Here’s a small cut out of a fascinating piece “As Slow as Possible” by composer John Cage.

It’s currently being performed in Halberstadt, Germany and lasts an incredible 639 years.

When checking out the score consider this: the smallest unit is one month. Each determined tone change takes place on the 5th day of the relevant month. ***Recommendation: quarter-note staccato: length 2 months, quarter-note without staccato: length 4 months.***

Equally fascinating is how this piece has generated so much attention. Apparently, back in 2006, thousands came to the city to witness a scheduled note change. I love it.

To read more, click here

I normally try to keep my blog topics somewhat music related but needed to direct your attention to this apparently genuine toy made by Playmobil. Check out the comments at the bottom of the page too. Wow.

Some time off over the holidays afforded me a much needed opportunity to re-evaluate my approach to practicing in terms of how and what I’ve been working on. While often kept busy learning new music for different projects, I also wanted to get back to checking out the history of the greats on my instrument and get geeky with some bass-related stuff. To take a hard look at ways to expand and solidify my musical language, I spent most of the holiday practicing and doing investigative listening. In working on this, I stumbled across two books that might be of some interest.

John Goldsby’s book “The Jazz Bass Book, Technique and Tradition” published by Backbeat Books is obviously geared towards bass players. It’s an excellent compendium that explores the styles and techniques of 70 or so bass players. The first half of the book looks at early guys like John Kirby and Walter Page all the way up to modern masters like Dave Holland and Peter Ind. Not only does John write about each player, he also includes many transcriptions and key stylistic aspects of what they brought or bring to the music. I’ve been taking a lot of these lines through 12 keys in order to really get them down.

The second part looks at technique and vocabulary. There are many excellent bass lines and perspectives throughout. Some examine the way certain players approach common chord progressions and others are suggestions on how to work on chord/scale relationships. Great stuff and I’ve been hitting this section hardŠ and I also spent one evening compiling a playlist on my computer that included all the recordings and solos mentioned in the book. With it playing constantly around the house, I’ve been revisiting several Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Red Mitchell, Isreal Crosby and Marc Johnson bass lines and solos I transcribed years ago and finding many other “new” solos too.

The other book I found over the holidays was David Berkman’s “The Jazz Musician’s Guide to Creative Practicing” published by Sher Music. This is a very funny and insightful book that covers a very wide scope: everything from spelling chord changes through thoughts on playing fast, playing what you hear, deepening your groove, playing on Giant Steps, playing hard keys and dozens of other ideas for improvising. It’s incredibly complete and offers some concrete and clear methods for practicing. David has found a very cool method to get into things on a microscopic level and then applying it in a bigger picture sort of way. ..and while I’m getting a lot out of it now, this is a book that would have saved me a lot of time 10 years ago too. Kudos to David Berkman. This is a keeper.

Happy practicing everyone!.

I just got back from the NYC premier of Dave Douglas’ new band Brass Ecstasy. It was a great night. From the minute I got there, I could tell something special was going to happen: standing room only, the audience clapping in anticipation of the music and a bunch of familiar faces in the audience waiting to check out Dave’s latest project. I’m not generally one to sit down and write a review of the concert, but let me just say how thrilling it was to have heard this music and watch Dave lead a band of such incredible players. Among many highlights, a suite entitled “Chicago Calling” and the tune “Rava” were especially stunning. I can’t wait to hear this music once it gets recorded next week. It’s going to be a great record.

Thanks Dave for such an inspiring night….

I got up this morning and saw that that the New York Times has a holiday gift guide recommending among others: Anthony Braxton’s complete Arista box set, Elliott Carter’s piano works with Ursula Oppens (Cedille), the Orion String Quartet playing Leon Kirchner’s string quartets (Albany) and Messian’s piano works with Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Deutsche Grammophon).

Somehow seeing the local paper include all of those gave me a “glad to be a New Yorker” moment….gotta love it…

I just saw that Jon Irabagon won the Thelonious Monk Competition. Way to go Jon! For those of you who don’t know him, this is one creative and fantastic saxophone player. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Very pysched!

Tomorrow I fly home after nearly four weeks on the road in the US, Canada and Europe. Looking forward to that!

After my last post, I got an email from Dave Douglas asking me to put together a list: “top ten little things that a scruffy tour manager/band leader/bassist/travel agent needs to know to lead a band around Europe”. Scruffy? …guilty as charged.

Here’s what I came up with. Some obvious things like “hire musicians you get along with” and “don’t work for jerks” were omitted and I’ve left the bottom of the post open for comments so please feel free to add to the list.

So in no particular order, here is my non-exclusive, non-comprehensive list of things that a “scruffy tour manager/band leader/bassist/travel agent needs to know to lead a band around Europe”.

10-Make lists. Lots of them. Commit as much to memory as possible. Include: projected incomes and expenses, a complete tour itinerary, tour budget, contacts, travel days with estimated trip durations, days off, club/hotel addresses and travel documents. ***Make sure to carry hard copies with you, on your computer and also email them to yourself.

9-Invest in a GPS….and depending on the distance, add 1 or 2 hours to your travel time.

8-Get a contract. Be clear with club owners, promoters and your band about fees, dates, responsibilities, visas, riders, meals, pick up and departure times etc etc.

7-Rest is a weapon/food is a weapon. A good night’s sleep and eating properly will drastically increase your tolerance for any unforseen challenges on the road. (***This might be the most important tip I can offer!)

6-As the leader, be flexible. It’s your attitude that sets the tone for the tour. Be prepared to take a hit for the team. It shows you’ll do what you can to keep the band happy (and buying the band a nice meal every once in while can go a long way towards that too.).

