Musical Progress! Things Are Coming Together! A Musician's Growing Success.

I have noticed a growing success in my musical endeavors.  I am making new contacts and acquaintances who are musicians.  I recently quit the big band I was in -- the Cats' Jazz Band of Los Gatos, California.  I had been with them three years and did not feel they could provide me with more personal progress.  I needed the time practicing with my newer group, the Moment's Notice Jazz Band of San Jose, California.  I recently created a FaceBook page for MN Jazz at this link:

Meanwhile I made the acquaintance of Jay, lead singer and keys man for the band Ship of Fools. I met him through the guitar player, Gil DeLaRosa, who plays with Moment's Notice.  Jay has been wanting to do more jazz and invited Gil and Gil's bass player (me) to gig at a coffee shop in Big Basin, California,in an upscale business district near Saratoga, California.  We gigged with Jay on October 28, and Jay was happy with the result.  We will undoubtedly gig more with Jay in the future.  Jay is an important contact, and contacts are what a musician needs to find opportunities to gig.

I recorded the Big Basin gig (most of it anyway) and posted it at my SoundCloud page,  If you click on this link, the first song links you will see have a ship logo -- all of those are the gig with Jay (listen with headphones).  Scroll down and all the rest of the songs are of Moment's Notice practices.  Our singer Kelly Aynes does a nice job on vocals.  Most of these songs were played for the very first time in practice, yet still sound good.  Experienced musicians can do that.

Another contact I made recently is that of Wendy Starke, a piano teacher and pianist (who plays electronic keys) and who loves jazz.  I practiced with her once and will do so again soon.  We are doing a charity gig for disabled vets on December 22 in Salinas. We need a guitar player to join us for better results, and I will look for one.

Sucess as a musician involves (1) learning songs and expanding your repertoire, (2) jamming and gigging with other musicians, and (3) getting known in local music circles.