SUMMER 2000
At long last the summer 2000 CD is finished! I still remember - with some
embarrassment - the question a band member asked me right after we finished the August recording session:
"When will we get the CD?" My confident answer was, "Soon. It won't be like January or something."
Little did I know how heavily booked Big Time Audio was after the overdub session.
After scheduled
mix sessions were canceled by one problem or another, we finally connected twice in January (prophecy?).
So it took much longer than normal, but I believe that you will find the final results well worth the
wait.
When getting down to the business of mixing, you always have in the back of your mind
that "the money meter is running," and that maintaining focus is essential. Even so, I would often find
myself spacing out, reflecting on how well the charts were played - so many "right" notes and deep passion
in the playing. Congratulations to everyone. In many ways, it was an extraordinary session, probably
as good or better than anything DAYJO has ever done, especially considering the overall level of difficulty
of the charts.
Most of the CD (98%) was recorded from the original 4 hour session at Big Time.
In the overdub session we cleaned up a few solos and trumpet parts. Many thanks to Christian, Wes,
Marie, and Richard for their overdub help.
Back Of The Bus - Michael finally gets a bari solo
feature and makes the most of it. Great energy and "pitch bending" throughout the ensemble. Saxes
were pretty solid on a very tricky soli. And other than Wes overdubbing a few high notes, what you hear
is what we did.
My Old Flame - An outstanding performance, maybe the best we've ever done on a
ballad. Clay plays an incredible tenor solo. Few people listening will believe that he is (was) a 10th
grade kid and not a top band college guy from North Texas. All-around fine playing included Jay's tasty
trumpet solo, Christians rock solid alto leading a flawless sax section through a bunch of tough entrances,
and the subtlety and dynamism of the brass. Finally, try to imagine this tune without Marie's work on
suspended cymbal. And, there were no overdubs. Awesome.
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - Since this was
the last tune we recorded, I kind of expected it to be dead - but it's not! Kudos to the never-say-die
rhythm section, to Derek and Richard for excellent solos, to the low horns for honking their buns off,
and to Danny for having enough chops to make it through the whole session - and especially this tune
- without any lead trombone overdubs. We had enough energy left for only one "take" and pulled it off,
other than a few lead trumpet repairs done later by Wes. Pretty impressive.
In The Mood - This
was also recorded late in the session. I was worried about a drop in energy, so I kicked it off a little
faster than normal. Maybe it's too fast, but we held together and played solidly enough to only need
a few trumpet dubs. Spirited solo exchanges between Christian and Clay, and three trumpeters (Wes, Micah,
Jay) really added to the overall excitement.
Malaguena - Every so often I run into a student that
says why not? instead of why? Why I first called Richard Geffen (guitar/viola) I mentioned the possibility
of doing a piece with string quartet (See Strawberry Soup). He quickly came up with two of the best
high school string players in the state. When I asked him about doing an acoustical guitar intro to
Malaguena, he went out and found the music and prepared the wonderful prelude which we added to the recording
(in a very cool crossfade). Richard, I salute you! The details provided by each individual really do
make a difference, folks.
Everyone was so good, it's hard to know where to start. How about
the beginning? The trumpets kicked butt, and Wes once again demonstrated his ability to play dominant
lead. I did a slight speed adjustment to Danny's main bone theme because we played it a trifle slow
in the studio (the only other edits were a couple of trumpet overdubs). Listen to the background figures
throughout, how they weave in and out and flat-out sizzle with passion. My kind of band! And what a
pleasure it was to hear real honest-to-goodness FRENCH HORNS playing original parts rarely heard since
the original recording back in the 1950's. Thank you Pete Peterson for supplying the parts, and David
and Mark for playing them.
Adams Apple - I initially felt like I let you down on this one. If
you remember, we recorded it too slowly the first time through in the studio. The problem was, it's
a very challenging chart, especially for saxes and trumpets. With all of the potential pitfalls, could
the band play it again at a faster tempo? Well, we rolled the dice and everything turned out just fine.
Parts were crisper. The sax soli which included Jay on flugel sounded terrific. Danny didn't bat an
eye at the redo and played another fine bone solo. The only overdubs were Christian changing his solo
from clarinet to sax, and some fixes on the ridiculously difficult last few trumpet shout sections.
