The past year has been busy with several musical projects which have broadened my playing, added to what few chops I have, and got me back to the woodshed to up my game, including scratching the surface with that Chaffee book (yes, THAT one). Here’s some of what I’ve been doing over the past year.
In September 2018, I was offered the drum chair in a workshop jazz orchestra, which was I’d never done before. I didn’t play in stage bands in high school, as I was already playing clubs in hardcore bands and wasn’t interested in reading or jazz at the time, so this was a fun experience. I also got to “sit in” on my first-ever symphonic gig this past spring on snare drum.
The noise/punk/jazz group, Tetsuo, that I’ve played with for the past couple of years played some gigs over the past year. Sadly, the band has stopped for the time being as our guitarist has moved back home to Japan.
The purveyors of power-pop, Clockwise, did some recording last summer, and a few gigs since then. We’re slated to play at the new location of Relish Bar and Grill in July 2019.
The blues/rock trio, Jube Jar, have been rehearsing semi-regularly and should be getting the ya-yas out this summer.
The Escola de Samba de Toronto wrapped up the 2018/19 season at the RCM and have already started summer gigs. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for the power and the beauty of Samba this summer.
Speaking of Samba, Batucatronica played its first gig last summer, played a number of subsequent gigs around town, and recently filmed a promo video that you can find on the YouTubes.
Beefheart Project Toronto recorded the last of the tunes for its project a couple of weekends ago, so my brain hasn’t been hurting TOO too much as of late. Hats off to Tony Malone.
I’ve also fired up this website again, having had some repairs done to my outdated laptop, and not consuming all of my online media via the iPhone.
With a working laptop, I’m going to give Max/MSP another whirl, whilst also dusting off my piano and getting back to learnin’ stuff and things music theory-related.
Oh, I also started on the Pimsleur method for learning Brazilian Portuguese, and am hoping to get back at it to see if I can speak more than just basic touristy stuff by my next birthday (which will be a milestone).
What’s new with you?