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We hopped around the country today.

At my house was 5 vibe players. Me, Randy Sutin, Michael Caine, Sy Platt and Barry K.
Also Mark P on bass and Charlie Paterno on drums.

Was went up to Boston and listened to Mario Diciuttis play some amazing things on the Mallet Kat, out to Oregon and listened to Tmacoid then to Brooklyn to listen to James Shipp and Jo Lawry. I think everybody had a lot of fun!

This is such a great group!

Man check out the playing on this demo. Listen to David play the first piece. The playing is absolutely incredible. The second piece is pretty spectacular as well.

Hey all. I'm on my way to New Orleans for the week-end to help out with auditions at the Thelonious Monk Institute, so most likely I won't be hanging out much here at the VW. I'll leave you with a Red Norvo story.

I just had a great talk with Teddy Charles. He's not computer literate at all, but we're trying to figure out how to get him on the site. He has a secretary that comes over, so maybe I can work with her. He's in Long Island, maybe I can get up there at some point.

Just wanted to let you all know that Teddy wants to come on board and hang with us.

I've already written about some of those times when things just don't go like you expect. And, believe me, everyone in this business has the occasional weird situation they have to get through. Without a doubt, my strangest gig was the one time I played with Ahmad Jamal and his trio. I have been a long-time fan of Ahmad's music, and I had met him informally a couple of times through the years. So, when the chance came to play a few tunes with him at a concert in France, I was delighted. The occasion was a music industry convention in Nice called MIDEM.

So, we the red-headed stepchildren of the rhythm section have our battles- how to get your gear to the jam session without a car, how to be heard over Oaf the Viking Drummer without pickups and a Marshall 4x12, and how to take the compliment "boy, you can sure play that xylophone" for the 10,000th time with grace. My question is:

How do you comp for a soloist in a large group when you're not the only chordal instruement? Taking your marbles and going home is an option, but isn't there a more community way of doing it?

Sorry but I thought the foreigners would love this!

Check out the next Mallet Kat hang this Wednesday night!

www.alternatemode.tv

Here's the scoop on my two most disappointing jam experiences. As many people know, I was a big Bill Evans fan. So much so, that I sounded a lot like him when I soloed, played a lot of his tunes using his arrangements, and pretty much knew all his records backwards and forwards during my formative years as a player. I got to know Bill soon after I moved to New York in 1962. By coincidence, I ended up staying with a musician friend while looking for my own place, and my friend happened to live in the same building as Bill. My first encounters with him were pretty scary.