Even if we played this tune when the chops were freshest, trumpet overdubs would probably be needed.
It's that tough.
Strawberry Soup - I first fell in love with this tune during my senior year
of high school (1971) but playing it back then was strictly a fantasy. It wasn't published, and even
if it was there was the problem of a finding a string section, drummers that could play multiple subdivisions
of odd meters, etc. For almost 30 years, the idea of playing it never crossed my mind... until I started
to assemble DAYJO last March (2000).
Like any director, I do my best to tailor the music to
fit the band. But Strawberry Soup is more than a chart. It's an event requiring incredible resources.
Still, after making a few early calls to players, an odd pattern began to emerge. Most of the saxes
doubled, a rare occurence these days. A tuba and horn fell into place. And the insurmountable problem
of finding strings good enough to play the parts AND willing to try something a little different suddenly
resolved itself.
By the way, getting quality string players was a blessing, but strangely enough
it was also a curse. When Richard recommended Jun Iwasaki (violin) and Cherry Kim (cello), I figured
they were good high school players. In fact, they were GREAT players with major reputations, as I soon
learned while making calls to get a 2nd violin to fill out the quartet. Most conversations went like
this: "It sounds really fun! I'd love to do it! Who are the other players? Oh my God! Uhh, tell
you what, let me get you so-and-so's number, call them, they are so much better than me, blah blah blah."
One by one they would agree, then back out. Finally, Kathleen Orig said she'd do it (I shamed her into
it, telling her that everybody else had wimped out) and she did a great job. Anyway, many thanks to
non-wimps Jun, Cherry, Kathleen, and Richard. You folks came in this summer for many rehearsals to play
only one tune (a long one, I'll admit) and performed with extreme professionalism (other than Jun taking
everything up an octave - he should have been a trumpet player). In the studio, the string soli sounded
great. We ended up mixing the first take, which had a missed "plink" or two but by far the best energy.
I can't thank the strings enough for doing their thing and making this chart happen.
Even
with the strings in place, I still had some misgivings, primarily the youth of the band. We had a record
SEVEN kids who had just graduated 10th grade, including both drummers! Not only would 'Soup be hard
for them rhythmically, I wondered if their tastes were developed enough to appreciate the tune itself.
But everything turned out fine. After a few initial grumbles ("this is weird") the players did what
they do best - they started to play. I really admire how they accepted the challenge and hung in there
for many weeks until the tune started to jell. Most impressive were Stephen and Marie on drums. They
faced an extremely steep learning curve and whipped it big time. When I listen to the end of their drum
solos leading into the final shout section, I get those proverbial chills down my spine. For me, that
moment by itself made the whole effort worthwhile.
As the chart began to "happen" we still
had the problem of the two major solos, piano and trumpet. I ended up making a couple of last minute
command decisions that I hope didn't ruffle too many feathers. For both solos, I decided to transcribe
what was done on the album. Don Ellis' solo was kind of like a technical concert band piece, and I thought
that Jason would find it a worthy challenge. He agreed, getting it just a couple of days before the
recording. As you will hear, he played it with gusto.
Solo piano was tricker. David is a
good player, but his real forte is French Horn where he was both all-state and a member of GDYO. I thought
about bringing in a local pro, but realized that nobody in this town - and maybe the planet - could duplicate
the virtuosity displayed by Milcho Leviev on the original recording. So, I tackled my own learning curve
and transcribed the solo - more or less - into a midi file (using Sebelius), played it back through a
sequencer, and mixed it in our recording. Virtual Milcho! Of course, it took me over 20 hours to copy
what the real Milcho created in a minute in a half. He is one of a kind.
As was this band.
Thanks to all for making 2000 an electric event, a more than memorable experience. And summer 2001
is just around the corner. See you soon!
Jeff
"It is entirely in 9 (except
for the coda) and the basic 9 is 9/4 with two 9/8 bars (3222, 3222) in each 9/4 bar. Occasionally the
9/4 meter is stretched into a 9/2 bar (two bars of 9/4), so there are at least three levels of 9 going
on."
Don Ellis - from the original liner notes
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