alparrott
Diamond Member
There was a time, not long ago, when I thought to myself, "How could anyone be in more than one band at a time? Who can possibly make that work?"
I'm kind of ironically laughing at myself here. It was two summers ago that I was called back into a band I'd left a few years prior, and it was if I'd never left. This band plays mostly originals (indie rock with some Latin thrown in) with a few covers, led by a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist. I'd stayed friends with the guy, and it's a very tight little unit now, although there's occasional bits of drama.
The next spring, two guys I'd played around with several times separately asked me to join their classic rock covers gig. The first gig went well enough that I was invited to join on the spot. There is zero drama in this band - it's completely chill and fun, two of the sweetest guys I know, a joy to work with. We don't get everything 100% right all the time, but we have fun 100% of the time.
Now a really good friend who's a Berklee-trained jazz vocalist has called me up for drum duties to complete a piano-bass-drums trio with her fronting it. Talk about a left turn stylistically! Something I've always wanted to do.
Of everything I've been asked to do in the last few years, I'm simultaneously more nervous and more excited about this gig than any other. I love jazz, but I haven't "soaked myself in it" as much as the other styles I've been called on to play. There will be charts to study and I'm very confident in my ability to listen on stage, but this is definitely off the deep end. Most of all, I'm concerned with sounding "authentic" enough in this setting.
I've put away my big Ludwig tubs for a while in favor of my smaller Yamaha kit. Everything is properly tuned and I'm practicing my brushes. My listening playlists (for practice and pleasure) are all piano trio stuff. I'm open for advice and eager to tell you how things go.
I'm kind of ironically laughing at myself here. It was two summers ago that I was called back into a band I'd left a few years prior, and it was if I'd never left. This band plays mostly originals (indie rock with some Latin thrown in) with a few covers, led by a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist. I'd stayed friends with the guy, and it's a very tight little unit now, although there's occasional bits of drama.
The next spring, two guys I'd played around with several times separately asked me to join their classic rock covers gig. The first gig went well enough that I was invited to join on the spot. There is zero drama in this band - it's completely chill and fun, two of the sweetest guys I know, a joy to work with. We don't get everything 100% right all the time, but we have fun 100% of the time.
Now a really good friend who's a Berklee-trained jazz vocalist has called me up for drum duties to complete a piano-bass-drums trio with her fronting it. Talk about a left turn stylistically! Something I've always wanted to do.
Of everything I've been asked to do in the last few years, I'm simultaneously more nervous and more excited about this gig than any other. I love jazz, but I haven't "soaked myself in it" as much as the other styles I've been called on to play. There will be charts to study and I'm very confident in my ability to listen on stage, but this is definitely off the deep end. Most of all, I'm concerned with sounding "authentic" enough in this setting.
I've put away my big Ludwig tubs for a while in favor of my smaller Yamaha kit. Everything is properly tuned and I'm practicing my brushes. My listening playlists (for practice and pleasure) are all piano trio stuff. I'm open for advice and eager to tell you how things go.