Pleasure

I had a pretty busy weekend playing my trumpet. Wednesday night I played at Zilch with the TUBA JAM guys. It was a special day/night in Guanajuato because it was "Day of the Student". Guanajuato is a college town and it seemed like every student was out ready to party. We had a packed house at the club. Our sound equipment was acting up so we just played acoustic. It is nice to have a group that doesn't require power. Even without our amplified sound people really enjoyed the show.

I got called Friday afternoon to play duets with Dan (the TUBA JAM duo) later that night at the lovely wine bar Corcho de Bacco. We had a very fun crowd. Played from around 11 until 1.30am. We always have a good time playing at Corcho. The acoustics are great and with only the tuba playing I try to play as relaxed a possible so I can make it through the night. It is nice to be able to entertain a crowd with only 2 cats playing brass instruments.

Most of the day Saturday we spent at the pool in Silao celebrating Rose's 8th birthday. Always super fun hangin' with my girls. Later that night, I played for the Yeccan Waldorf School benefit at the hotel Casa de los Cuentos. It was the first time I have performed with Jaime Valle a new guitarist in the San Miguel scene. It was great playing with Jaime and Tyler Mitchell on bass. It was nice to be able to introduce Jaime to the people of Guanajuato. We played from 8 until 9'ish. Corcho had called again so I went back and Dan and I played more duets from 1015 until 1230. A bunch of the people who were at the benefit showed up and the highlight of my night was watching Tyler laugh as I sang the Afro Man classic, "Because I Got High" especially for him. Yes, that's right I said "sang". I have started singing a few tunes with TUBA JAM. People always seem to love it. I have been told I have a lovely singing voice, but the person who said that is about 75 and wears hearing aids. You'll have to come check us out and see what you think.

Today was the perfect ending for a busy weekend of trumpet playing. Cuban pianist Gabriel Hernandez and bassist Tyler Mitchell returned to the Gene Byron. It is such a pleasure listening to these guys and it is beyond my powers of description to write what it is like playing with these 2. At my request we played "Dance of the Little Ones" my favorite Gabriel composition off of his latest disc, "Mr. Many Moons". It's been a while since I have played a composition with the composer. Very cool. Another highlight for me was playing the beautiful Frank Loesser ballad "The Very Thought of You". Such a gorgeous tune. I love playing ballads. I felt much better about my playing this time, than I did the last time we played at the Gene Byron. I felt more in the groove and was able to actually get a few ideas out of the end of the horn.