I just got back from spending Thanksgiving in Seattle, Washington. I stayed with my girlfriend Siri and her brother and sister-in-law. Portions of my visit were also spent with Dave Dolengewicz and Lauren Hendrix. Last Tuesday, we went to the Owl ‘N Thistle Irish Pub for a jam session. All the players there sounded great. Dave and I sat in on the last three tunes of the night. This is the kind of stuff you go to when you’re breaking into a new scene (or even after you have broken).
This is one of my more recent big band charts, “Rifts.” This is the recording from the Spring 2008 One O’Clock Lab Band at Lab Band Madness.
This is a clip from a few weeks ago of the UNT U-Tubes performing my arrangement of “I Thought About You” at the Greenhouse in Denton. After having written quite a few non-swinging charts, I decided to get back to basics and something straight ahead.
Last night, I saw the senior recital of Kelyn Crapp (guitar) and Jeff Randall (drums). After their recital, they played two funk sets at the Greenhouse. The whole night was fantastic. I think I saw Kelyn burst into flames at one point. His original tunes were excellent and had everyone in the room nodding their heads. Jeff is very good at restraint and economy when it comes to a groove. Lots of drummers will throw too much extra junk into a groove, which diminishes its power. Jeff doesn’t do that.
Both these guys are in the 3 O’Clock Lab Band with me this semester. Bassist Scott Mulvahill is also a part of that rhythm section and their combined pocket is one of the tightest I’ve experienced or heard.
I just completed a two hour course to be certified to drive UNT’s 15-passenger vans. I’ll be driving alumni from Dallas’s airports into Denton. They’re going to be in town for this event, which will be an extravaganza, I’m sure. I don’t know who I’m driving. Who knows, I could be picking up Blue Lou Marini from the airport! We’ll just see.