Two Nights Out

You might assume that I have an active night life, gigging and clubbing to stay attuned to the scene--but you would assume wrong. In fact, I have always been a homebody, though over time I have begun to enjoy going out, and going out alone. Years of business travel taught me how to have a nice time by myself, and my husband and I don't always share the same taste in entertainment, nor are our wallets fat enough to pay for both of us to go out. He's finally stopped telling his ludicrous story of how I like to drag him to the symphony, which happened exactly once more than a decade ago. And I love to share his take on salsa--I did drag him to Cuba, and once we were there on day two he turns to me and says, "You were right! This is the cradle of all Latin American music!" We love to go dancing together but ... it happens very rarely.

Anyway, on Thursday of last week I was sitting at home writing an article that was due the next day (or the previous day) and at 8 pm I get a call from a musician friend asking if I want to go to Cocomo's to see Karabali, our teacher Edgardo's band. I said I was writing but maybe. He said he'd call back at 9:30. When he did, I said "Let's do it!" He offered to come pick me up--hey, this was nice! So we went to Cocomo's (which I have never seen--it reminded me of Rocapulco, which Emilio and I really enjoyed) and I got to dance a lot and hear a great band playing conjunto style salsa (no timbales), with special guest Ray Vega from New York on trumpet.

I only had two dud dance partners, one who had no rhythm whatsoever, and one who liked to "vogue," striking various poses but never actually doing any dance steps. I really hate it when people try to educate others on the dance floor but I did try to help Mister Rhythmically Challenged feel the downbeat by counting "un dos tres" in his ear and tapping on his arm. He said he was from India and had been dancing two months. I said I knew some great salseros who were Indian. He asked if I was from Mexico and I lied and said yes. Might as well keep things simple. Mister Vogue radiated a strange air as he did his weird held partner poses, which I tried to follow, though several involved non OSHA-approved ergonomics and my back was not cooperating. I mean, dipping me is fine, but don't hold my arm straight up in the air like you're trying to dislocate my shoulder while you do that! "The pleasure of dancing with you has been all mine," he said when it was over. He got that right. "I hope you will consider dancing with me again." I smiled while backing away quickly. Later I observed a frenetic ninja salsa dancer and made a mental note to avoid him as well.

However, there was one guy who just the right mix of warm musical interaction and confident leadership, and I was able to follow him quite well both times we danced. My husband doesn't want to go back to this ballroom salsa class we'd been sporadically taking before I twisted my ankle (we both prefer Cuban/club style) but I could see that one advantage was my ability to follow more complex ballroom-style patterns.

The next night, I went out again, this time because my producer called me and said I should really show up to meet the distributors our record label is working with. So I saw a great performance by Wayne's quintet, with again Ray Vega as a guest. They did a gorgeous version of Coltrane's Africa, and Ray sang a few pregones to El Manisero at the end of the night. Ray's solos range from super spare to athletic, always with afro-cuban rhythm coursing through his movement and sound. He's also very funny on stage. Murray Low did some amazing work on the piano, at one point "going to his scary place," as he told me later, with a solo that pulled hard against the time and dovetailed back into the beat brilliantly.

I danced all night, but mostly by myself. I also got to talk with "live music evangelist" Daniel Patrick, who has been running the music event production at the Larkspur Cafe Theater and is about to go independent following a shakeup in venue ownership. He was very kind, and seemed to really take a shine to me after I helped stack chairs between sets. Have I hit upon a new technique for endearing myself to bookers? "You like how I stack chairs, you should see me do dishes!"

Alexa's Tips for Multitasking Musician Moms, Part 18

Alexa's Tips for Multitasking Musician Moms, Part 17

My New Album Drops Today!

Thanks to all of you who came out to Half Moon Bay for our Bach
Dancing and Dynamite gig--the show was sold out! What a gas (and I
know you enjoyed the gorgeous beach weather as well)!

This is just a note to say that Vagabundeo/Wanderings (Patois
Records/RNLG) is being released today, meaning that national radio
airplay is beginning in earnest along with availability in stores and
on iTunes!

Or just search for Alexa Morales on iTunes, and you'll find me. I'm
working on adding my first album to iTunes--haven't gotten around to
completing the paperwork for all the music publishing companies.

I've just learned that KCRW (Tom Schnabel) in Los Angeles is spinning
Habanera and Ave Rara, the first two tracks. Other early spinners
include KCSM (Chuy Varela and Jayne Sanchez) in San Mateo, KMFB in Fort Bragg (Liz
Helenchild), WRBC in Maine (Neil Bement), Radio Unica (Marcos
Gutierrez) in San Francisco/Sacramento, KPFA (David McBurnie) in
Berkeley, WDIY in Pennsylvania (Dr. Luis Campos) and KVMR (Leon
Reyes) in Sacramento/Nevada City. Thank you, DJs!

