and the TV crews and all the coming and going it was like a busy little city back there. Very impressive. Music festivals have definitely changed since I was playing them all those years ago.
Trombone Shorty was great. He's a hell of a showman, he owns that stage and his band is a tight-ass machine, the kind of tight that comes from staying on the road. I was talking to his drummer, a really nice kid named, I believe, Joel, and he said that they almost never play jazz festivals. Usually they're more on the rock/jam band circuit. He was almost apologetic about it. But the crowd absolutely loved Trombone Shorty.
After Trombone Shorty went on I was standing behind the stage smoking a cigarette and just hanging around not doing anything. There was a sort of tent/canopy next to me, I couldn't tell why it was there. It was just sitting there for some reason.
Then a few people showed up, a couple of photographers and a short skinny girl with a huge afro, wearing skin-tight jeans and a funky little top. They had the girl stand in the little tent. I stood there watching while she had her picture taken and I suddenly realized that the short girl with the big afro and the skin-tight jeans was Esperanza Spalding.
The photographers finished and split, and now it was just her and me standing there. She saw me and I said something like, "How you doing," something just that innocuous, and she said she was fine. She asked me my name and asked me if I was playing and I told her that I'd played a little earlier in the day. Then she asked me if I knew where the VIP tent was, and I told her that I'd be happy to show her where it was. It wasn't far.
So. Dig this. I escorted Esperanza Spalding to the VIP tent. We didn't talk much or anything, just chit chat, in fact I thought she seemed a little shy. When we got to the tent I opened the door for her and walked in behind her and that was that.
Being able to walk around the back stage complex all day with my "All Access" pass hanging from my neck, going into the VIP tent for another ice cold beer, hanging out in the VIP area right in front of the stage, seeing old friends and making new ones, having people come up to me to tell me that they'd enjoyed my set, man it was like a dream. Hard to come down from that one, I'll tell you.
We had a big air conditioned RV for a dressing room/pre-gig hang-out area. Nice! The sax player hung out in the bedroom, warming up. The stage was bloody huge, I played a really nice Pearl drum kit with Sabian cymbals, there was a great crowd, nice weather, everyone having a good time in the park. And the band sounded great, I thought.
Oddly enough we were the only band that was 100% acoustic, the only band that did 100% original material and the only band that "swung." Everything else was more electric/funk oriented. Lots of slap-bass and heavy back-beats throughout the day. But the crowd still seemed to dig our more "purist" music.
The VIP tent was were all the "stars" were hanging out, eating all that good food. Marcus Miller was walking around with a plate of fried chicken. I saw Sonny Emory sitting at one the tables eating. I had the fried shrimp. There was a fully-stocked bar and a gigantic buffet heaped with food, there were sofas and tables and chairs and a big-screen TV where we could see what was happening on the stage. Class-A stuff, man. It was like being in the Rolling Stones or something.
The festival was a huge event. It was like a rock festival almost, very professional and well organized. There was a ton of gear on the stage, two different kinds of drums (the Yamaha kit was enormous, way too big for me!), lots of amplifiers and keyboards, stage crew guys running around with walkie-talkies, people driving golf-carts, tons of security. With all the little buildings and tents and the RV campers for the performers and the TV crews and all the coming and going it was like a busy little city back there. Very impressive. Music festivals have definitely changed since I was playing them all those years ago.
Trombone Shorty was great. He's a hell of a showman, he owns that stage and his band is a tight-ass machine, the kind of tight that comes from staying on the road. I was talking to his drummer, a really nice kid named, I believe, Joel, and he said that they almost never play jazz festivals. Usually they're more on the rock/jam band circuit. He was almost apologetic about it. But the crowd absolutely loved Trombone Shorty.
After Trombone Shorty went on I was standing behind the stage smoking a cigarette and just hanging around not doing anything. There was a sort of tent/canopy next to me, I couldn't tell why it was there. It was just sitting there for some reason.
Then a few people showed up, a couple of photographers and a short skinny girl with a huge afro, wearing skin-tight jeans and a funky little top. They had the girl stand in the little tent. I stood there watching while she had her picture taken and I suddenly realized that the short girl with the big afro and the skin-tight jeans was Esperanza Spalding.
The photographers finished and split, and now it was just her and me standing there. She saw me and I said something like, "How you doing," something just that innocuous, and she said she was fine. She asked me my name and asked me if I was playing and I told her that I'd played a little earlier in the day. Then she asked me if I knew where the VIP tent was, and I told her that I'd be happy to show her where it was. It wasn't far.
So. Dig this. I escorted Esperanza Spalding to the VIP tent. We didn't talk much or anything, just chit chat, in fact I thought she seemed a little shy. When we got to the tent I opened the door for her and walked in behind her and that was that.
Being able to walk around the back stage complex all day with my "All Access" pass hanging from my neck, going into the VIP tent for another ice cold beer, hanging out in the VIP area right in front of the stage, seeing old friends and making new ones, having people come up to me to tell me that they'd enjoyed my set, man it was like a dream. Hard to come down from that one, I'll tell you.
Last edited: