Celebrating the Jazzschool at Yoshi's

The gig tonight at Yoshi's celebrating 10 years of the Jazzschool went well. I danced a lot. Samba, mostly, to pianist Marcos Silva's group, which was really tight (Mary Fettig floating on flute/sax, her son Scott Thompson having the best time on bass, and Phil Thompson sounding absolutely Brazilian on drumset). Two of the tunes were in odd meters though, so that made it a bit harder to samba to. But I stood back in a corner of the club and danced--I like to get in the groove before I get on stage. Mark Levine's group was up first, and great too, with some wonderful trading between piano and percussion solos, so I danced to that too. Before the gig I talked with Mark Levine briefly and he asked me who my favorite latin jazz singer was and I drew a blank and named Marc Anthony based on pipes alone. That probably doomed me for any future work with Mark Levine. He said Isaac (Delgado) was his fave.

Had a great conversation about cat shit with Matt Beasley, a promoter/booker we're working with at Patois Records. You never know who will read your blog (must remember this)--turns out my entry on my cat's viscous fecal protest on my down comforter hit a nerve. He made the observation that the cat not only chooses the most upsetting location, she also waits until she's got a really disgusting poop lined up. That's some serious bodily function control.

OK, back to the music.

I met Randy Porter, a pianist from Portland, Oregon whom I'd like to keep in mind if I ever play up there. I mentioned David Valdez, the Portland saxman whose jazz blog I read, and Randy said he's a great player. My cousins are in Portland, too. Hmm, that sounds like a gig and a place to stay (yeah, nothing like crashing in a college dorm).

Madeline Eastman was marvelous, with masterful styling and perfect pitch, which was especially noteworthy given that she later told me she couldn't hear herself on stage. Loved her arrangements, too (Randy was on piano, John Wittala on bass and Akira Tana on drumset--gotta work with all of them someday). As always, she was so funny: "What Susan Muscarella has done, starting a jazz school, is amazing, especially when you think about it. I mean, starting a jazz school pretty much sounds like a recipe for failure, or at least for losing a lot of cash. But look at what she's achieved in 10 years." The Jazzschool is now in a beautiful building, hosting concerts most nights and packed with students. And I realized that I have personally learned from every one of the bandleaders who performed tonight.

We were up last, and I knew the sound was going to be an issue (the band has five horns, three percussionists, four singers, etc). So I stood in the corner and danced my butt off for the two tunes that weren't vocal. I figured if nothing else my dancing will stand out, right? And sure enough, several people told me they thought it was great that I danced, that the lighting was perfect--they even wondered if I had specified the lighting (ha! Can you imagine?). Anyway, the first two vocal tunes were tough--couldn't hear at all, and despite a few hand signs to the sound booth no vocal sound ever made it to my monitor mix. But the last song, Use Me, I nailed (even though I had to crane my neck to hear the house sound)!

Anyway, I wasn't sure it was going to be a good gig (for me) but perhaps I earned a few new fans. Oh, and I did sell two CDs, and that's not shabby given the gauntlet of impressive CDs that was out on the table.