If you like the music and feel moved to do so, please post a review
on iTunes or Amazon.com. Here's the Amazon link:

Aubrey's Insight

Here I am, doing "research" as I try to finish an article that's due today and I came across this editorial I wrote for my old magazine. Boy, did I love reading the Master and Commander series...

July 19, 2005

A Sea of Holes

Lost in corporate churn? Look to The Art of War: "A clever fighter ... wins with ease. Hence, his victories bring him neither reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage."

By Alexandra Weber Morales

More than 2,000 years ago, legendary Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote, "Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life."

Though research has cast doubt on the provenance of The Art of War, the book's concise observations about strategy, leadership and combat still resonate. Why, then, are they not easier to follow? Why is it so hard to keep close counsel, to rejoice when things go well but say nothing when they don't, and to remember that "Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy's purpose"?

Working in a large company is often a hard-fought game of Survivor, in which internal battles for resources can consume as much energy as external efforts to serve a customer or engineer a brilliant product. There are those times when tergiversation soars and productivity sinks, and one drowns in a roiling sea of subterfuge.

Learning from Lucky Jack Aubrey

In a scene in the animated film Madagascar, a lion in a crate, lost at sea, looks out through a knothole at an overwhelming view of mountainous waves. Indeed, maritime matters have been on my mind recently, ever since my father gave me Patrick O'Brian's brilliant Master and Commander series. I've found these novels about Captain Jack Aubrey and medical officer/spy Stephen Maturin's adventures in the British navy during the Napoleonic wars delightfully addictive, even if I still don't understand most of the seafaring terms (though I lived on a sailboat as a child). While the historical context and the nautical strategy are surprisingly absorbing, what's most compelling about O'Brian's oeuvre is the psychological angle. (Warning: I'm about to give away a bit of the storyline.)

O'Brian describes Lucky Jack Aubrey as an ideal leader, a sailor through and through, highly observant and very aware of the gestures, disciplines and traditions that turn a ship manned with an uncomfortable mix of indentured servants and skilled seamen into a successful fighting machine. In The Mauritius Command, fourth in the series, the psychodrama becomes even more prominent as we see Doctor Maturin at work, spreading subversive literature to avert combat, or craftily confusing an admiral attempting to steal Aubrey's hard-won glory.

In a campaign to capture the island of Mauritius from the French, now-Commodore Aubrey must command a squadron and deal with the egos, strengths and weaknesses not of the rank and file, but of their leaders. One authoritarian captain tragically pays for his brutality in the end, losing his life to a mutinous crew and his ship to a motivated enemy. Another captain's professional jealousy culminates in an ugly suicide. Only rarely in his new authority does Aubrey meet true peers who are as uncomplicatedly devoted to their calling as he is.

So it is in corporate America. Skilled software developers dream of being on that lucky team blessed with a brilliant leader who shares their love of programming and technology, protects them from those who don't get it, and facilitates strong chemistry and productivity through example and insight. But no company is perfect. Aside from his psychological insight, Aubrey's greatest asset is his ability to lovingly transform even the ugliest ship into the best vessel she can be, making myriad adjustments to masts, sails, stowage, carpentry and rigging. Despite Royal Navy bureaucracy, bloodshed, financial misfortune and ever increasing responsibility, he is an optimist.

No matter the era, the question of how to thrive within unwieldy organizations has engaged captains and capitalists alike. Have you skillfully navigated corporate seas or ascended to the quarterdeck from the forecastle? Write me at ***********.

Pink-Section Praise=Sold-Out Show?

Well, we sold out our Sunday afternoon show at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay, probably with help from the gorgeous weather (I took a walk on the beach before the show), the KPFA radio interview and this nice writeup in the San Francisco Chronicle's pink section:

"With a voice sweet, pure and strong, Alexa Weber Morales is poised to ride the Bay Area Latin jazz scene to national recognition. On her new CD, "Vagabundeo/Wanderings," she spans a wide spectrum of the music, getting help from ace producer, arranger and trombonist Wayne Wallace."

Pete Douglas, the proprietor of BDDS, is quite a character. He claims his job is "listening to jazz, drinking gin and smoking marijuana." His non-profit venue has been operating for over 40 years, bringing the best in jazz and classical performances to enthusiastic audiences. In the green room, which is also a living quarters on his beach-side compound, there are photos of all the great performers who have graced his hall, from Billy Drummond to Dizzy Gillespie.

