Sounds

Live Bootlegs

Sometime in October 2003, after the Living Room jam session was in full swing, Lanny came up to me with the idea of playing some old Grant Green Blue Note tunes from the 60's. He said he was really into the way Grant swung and grooved at the same time. He made me a CD of some awesome grooves from that era. Myself, I'm completely in love with Hank Crawford, Lou Donaldson, and Maceo Parker, so these tunes were second nature to me. But I had never put a group together to play just that music. It was like falling into a fat lady's arms. Once you're in, you are in. The next thing I know, I'm talking with Aaron, who was just crazy about Grant and Lou Donaldson, and was dying to play the stuff. This would relieve some of the artistic frustration he was feeling from playing continuous 8th notes in his rock band. A few nights later, Dazz shows up at a jam session, and we are all like, "Hey, that's exactly the groove we need." Dazz told us, "Hey, I only know these three beats." We're like "Those are exactly the three we need." So the band was formed.

We've been trying to play semi-consistently around our non-musician schedules. So far it's sounding pretty good. It's loose, there are screw ups, we forget the tunes, and Aaron slipped a disk and spent six weeks on a bed in Canada, but we have a good time. And we draw pretty supportive crowds too. Chinese audiences can appreciate the grooves, and the foreigners like the retro Austin Powers feel. I just like playing again after five years off the horn.

Here are some tracks from various Living Room sets during the first few months of 2004. We add some tunes, take out others, mix it up, and have fun. The 6/18 gig happened to be on my birthday. My present was a stripper who showed up a few songs into the set. After that we were all definitely warmed up, the shots started flowing, and you can gradually hear us get all loosey goosey as the night goes on. That was also Dafu's first gig with us. No rehearsal.

We've been experimenting with mics and placement, and having fun trying to figure out how Rudy Van Gelder did it in his living room. So some tracks might sound completely different than others. Hey, it's live. So kick back and enjoy the groove...

Credits

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