Most jazz bands love to have a venue that they can play as regulars - a house gig.  For quite a while we enjoyed a monthly gig at a Chapters Bookstore, but now we are trying another place.  Jazzy Jones Roadhouse Grill has opened up and we are doing a show their on Thursday March 18th at 7:30 pm.  If everyone is happy it could become our new house gig.  If you are in the Langley area we would love to see you.

Songs tells a stories, and since most jazz tunes are played instrumentally without vocals its presents the opportunity for the listener to create their own story.  Phyllis' brother Ken listened to a recent rehearsal recording we made of Angel Eyes and sent us his story for the song . . . . 

 . . . . Phyllis, Angel Eyes is beautiful. I am listening to it as I write this critique.

The senses of Sight and Sound are really very closely related. I’m sure that when you see something special you hear the music it makes. Conversely; when I hear something special I see the picture it paints.  There are a few basic points: middle “C” is RED, “E” is Yellow, and “G” is BLUE. These are the primary notes and colours. Everything else is a blend of these three. White is Silence. Darker is Louder. 

You suggested that this song is dark; I see burgundy, dark blue-grey, and oak-leaf-green as the background but overall the canvas focuses on the bright splashes of colour. The deep rich tones of the saxophone introducing this piece of art sets the tone. The opening paragraph gives the time signature (no not ¾ or 6/8) the time of the day is early to mid afternoon, the season is early autumn, the year is any year or every year. The locale could be Georgia, or Goa Haven, Langley or Halifax. The place isn’t important; the remembrances are.

It becomes obvious that it is a mostly cloudy day, with heavy dark clouds threatening rain, but the rain doesn’t come. It is a cool day but warm enough to sit outside without getting cold. Occasionally the sun breaks through, painting the grass and trees in patches of brightness. The song moves on to the second paragraph, still painted with the bold brush of the saxophone, but now interspersed with the lighter finer brush of the keyboard to show us the woman, probably a grandmother, watching some children playing amongst the trees. She is in a very pensive mood. We see the trees taking shape with the help of the rhythm section. The drums and cymbals splashing the trees with defined branches and highlights of shadows and light. The trees take on the colours of autumn, most are still dark green, a few show the brightness of yellow or gold, and all balanced with areas of red. The grass has the worn look of the late season, the springiness and resilience of spring is long gone.

As the keyboard takes over the main work we see the children playing, but our focus is drawn to a little girl with bright angel eyes. She is dancing in a world of her own to music only she (and now we) can hear. She unconsciously leaves her friends as she twirls and skips from patch of sun to sunny patch, the alternately playing tag with the shadows.  The strings continue with this theme for a while the focuses our attention on the grandmother who is remembering her childhood days. Remembering playing in the same distracted way dancing in the sun, teasing the shadows. In her mind she joins the girl in her dance and for a brief moment we see them together, a little girl and the memories of the woman.

We are drawn back to the present by the return of the saxophone. The grandmother regrets the the passing years that prevent her from the agility to dance freely and care-freely in the sun and shadows.

The entire painting is brought into focus as a finished canvas by the solemn notes that show the grandmother remembering herself, then her daughter performing the same dances. There is a momentary shift as she looks backward and sees her own mother dancing the same ballet.  Our final focus is once more the little girl with the bright eyes of an angel twirling into the shadows. 

Truly a beautiful picture.

We are really getting into "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver.  Simple chart, but so groovy and infectious.  Here is a rough take we did at rehearsal last night.   www.myspace.com/quintessentialjazz

I love DMB and got to see them last May twice at the MGM Grand in Vegas.  Our drummer Fred, is a big DMB fan too and saw them at the Gorge last year.  So, last night at rehearsal I said, "hey Fred give me kick drum on 2 and 4 and see if you recognze this."   I played the first few bars of #41 for him on my bass.  I thought I played it pretty much like it should sound and he said  .  .  .  . "is that something you've written?"  Either I played bad or he is a DMB fan who needs a refresher.  It took a few more bars and Fred got it and then we were off to the races in a nice jam on #41.  I think we are going to have to do this one Quintessential style.  For those who need a DMB fix here is an older version of #41. 

Some jazz albums that I just keep coming back to me over and over again . . . . .

