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?