Douglas is a bebopper through and through, so at intermission he told me I was wonderful, but would I please let the rhythm section "stretch out and take more solos." Now, some gigs I do have a few instrumentals planned, but this was not one of them. I asked the band if they wanted to do a tune without me but they said it was my gig and I should stick to my set list. In the second set, however, we opened with a tune that Jeff Chambers always likes to solo on, and he took a long one. A few more tunes went by with extended improvs by Jeff, Wayne, Edgardo and Murray. Pleased with myself, I said on mic to Pete (who was running sound), "Pete, are you happy now that everyone has soloed more?" To which he replied, "No, why don't you get off the stage and let them play?" The audience groaned at this suggestion and I said to great laughs, "Lesson: Never ask the owner of the venue if he's happy with the gig while we're on stage. When will I learn?"

For our last song, we played the Clare Fischer cha cha Morning, always an audience favorite and another opportunity for extended solos. Introducing it, I said, "For our last song, I will comply with Pete's wish and get off stage--but in my own way." Then we started off the tune as usual, with me singing lead. When I finished, I danced off the stage and began to boogie through the audience. Everyone was having a great time, dancing and clapping. Wayne was taking a solo so I tried not to be too distracting (though I was). When the song was winding down I got back on stage and sang through to the end.

We got a video of the whole performance. I really hope something useable comes out of it!

Ella Fitzgerald EPK

Nocturne

Oh my goodness, it's nearly 2 a.m. and I still have to go practice the Schubert Ave Maria for a wedding gig I have tomorrow at Grace Cathedral (I'll go from gospel to classical for that gig, with a wide range of tunes). Now that school is out, I think I'm reverting to my natural night-owl schedule. I sing and putter about, occasionally listening to Emilio's snoring and the sweet sound of baby's sighs. I see my six-year-old's impossibly askew limbs stretching over balled-up blankets and teddy bears. This is a family that sleeps with heated abandon! When will I join them in slumber?

Radio to Media, with Moms In-Between

I was just practicing, but my blog began calling to me, softly at first, then more insistently: "Please, come, post something in me... Forget about singing, exercise your writing muscles." Today, for reasons that escape me, I felt rather depressed despite a nice morning in which I did a radio interview at KPFA. Perhaps I mentioned my old magazine job too much. Or perhaps I just got into a navel-gazing frame and over analyzed everything I said afterwards. But going back to that irresistible navel-gazing, I don't want to come across as whining about being laid off. Perhaps that was one thing that bothered me. I think it's more an interesting aspect of a life's story, of how I left 10 years of "quiet desperation" behind with a swift kick in the maternity pants and jumped into a full embrace of my music career. I suppose the same goes for the motherhood stuff that I said in the interview. Again, I hope I don't come across as Kathy Lee Gifford, or perhaps her spiritual opposite, Ann Lamott. Motherhood defines me but I hope in a way that is relatable and fun, not remedial or dissective ...

I'm in a digressive mood, so I have to mention that on many school outings I notice that while all the parents are very interesting people, there are only one or two who actually do the kid stuff. Sometimes I feel pressure not to, since no other parents are playing Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade, for example, but eventually I end up doing flips on the trampoline or handstands in the pool or somersaults in the bouncy house or falling into the slippery and slightly gross pool of colored balls in the play structure. Maybe that makes me seem like a show off or someone who's trying to be young, but it just happens that I like those things (I promise my son I won't be doing teenage things when he's a teenager--well, unless he's into really cool things. Uh oh.).

Music, motherhood, now back to magazines...

I recently heard that another big group of folks have been put on the chopping block at CMP, my old employer. Some 20 percent of the workforce. The funny thing is, in a related story I read the CEO of IDG (another trade publisher) talking about how bloggers today can make $500,000 (sign me up!!!) and the new post-college course for journalists is to make a name for themselves as bloggers and become a star. How astute he is to realize that most quiet, inquisitive writers are actually salivating at the idea of becoming self-made celebrities. He also talked about how his company will use this blogging expertise for free by simply linking to it. (I love how they never seem to notice that 90 percent of the bloggers are laid-off magazine editors.) Oh, and they'll also have conferences where the community is the most important thing, because they realize that the hallway conversations are more important than the expensive keynotes. Nice idea, except that the companies those attendees work for won't shell out $3000 for them to go have a conversation in a hallway. More silliness from cash-strapped media corporations that don't know what to do about the Internet, other than fire all their skilled staff and try to emulate Google (which is ravenously recruiting the most intelligent staff every university on the planet can produce).