Lee Ritenour - Stolen Moments
Brian Bromberg - Upright Downright
Oscar Peterson - Canadiana Suite
Yellowjackets - Dreamland
Amanda Tosoff - Still Life
Spyro Gyra - Road Scholars
Charlie Haden - Night and the City
Marcus Miller - Live and More

 We have been recording ourselves at rehearsal lately in an effort to refine our sound as a quartet.  Doug has been pulling double duty playing both sax and guitar and we are trying to figure what works best for each song in our set list of standards and originals.  I have a hunch in many cases he will play what he feels like playing on that given day.  Last week we got a take of a song called End of Summer that Phyllis has written for our new album.  It is a slow ballad with a slightly melancholy feel to it (that's my take on it).  It evokes feelings of a lazy late summer day along with a hint of sadness that summers come to an end.  We posted on our myspace site along with a rather rough early take version of a fusion tune we hope to master called "Good Evening Mr. and Mrs. America."  

There have been many times we have done a tune a rehearsal that we all felt had the vibe.  When it happens someone usually says  "too bad we didn't record that."  So, we have set up recording gear in our practise space and are going through the painful and rewarding process of playing and then listening.  This past week we played a slow smoky standard called Angel Eyes by Matt Davis and Johnny Brent.  For some reason, once we got into it,  we were in the right frame of mind for this tune and it just seemed to happen.  I have posted an mp3 if you want to give it a listen.  (warning it is 16 minutes long)  This is just a rehearsal track, warts and all, but we all felt it had something speicial going for it. 

It has been heartbreaking seeing the news from Haiti.  We have a friend who works at an orphanage there, and her blog makes it so much more real.  You can read and see some moving pictures and videos at http://rebeccalarkin.blogspot.com/  We are currently orgainzing a benefit performance to raise funds for Haiti, and we wil keep you posted about where and when. 

We reluctantly announce that our wonderful friend, trumpet player, and humorist Bob Shatford has decided to step away from the band. The reasons for his departure are good ones and our friendships are still strong. At this point Bob desires to focus on some other priorities in life and we respect his decision. Bob has been with Quintessential for the past four years.  We have enjoyed sharing so many great musical moments and our ongoing friendship. When Dean (our former sax player) moved away, Bob stepped up and took a larger role in the band. We grew to depend on his soulful soloing and expressive playing that came right from the heart.  Our friendships are such a huge part of Quintessential.  We are blessed to get along really well as musicians and as people.  So when someone moves on, we all feel it. 

A running joke in the band was "what about Bob?"  - based on the Bill Murray movie - and Bob never disappointed us with his great attitude and wonderful sense of humor. Thanks Bob for all you did and for who you are!  Our prayers go with you.   

At this point we have decided to continue on as a quartet. We will take a bit of time to work on our arrangements and figure out our sound with four instead of five.  I have a hunch that Doug's role on sax will expand to compliment his stellar guitar work.  Even though we are very sad to see Bob go, we look forward to the challenge of being a classic jazz quartet.   

This past year we have been running a contest to help get our blog up and running.  Every week we have given a free CD to the best blog comment.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  The second part of the contest is to award a free gig to the best blog comment of 2009.  The only condition was that gig had to be here in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.  This past Thursday the band met to review all of the comments in order to pick a winner.  We actually picked two winners . . .

Congratulations to "abbotgirl 1st of 5" for what we thought was the funniest post about the response, or lack thereof, to our blog contest.  Posted under the entry "First Video" September 2009.

"If I am the only one blogging, just how 'interesting' am I going to have to be to win a CD?"   

The second winner goes to our friend Suzanne, a thoughtful response to the entry "Love Hate Jazz?" on April 1st. 

"Yes...the love or hate of jazz. That’s a great topic... I wonder if it’s because when the musicians are playing - jazz requires of them their heart and soul. They put into their performance a reflection of what is happening in their heart and mind right at that moment. The musical description of who each musician is comes out and it is unpredictable and wonderful. The whole feel of the song and where the solos go is different every time – because we are people who are always in a state of change. And that is where the “magic” happens. That is where jazz stands out... So I am thinking that the listener needs to do more than just listen and react. They have to somehow become a part of what is happening on stage...they need to free up their heart and mind and become part of the musical creation experience as it’s happening. Perhaps that is why some hate it. They aren’t giving themselves a chance to experience the music, they are simply listening and reacting. I think jazz requires a deeper level of participation on the part of the listener.... Maybe there is still hope for those who don’t like it!"  

We look foward ot playing a gig for you at a time and place that works.  Feel free to invite your friends!