Gypsy Jazz... First Ever Live Performance
Jan 27, 2023 9:40:56 GMT
ocarolan, scorpiodog, and 9 more like this
Post by delb0y on Jan 27, 2023 9:40:56 GMT
Turned back the clock many years and went to an Open Mic last night - myself and a chap I've never played with (until last week when we had our first jam), playing some Django style tunes.
I initially went to OMs a dozen or so years ago when starting down the solo singer-songwriter / finger-picking route. It was a way of stepping out onto a stage alone. Back then, I'd already played in bands for 30+ years, and done many hundreds of gigs, some of them very big. But standing up there alone playing and singing one's own material, with no front-man to hide behind, was like starting afresh. I rapidly found that stuff I could play very well in the kitchen or bedroom went to pieces in the live situation and I was playing at only 40-50% of my "home" ability. I also found that some songs cut it, and some didn't. But I persevered, and from those OMs came a few support gigs, a few song-writer gigs, a few shared-bill gigs, and I gradually found some confidence and increased my live playing ability to something like 90% of what I could do at home. And, as an aside, that particular journey is continuing.
Back to last night. This was my first attempt ever at live gypsy jazz (or even just jazz) playing. It was just like starting again as per the previous paragraph - my playing dropped to about 40% of what I have been doing at home, all my neat little ii-V-I licks vanished, my speed of thought was sluggish, I lost my place when accompanying my partner, my picking technique (which I've been working hard on, and has been coming on well) reverted to old electric-guitar type habits. All in all, I was very disappointed in my playing. Nevertheless... it was great! Really nice after all of these years of trying to play improvised jazz to actually sit on a stage and do it, albeit for only three songs. Had some positive comments afterwards, and because I know what this journey looks like, I'm not too despondent.
As with the previous OM journey, it has revealed areas of focus and concentration and I'm already looking forward to the next performance, wherever that may be.
Derek
I initially went to OMs a dozen or so years ago when starting down the solo singer-songwriter / finger-picking route. It was a way of stepping out onto a stage alone. Back then, I'd already played in bands for 30+ years, and done many hundreds of gigs, some of them very big. But standing up there alone playing and singing one's own material, with no front-man to hide behind, was like starting afresh. I rapidly found that stuff I could play very well in the kitchen or bedroom went to pieces in the live situation and I was playing at only 40-50% of my "home" ability. I also found that some songs cut it, and some didn't. But I persevered, and from those OMs came a few support gigs, a few song-writer gigs, a few shared-bill gigs, and I gradually found some confidence and increased my live playing ability to something like 90% of what I could do at home. And, as an aside, that particular journey is continuing.
Back to last night. This was my first attempt ever at live gypsy jazz (or even just jazz) playing. It was just like starting again as per the previous paragraph - my playing dropped to about 40% of what I have been doing at home, all my neat little ii-V-I licks vanished, my speed of thought was sluggish, I lost my place when accompanying my partner, my picking technique (which I've been working hard on, and has been coming on well) reverted to old electric-guitar type habits. All in all, I was very disappointed in my playing. Nevertheless... it was great! Really nice after all of these years of trying to play improvised jazz to actually sit on a stage and do it, albeit for only three songs. Had some positive comments afterwards, and because I know what this journey looks like, I'm not too despondent.
As with the previous OM journey, it has revealed areas of focus and concentration and I'm already looking forward to the next performance, wherever that may be.
Derek