KPFA interview with David McBurnie

Just got back from an entertaining radio interview at KPFA 94.1 FM to promote my gig this weekend at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society and of course the June 26 release of my new album. David McBurnie is so fun--and off the air, he swears like the most hilarious Caribbean sailor you ever heard! Listen to the show archive here...

Learning Tunes on Casa Valdez Blog

There's a great jazz blog over at Casa Valdez, and the other day I posted a question about learning tunes:

I picked up an Aebersold book at the last IAJE called "How to Learn Tunes". Frankly, I wished there was more meat to it, but the basic gist is, memorize repertoire via categorization. In other words, make lists of tunes you know (or want to learn) grouped by characteristics such as key, meter, tempo, form, type of melody and harmony, rhythm/groove. This is something you can do while traveling or away from your instrument.Another good technique is to work with a metronome and practice the rhythms of a piece. My question lately is, what sort of mnemonic aids do other musicians use? I generally write lyrics over and over by hand to learn them (I'm a singer). But since I don't accompany myself on stage, I find that when I learn a tune on the piano, after the initial process of reading it and learning it, I forget the names of many of the chord changes. In other words, I have the muscle memory in my fingers but intellectually I rarely retain the names of the chord changes. Any suggestions on improving this, or on learning tunes in general?

The comments from the other readers are invaluable. I'm definitely going to print some out and apply them.

Ledisi: Local Girl Makes Good

My friend Jay told me to watch this "We Love Ella" special on PBS. To my delight and amazement, the Bay Area's own Ledisi (who may now be New York-based), appeared (introduced by Quincy Jones as the next generation to carry on the legend of Ella) and blew everyone else out of the water. Her pipes, her presence, her incredible scatting ability, her massive range and her novel interpretation were all head and shoulders above the rest!

I remember seeing her many years ago at San Francisco's Cafe du Nord with my friend Emily, taking a class with (from) her at Jazz Camp Weekend, and seeing her open for Nancy Wilson at Stern Grove (and tell the audience she was nervous!). I know she has been working it for years, as a great songwriter, a tireless performer and a record producer. (Oh, and Wayne arranged a great horn section for a tune she wrote, Feeling Orange But Sometimes Blue). Here she is, proving yet again that every overnight sensation is years in the making. How thrilling and inspiring to see the exposure she's getting now. And apparently, she's got a new record coming out on Verve! Go girl, go!

Don't just take my word for it: Here she is (plus Take 6, not too shabby!)!

Kurt Vonnegut's Final Thoughts

Picked up an in-flight magazine and there was a great 2007 interview with the late Kurt Vonnegut, whose works I have never read but now plan to. Here are some gems:

On choosing a life of creation:
I always say to people, practice an art, no matter how well or badly you do it, because then you have the experience of becoming, and it makes your soul grow... I speak with real painters and real artists from time to time about when they get their rocks off, and it's the process of actually doing it. The rest of it--rave reviews or flops, or whatever--is just noise to them. It's the doing that matters, the becoming. The rest of it doesn't matter.

On the decline of literature:
I was at a symposium some years back with my friends Joseph Heller and William Styron, both dead now, and we were talking about the death of the novel and the death of poetry, and Styron pointed out that the novel has always been an elitist art form. It's an art form for very few people, because only a few can read very well. I've said that to open a novel is to arrive in a a music hall and be handed a viola. You have to perform. To stare at horizontal lines of phonetic symbols and Arabic numbers and to be able to put a show on in your head, it requires the reader to perform. If you can do it, you can go whaling in the South Pacific with Herman Melville, or you can watch Madame Bovary make a mess of her life in Paris. With pictures and movies, all you have to do is sit there and look at them and it happens to you.

On reading as a pastime:
There are all these other things to do with time. It used to be people would wonder what the hell they were going to do for the winter. Then a big book would come out--a big, wonderful book--and everybody would be reading it to pass the time. It was a very primitive experiment, before television, where people would have to look at ink on paper, for God's sake. ...Now you don't have to be literate to have a good time.

On television as one of the most viable art forms today:
It works like a dream. It's a way to hold attention, and it's awfully good at that. For a lot of people, TV is life itself. Churches used to provide people with better company than they had at home, but now, no matter what your neighborhood life or family life is like, you turn on the television and you get relatives, family. I don't know if you've heard about this, but scientists have created baby geese that believe that an airplane is their mother. Human beings will believe in all kinds of things that aren't true, and that's okay. And TV is part of that. I have seen episodes of TV that would have been major Broadway plays in the '20s and '30s. That's where so much of our great writing is going on, if very rarely.