5-Promote the gigs/tour to the best of your ability and don’t rely on clubs to do it for you. Be sure to send out posters and press releases to newspapers, magazines, journalists, fellow musicians and anyone else you can think of. Also, post bulletins on Myspace, Facebook, All About Jazz and every other source you can find.

4-Community. Use your contacts! Friends in other cities make all the difference. I often think that if I hadn’t taken part in the Banff Jazz Workshop, I would never have gotten any tour of the ground.

3-Personal space. Respect it as much as possible and always get individual hotel rooms…even on days off. Don’t underestimate this. If you need to do a homestay once in a while it’s ok but don’t push it. Also do what you can to have the hotel as close to the venue as possible. That way everyone in the band can choose what they want to do after the gig.

2-Book flights through a travel agent. It can save you HOURS-trust me because I know first hand. Also, travel agents can find tickets for the same price as most websites and often they can book flights that you can change for a fee. Sites like Expedia don’t often allow this and there can be real consequences as tours can change in the blink of an eye.

1-Think big picture. Remember that touring is an investment in the future. Keep in mind that everyone in this industry is somehow connected. I always work on the premise that I want to come back to play for the next 20 years. So make a good impression: Play your heart out every night, have good manners, thank the promoter, thank the audience, be kind, be honest, be patient, stand up for yourself when necessary but choose your battles.

…oh yes….and we all must remember number eleven:

the music is why we all do this…can’t forget that.

We’re on our way to Lyon, France. It’s been quite a day so far. I didn’t get my wake up call from the hotel and my alarm didn’t go off either so we had a late start on the only day we had a tight travel schedule. Then when we got to the train station, the ticket agent told me the tickets from Belgium to France needed to be picked up IN FRANCE FIRST- somehow I still can’t figure out that logic but anyway….after a frantic cab ride to the railway company’s Brussels office, it worked out.

The last two gigs couldn’t have been more different. In Berlin, I had a gig fall through and filled the empty slot with a set at a squat in east Berlin called Miss Hecker. It was a tiny little room in a six floor walk up apartment hidden in a courtyard. Jeff played on a set of drums that were nearly toys…and still sounded incredible. The space was covered with pieces of weird art and had all these crazy stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling. Lot’s of free drinks, cool people and a great vibe. I must say that it still feels great to play a place like this…sorta like going to back to my old hardcore roots.

The next show was Bimhuis in Amsterdam and it was a real thrill. This is one of the best venues in all of Europe and it’s certainly clear why. Amazing sounds in the hall, an appreciative audience and the staff in the club were outstanding. We could get used to that pretty quick. We only had one set and the energy great right from the very first note.

So with 3 hours of sleep and a 9 hour travel day almost halfway done, we’re on the way to play the last gig of the tour. Tomorrow Quinsin, Russ and Jeff fly home to New York and I head back to Brussels to start another tour with my good friend Peter Van Huffel. No rest for the wicked!

I’d like to say a sincere thanks to the guys for not only making the music so incredible every night but also for being such good sports about among other things, long drives in cramped vehicles, possibly the worst hotel ever in Prague and a lot of sandwiches made at breakfast buffets! However we all agree that it’s somehow remedied each night by the music. Gotta love that….

So much has happened since the last blog, I don’t know where to begin. I’d like to start with the gig in Nuernberg. It was so crowded that some people had to watch the gig from a video monitor in another room and probably was the best gig that the quartet has ever played. Russ played a version of Marching that gave me chills. Fortunately there is a dvd of the show so I hope to get that up on Youtube someday soon.

The above picture is from Stockwerk Jazz in Graz, Austria where we played another great gig. This doesn’t do the wall justice, but when we walked in it was pretty impressive. My favorite is the Chuck Isreals poster two thirds down wall. Wow. The band was playing very well and almost effortlessly with a very appreciative audience..not to mention a lot of music students checking out the music and talking gear and mouthpieces with Quinsin.

We’re in Prague currently and I spent the most part of yesterday with my jaw hanging open at the overwhelming beauty of the city. Russ warned me in advance but nothing could prepare me for a place like this. We also stopped in Bud Weiss, the original town of the original Budweiser beer and not to be confused with the American version! Jeff was a happy dude.

Crossing the border into the Czech Republic was quite an experience. Even though they belong to the EU and we just drove across, we all noticed just how different things were from Western Europe. Some obvious specifics like architecture and cars but there were many others…too many to go into here. A lot of history that’s for certain.

Today we drive to Berlin and we’ll be seeing some good friends there. Very excited to reconnect with them….

Just got to Nuernberg, Germany and checked in the hotel….finally a short drive from the gig in Munich! Last night was a great show with lots of people who were very into the music. We played at the Unterfarht and the folks putting on the show are just so incredibly nice…a stark contrast from the night before :-/ ….oh well…

The music has been evolving more and more with each gig and I’m just amazed at how much Russ, Quinsin and Jeff throw down every night. We’re pretty exhausted from all the travel and my music demands a lot of focus and physical energy with little break in the sets. These guys take it to the edge every gig and are truly inspiring. I love these musicians..

…A little funny road story:

First day of the tour: We got to Brussels and the vehicle I rented was NOT AT ALL what I requested…and much smaller. Once we loaded in the instruments (double bass included) plus luggage and four guys, there was one suitcase that, no matter what we did, could not fit: mine. So in a desparate move, I found a plastic bag, threw all my clothes into it, stuffed it in the back and ditched the suitcase. So now I’m walking into all these hotels with a white plastic bag under my arm….nice. It’s pretty funny….

Cheers. More when we get to Austria….