I hope everyone is enjoying the week. I know I personally have been enjoying a string of music-filled days that will continue into this weekend!
This past Sunday, I sat in on a rehearsal of "Grease" the musical at Monsignor Bonner High School (which I'll get to shortly), followed by a performance on clarinet with Box Five at Andrea Clearfield's lovely musical salon. (See the "Photos" page for a couple of photos from the event.)
Monday night, I had the pleasure of attending the CD release party for Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band -- a band comprised of very impressive musicians, including friends Victor North on tenor sax and Stafford Hunter on trombone. NPR recently did a nice write-up of the band, as did the Philadelphia Inquirer. I highly recommend checking them out!!
Last night, after indulging in a fantastic dessert (my first experience with "chocolate by the bald man", aka Max Brenner, which will hopefully not be my last!!), went to check out the final Tuesday night jazz jam hosted by Victor North and his house band at Chris' Jazz Cafe. After about a two-year run, a new house band will be brought in for the Tuesday night jam session. Meanwhile, Victor will start hosting the late-night jazz jam on Friday nights at Chris' in April.
That brings me to Wednesday, and this evening my musical journey will take me back to Bonner H.S. for dress rehearsal for the school's spring production of "Grease"! And in typical Tina fashion, with every new show I play, I shall learn a new instrument! This time around, it is tenor sax, which is at this point is I think the only member of the saxophone family I had not played until now. The school was kind enough to rent one for me, and I must say I'm seriously considering purchasing it. As far as I'm concerned, you can never have enough musical instruments in your closet, haha! Hey, you never know when someone is going to need a tenor sub! One thing I will say -- I remember playing baritone sax in eighth grade when the case was essentially bigger than me, and I don't remember it being as heavy as this tenor!! Maybe I am just growing weaker in my old age, despite my persistent attempts at keeping up with my strength training :)
Another challenge with this show is that I am forced to face my struggle with improvising/soloing. I'm not afraid to admit my weaknesses, and honestly, I'm a classically trained musician with a serious appreciation for jazz who never really bothered to learn to play it, aside from reading what's on the paper. When playing with big bands in the past, I have always passed up soloing out of fear, which is probably one of the stupidest things I could have done and still do... until now!! I am finally facing my fear of improvising, and hoping to get my feet a little wet with "Grease" by playing a few short solos on tenor where applicable. A huge "thank you" to my friend, Joe Fisher, who was kind enough to spend some time with me last week refreshing my memory on things like Blues/Pentatonic Scale (DUH!) -- wouldn't you know it, it's not really that hard!!! So, I'm going to give it my best shot and see what happens. If I fall on my face, so what?
So, if you'd like to come see me embarrass myself by attempting to improvise on tenor sax, you can catch me at one of four performances of "Grease" at Bonner. I'll be part of the pit for the following shows: April 3, 8, 9, & 10. However, there are eight shows in total, and a complete listing of show dates and times is below!
GREASE! Show Dates/Times:
Friday April 1 - 7:30 pm
Saturday April 2 - 7:30 pm
Sunday April 3 - 2 pm
Friday April 8 - 7:30 pm
Saturday April 9 - 7:30 pm
Sunday April 10 - 2 pm
Friday April 15 - 7:30 pm
Saturday April 16 - 7:30 pm
As is the norm for Bonner and Prendie shows, tickets are $9.50 each in advance/$10 at the door. Advanced tickets must be picked up prior to the show. You can call the wonderful Mrs. Rocco at 610-259-0280 for more information. Or, you could contact me! Either way works! :)
Musically yours,
Tina
