Tips of the Week: Dealing With the Jitters; Real Book Choices

Dealing With Nervousness:  Yesterday my band played at the GVA Cafe in Morgan Hill, California.  Just before we broke into glorious song, I had a very small case of butterflies (nervousness).  There were two accomplished bass players in the audience.  Would they think I'm a jerk?  A rube?  A fool with a bass?

It was just a fear of being judged.  We all fear not measuring up to others' expectations.  But I had a quick talk with myself:  just play like there's no one in the audience.  If they like it or don't like it, it's all good.  So nervousness was not a factor in my playing that night.

Real Books:  Real Books are books of sheet music for musicians.  They are licensed for use, and not a violation of copyright, as were their predecessors, called Fake Books.  Most of them are for C instruments like piano, guitar and bass, but you can get them also for Bb and Eb instruments, that is, saxophones and trumpets.  The most popular Real Book on Amazon is Real Book 1, 6th Edition.  It has the notes and chord symbols, but not the lyrics.  This has been a problem for me, as I still get lost on occasion, and need the lyrics to keep me on track.

I found out this week that, instead of Real Book 1 6th Edition, you may want to consider Real Voice Book 1 for High Voice.  It has the same music, in the same keys, but with the lyrics.  The price is about the same, very affordable. Real Voice Book II is different from Real  Book II, but its songs also include the lyrics.  I have both of them.

Other great Real Books that have the lyrics are the New Real Book series, 4 books as I recall.  There is some duplication of songs, but enough differences to make it worth your while to buy.

First Gig of Our Jazz Quintet: "Moment's Notice" -- Lessons Learned

Fusion Blue at the GVA Cafe

Yesterday our jazz quintet, "Moment's Notice" played its first gig at the GVA Cafe in Morgan Hill, California.  We only played five tunes, in conjunction with a jazz fusion group of friends.  Basically, we opened for their band "Fusion Blue (see pic)."

It went well.  Not perfect, but you must adapt to unexpected twists and turns.  I forgot my sheet music to "It Had to be You," and was forced to adlib the song.  When we started to play "Fly Me to the Moon," our singer started off on the wrong note, forcing me to switch to the key he was singing in, instead of the key on the sheet music.  Still, it came out all right.  Lesson learned:  always start a song with an instrumental piece to set the key for the singer.  We need to practice our beginnings a lot more.

I recorded the gig with my Handy H5 Zoom recorder, but had the volume up too high and there is distortion in the recordings.  My bad.  So I won't post them here.  Another lesson learned.  I should have anticipated this because of the small stage and volume, and turned the recorder power down a bit.

Our guitar player came up with the name for the band, "Moment's Notice."  It's the title of a jazz tune by John Coltrane, and we don't even play the song, yet.  It wouldn't be my first choice, but it's better than nothing.  At least now I can start a FaceBook page for the band and start promoting it.

The big band that I play with, the Cats Jazz Band of Los Gatos, has a few weeks off, and will resume practice on September 7.  That's great, it gives me a chance to polish up our repertoire with the extra practice time.