The journey has started.
August 1st, 2019.
On July 30th, 2019 I went to the Jam Session at “Bierhaus am Urban” in Berlin intending to play jazz live for the first time. Nice location, friendly staff, and inexpensive bier as well as jazz on Tuesdays.
After listening to some nice music from the hosting band, I introduced myself and asked to play a tune with them, which they were kind enough to allow me to do, despite telling them that I am a beginner as a jazz player.
We played “Footprints” and “On Green Dolphin Street” together. The band was incredibly flexible and were able to make up for my many shortcomings with grace and style, making it a memorable learning experience for me.
During the break, I had a chance to thank the musicians for the opportunity they had provided for me, and they acted in a very supportive way towards me, giving me some tips and encouraging me to keep playing at the sessions.
I will take their word for it and go next Tuesday, August 6th again.
Listen, man.
August 7th, 2019.
Last night at "Bierhaus Urban" the fun continued. This time, a large group of musicians welcomed me into their group for another evening packed with creativity and contrasts. On stage: a drummer, two bassists, a pianist, a trumpet player, a violin player, a tenor sax player, an alto sax player, two different guitar players, two singers and me, playing the tenor as well. Known nationalities: German, Russian, Spanish and Chilean for sure, others yet to be discovered.
As Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said have been pointing out for years now, music is a vehicle for freedom and peace in many ways. The only relevant aspect on stage is to make music, everybody contributes, nobody overdoes it, and each musician enjoys the music from their bandmates and embraces the differences, which makes the event a learning experience as well as a joy.
My focus last night was on having fun and get better at listening to the other musicians as I played. The results were already better, but the challenge ahead is to make my playing second nature, such as to be able to pay more attention to the band as to whatever I am playing. Only then the creative exchange will fully take off, developing on each other's material, imitating, alluding, etc.
I am grateful to every single musician I had a chance to play with yesterday. They were all very welcoming and encouraging and took the time to continue giving me all kinds of advice regarding my playing as well as other venues for me to try out.
Last but not least I want to thank my friend and incredible comedian James Rankin, as well as his girlfriend Andreina and their mutual friend Claudia for coming out, listen and encourage me at all moments. Also a big thank you to James for providing the pictures taken at this performance and offering them to me, thanks, man!
My next challenge is yet to be decided and will be mentioned after this post when it is. The fun continues.
New challenges
August 21st, 2019.
Last night at the Bierhaus Urban another jazz session took place, and with it, many new challenges arose. When I arrived, there were already several saxophone players waiting to play, and some more arrived afterwards. Since they were all more experienced than me, the question was how to manage to play a bit without putting pressure on the host or making anybody uncomfortable.
I decided to let the host know I wanted to play, standby, listen to the others and pick my time. In the meantime, anybody could chime in and play a solo on the tunes chosen by other players, but that turned out to be quite tricky, because on one hand, I still have a limited repertoire of pieces I can play on short notice, and on the other there were two singers on stage, and some of the tunes they wanted to sing had to be transposed to their prefered key, which poses a big challenge for a player still not accustomed to playing all tunes in all keys.
After a few tunes, Siggy (the host, who plays alto sax, guitar and sings) kindly asked me what I wanted to play, and I went with Blue Monk. I think it sounded quite good and convincing, the group was really keen on the song at the chosen moment, and I think overall it was my first satisfying improvisation in my still very short path in the world of jazz. The audience reacted and a very cheerful manner and the party continued.
My second chance to play came on a blues written by one of the saxophone players on stage, and we all took a solo. I was able to go through it with much work, but the thrill of the challenge was too big to miss.
Overcrowded stage, unknown tunes, known tunes in unknown keys, unusual tempos, it is all part of it. Adapt or die. I think I am going to love it.
Momentum
September 4th, 2019.
Last night I went to the Bierhaus Urban session with one thing in mind: try to participate in more of the tunes, as long as the number of musicians present at the moment allowed it and nothing extremely difficult was being played. As it turned out, it was a good night for that since I was one of just two horn players who showed up at the beginning, the other one being Werner, who plays alto sax and sings, both beautifully, and whom I had already met and played with at the club.
It turned out to be quite the trip for me. Werner picked a tune to sing called "When you are Smiling", which I did not know, but still decided on the spot to take an improvisation turn on since the harmony seemed quite logical and reasonably easy to follow. After that "Footprints" was suggested by the pianist, which I had already played and had decided to give a rest and do again in a few months, but before I knew it we were playing it and taking solos. After that, I suggested "Just Friends" just to play something I had been working on and get the first version out, always the most difficult one. It is a complicated tune to play, but I found that particular moment to be the best possible to try something like that, taking advantage of the power of momentum, already on stage, having just warmed up with other tunes, played music I did not know well and just feeling like it won't get any better anytime soon. At this point, some other musicians started to show up, so I decided to play one more tune while they got ready and yield the stage to them. For that last tune, I picked "Tenor Madness", which I had also done before and felt comfortable with.
While putting away our instruments, Werner asked me how I had felt and we talked to each other for a while. He took the time to give me some advice about practicing and was very encouraging about my process commenting on my musicality and determination. It takes a lot of insight to see some promise in somebody who is as early in the process as I am, and his words had a substantial impact on my motivation.
Let´s just keep the momentum going: preparing, daring to try out, reflecting afterward.