Must be my lucky month. Earlier last month, a guy called me and wanted to get together and jam (after hearing some of my posted music). He turned out to be an old retiree (69 yrs old) and an amazing guitar player. He lives only 20 minutes from me and we hit it off great, musically and personality-wise. We've been jamming every Sunday since and also listening to some of our favorite artists on YouTube. Fast forward to last week when I get another call from a 'ol' Geezer' sax player from Atlanta who said he liked my music and wanted to get together and jam. He's mid-60's, classically trained, and equally facile on flute and clarinet (main ax is tenor). Turns out he's a huge Grover Washington, Jr fan and his playing reflects it. I've included a sample of his playing below doing an old familiar 'Grover' tune, Sad Samba (Make me some memories). I think he's pretty good, especially in this genre'. What do you think? I know everybody isn't into so-called 'Smooth Jazz', so this is mainly for Russ and Nigel (who at least tolerate it ).

https://app.box.com/s/2p1c0hn00qemkwllhkfd0z9ef39ds1ub

chas

For some reason, I think vibes would have been fun to play on this. And Rhodes. And nylon string. And fretless. And.....

TASTY! Love Grover.

R.

Hmmmm, I wonder where I could find an 'ol' geezer who plays vibes . Hey, stop complaining and get your butt down here and help us out (you'd like these guys - old pro's). We're still looking for a 'killer' female vocalist like the one Bob (guitar player) had in Chicago (she's dynamite). If we find one, we might actually go out and play an occasional gig (maybe 2-3/yr). I'm really happy to meet these guys. They're filling a big hole in my life right now.

chas

I'll be back in Newnan later this month...probably the week of the 11th. I'll let you know. The schedule is to make 6 trips a year, every other month. Just picked up a 6'x10' enclosed trailer to haul staircase samples. Might just throw the vibes in. I
d have to leave them for a few days. You'd have fun fooling around with them.

R.

Loved it chas. Great combo you have there. You geezers can really play. Love smooth jazz like this. So tasty. When I sit back and relax this is exactly the music I want to bliss out with.

WOW great music!

Hey Chas, don't eliminate me from the smooth jazz forum !!!I'm 83 next week,and still smooching.
Listening to your "old geezers" post, I just loved that Grover style sax and thought it would sound great with "Blue Bossa", so I turned on my KN and looked at my original registrations for it,
"VOILA" Tenor Sax, and vibes was already set in.
Loving it!!!

Ray

Hi Ray. Yeah, for a guy with a last name like Szmik, Bob (our sax player) sure likes those latin-ish rhythms. He also loves Grover (who I first met when he was a 19 yr old in Philly). BTW, we DO do Blue Bossa. Great tune. Maybe we'll do a rough recording of it at our Sunday afternoon Jam.

As far as Smooth Jazz (or Fusion, or Jazz Funk, or whatever), a lot of musicians like it but if they're 'jazz-heads', won't admit it . Just because it's simple to play and has a groove doesn't have to mean it's bad. That's just elitism from the so-called 'purist'. As far as I'm concerned, it's not so much WHAT you play as HOW you play it. That's why I like such a cross-section (genre' wise) of artists; from Willie Nelson and Eva Cassidy to James Brown and Aretha Franklin. They all do it with 'feeling'. Speaking of 'feeling', a lot of great singers and musicians come from your neck of the woods.

BTW, I also love it when I see 'old geezers' still excited about 'the music'. Keep it up, Ray. You'll live a lot longer .

chas

Boy, old age is catching up to me too. Bob Szmik is our GUITAR player. Corzell is our SAX (and flute and clarinet) player. And oh yeah, I think I'm chas.

chas (I think)

Very tasty, Chas. Would've been nice to hear some organ comping and afew soulful licks, too. So when are you guys putting out an album?

Probably never. We get so involved in jamming that we're very undisciplined at this stage. The other guys (not me) are such great musicians and especially great readers that we can go through a LOT of tunes at 'rehearsal' and rarely stay on one tune long enough to fine-tune it. The hardest thing is usually finding a good drum pattern (BK7m or DM10) to fit a tune. We really need a good drummer/percussionist but don't want the hassle of what that entails. Plus Bob really wants a good seasoned female vocalist (jazz stylist type) and it's hard to find one that doesn't want to get paid.

We mostly do organ trio type stuff but I have a decent piano and a heavily-tweaked 'Rhodes' on the BK7m plus a couple of nice 'supernatural' brasses on my VP770 (which sets on top of my organ). My organ, a KeyB Duo Mk111, has a 'string bass' setting on the pedals that is quite authentic. A side benefit is that it (the KeyB) has permanently cured my 'new keyboard' lust (GAS).

chas

Chas,

I just saw this post in the bar,(I dont visit the bar too

often). Delighted to hear you are connecting with two "old

heads), as we would say on this side of the pond.

the possibilities are mouth watering.

Best of luck on your "project"

Frank

Thanks Frank. We had a 'jam' this afternoon. Worked mostly on Corzell's tunes which include a lot of Grover Washington. Bob (guitar player) really favors 'realbook' standards and latin-flavored tunes but can handle the smooth jazz stuff with ease. Me, I'm just trying to keep up with these guys. We may be getting a new 'geezer', the music director over at nearby Rheinhardt (sp) College. He's also a reed player. Having a lot of fun relearning old tunes. BTW, bob has a neat little Ipad program that instantly downloads a song from itunes, displays the chords, and instantly transposes if necessary. I'll look for something similar for my android tablet. I'm sure one exists.

chas

Loved the song, Chas. Put down for that first album.

All the best,

Gary

Corzell couldn't make Sunday's jam (probably at home watching the Falcons game ), so Bob and I worked on 'realbook' tunes. He did a solo on 'Angel Eyes' that just blew me away; gotta' record it, just gotta'. He brings a different (vintage) guitar each Sunday; this Sunday was a 40 yr old custom made (for him) hollowbody that he claims is worth about 15k. Beautiful tone, but then I thought the same thing about the 30 yr old Gibson he brought last week. Ahhhh, guitar players, you gotta love 'um (ref. our own Russ and Nigel ). BTW, these sessions come with great sacrifice, being, as they are, in the middle of what is usually my home game (Falcons/Eagles). I have to watch them on 'tape' after taking extreme precautions not to hear the score beforehand .

Still hoping for the best possible outcome for your health problems. I like your approach of focusing on 'the music'. Best of luck.

chas

We'll be in Newnan the evening of the 29th (Sunday), thru at least Wednesday.

R.

Great. Are you coming via I75 (where we met last time)? That's in Kennesaw, GA and very close to me. Newnan is a haul. Check your map. In any case, we'll figure it out. Anyhoo, this time, I'm buying........maybe . You've got my number, give me a call the week of...

chas