J-Soft Blog

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

On Green Dolphin Street

Time had been wearing on, and I still hadn't gotten up to play. A small group of amazing players continued to go up and call tunes I didn't know, but I couldn't let the night pass by and not play. I got my horn out as they played, and redied myself to spring into action. "You're getting up for the next one" I said to myself, and get up I did. I had been mulling over what tune to call when I went up. I decided on "On Green Dolphin Street". I had played it recently, and was fairly confident in my knowledge of the head, and my ability not to get lost in the middle of it. They counted it off, and away we went. It was fast, really fast, and with a bit of a latin feel to it. I made it through the head unscathed, not perfectly, but unscathed. I didn't realize just how fast we were taking it until I was faced the reality of having to solo on it. My first chorus was certainly a rude awakening. I managed to not get lost, but I was stumbling and dragging my feet the whole way through. The second chorus was much the same, perhaps a bit better. Needless to say, my first two choruses were all about survival more than anything else, and to that end they were successful. I still knew where we were after two choruses. Aside from that they consisted largely of sloppy attempts at lines faster than I am capable of playing. After the second chorus however, a change took place. Having made it through two choruses without getting lost I felt more at ease, and was able to fully enjoy the experience. The two choruses that followed reflected this and improved steadily. No longer preocupied with survival, I was able to let go of my worry about the rediculous tempo, and free myself from the necessity of playing lots of notes. As I remember it, those last two choruses were much more creative than the first two, and very fullfilling. The whole thing is really just a blurr, all of this is just what I remember observing as I played.
posted by Jesse at 1:22 AM #