I've Got the News

Holy moly, is it April already?  I realize this blog has been collecting dust for the past couple months, but there's good reason!  I've been busier than ever, and lots of exciting things have happened.  Read on, and let me fill you in:

February was almost entirely consumed by graduate school auditions.  I had 3 auditions within 3 weeks, all in very far away places, so I spent some quality time in airports.  On the plus side, I got a lot of plane reading done, and learned how to become a lighter packer (well, sort of).

To spare you the excruciating details of all the auditions, I'll just jump to the results.  I was accepted to all four of the schools I applied to- University of Miami, Rutgers, University of Illinois, and University of Northern Colorado.  I was thrilled and humbled to have so many options at so many great programs, but it didn't make the decision any easier.  Plus waiting for scholarship and assistantship offers was nerve-wracking.  More on that in a minute...

After all my graduate auditions were FINALLY done, I could actually focus on my recital!  I really only had about 6 weeks between my last audition and my recital date, so it's been a bit of a crunch to get ready.  I did get to take a nice breather from it all during spring break, when I headed out to Colorado to spend some time with Joel and to go skiing in Breckenridge!

We had a blast during spring break, and I got a chance to explore a good bit of Colorado.  We went down to Denver for a day, did some hiking in Boulder, and then drove out to Breckenridge at the end of the week.  I was actually pretty decent at skiing, despite having approximately 3 days of skiing experience about 8 years ago.  Joel on the other hand...well, he put in a good effort and was a good sport about it :)  Check out this sweet action shot:

You know you're jealous of how cool I look.

After spring break, it was back to reality and into total recital super-overdrive insanity mode.  I've actually spent a good chunk of time transcribing, arranging, and composing tunes for the recital.  I stayed away from anything that was an typical jazz standard because I wanted to push myself to explore new territory, and I wanted to make the program really interesting for the audience.  I think I'm most excited about the original ballad I wrote, which I've arranged to include 5 additional woodwinds.

I'm beyond thankful that I have great musicians playing on my recital.  It has made it easy to put this program together with minimal rehearsal time.  I know I've probably stressed them out with my craziness over the past month, but seriously, they're awesome. It's going to be a blast to play with them on Sunday!

If you're interested in catching my recital, it will be THIS Sunday, April 15th, at 4:00 PM in the Moody Music Building Concert Hall.  Come in person if you're in town, or you can watch the live stream at this link:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/uofa-som

Now for the big news!  The past week or two has been consumed by phone calls and emails to my four prospective graduate programs as I tried to figure out the best option for me.  It took a lot of thought, a lot of talks with people I care about, some number crunching, prayer, tears, and possibly a fair amount chocolate, but...I have decided to attend the University of Northern Colorado next fall!  They had already offered me a partial scholarship for next year, and they came through this week with an offer for a teaching assistantship.  It's a high quality program with a great vibe, and I know I'm really going to learn a lot out there.

I'm especially thrilled that I will finally be able to be in the same place as Joel after spending about 90% of the part year apart.  We've known from the beginning of our relationship that things are always going to be challenging since we're both musicians in the same unstable, uncertain career field.  Despite the obstacles, we decided to make it work, and I have to say that any guy who has stuck around through two cruise ship contracts, my summer Disney gig, a year of graduate school, and various other long distance separations is worth holding onto :)  I feel really blessed to be with someone that not only understands and appreciates me, but who also shares my passion for this crazy musical life.

This whole graduate school decision process has made me reflect on how God uses these major crossroads in our lives.  People always say stuff like "God opens a door for a reason", but I'm starting to think that God isn't limited to one door or one choice.  There isn't always THE ONE right path in a situation like this.  Perhaps there are several good choices, and all of them can be used to fulfill your purpose and God's will (or fate, or whatever you choose to believe in).  God is BIGGER than our petty human decisions about schools and jobs and where to move next.  He has the power to use us wherever we are RIGHT NOW.  In the end, I've always thought the importance of what you do pales in comparison to the importance of who you are.  At least that's the small amount of wisdom I've picked up as a 22-year-old, almost-grad-student, jazz saxophonist.  So you can take it or leave it :)

I hope you're now up to date on the exciting events of my life!  Ha.  In case you like countdowns, my recital is in two days, graduation is in 22 days, I'm headed on a European vacation with my Mom in 25 days, and I'm figuring out the rest of my life...well, maybe never.  But the present is a terrific, rewarding place to be, and at least for now, this is as good as it gets :)

Peace, love, and jazz.

Quality Time With My Car (And Friends Too)

So far, 2012 has provided some pretty exciting and insanely busy times.  It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that I've spent about half of the new year driving from gig to gig and place to place.  While this has mostly been fun (I'll get to the non-fun part in a minute), I'm pretty psyched to spend the next week or two in the same town.  My car is thrilled too, considering it's caked in about 1500 miles worth of road filth.

In the first week of January, Joel and I traveled to the great American city of Louisville, Kentucky, for the JEN conference.  I've actually been to all of the previous ones, but this was Joel's first conference, so it was fun to go with him.  For all of my non-jazz readers out there, JEN stands for the Jazz Education Network, and the conference is probably the largest annual gathering of jazz musicians, jazz educators, and jazz nerds.  (Consequently, about 85% of the conference attendees wore glasses and were balding, the choice look of jazz professors everywhere.)  I really enjoyed being saturated in music for the 4 days of the conference.  Some of my favorite groups and artists I saw were Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey, the Miami Saxophone Quartet, Donny McCaslin, the Danny Gottlieb Collective, and the Alan Baylock Orchestra.

One really fun part of the conference for me was a reunion with some of my friends from the Disney band- Drew, Chris, Dan, Ben Ford, Brett, Adam, and Tyler.  It was great to hear Drew and Ben play again with University of Illinois's Concert Jazz Band, and to check out original compositions by Tyler and Brett in the student composition showcase.  I also talked to tons of other musicians and educators who I've encountered over the past several years.  One advantage to the jazz community being small is that it feels like a family- everybody ends up knowing everybody.  And the vast majority of professional musicians are always willing to chat with students and colleagues, no matter how successful or famous they become.  Like John Clayton said last summer, "The musical community is different because when we see each other, we don't shake hands- we hug!"

I'm definitely planning on attending the conference next year.  It's in Atlanta, so it will be super convenient to travel from Alabama over the holidays.  For all my friends in the Southeast, don't miss this!  Students, conference registration is super inexpensive for you, so you have no excuse!

Shortly after classes started, I had the pleasure of traveling to Huntsville to work with students at Grissom High School for their mini jazz camp.  Grissom's A Jazz Band is preparing to record an entry to the Essentially Ellington competition, so the rest of the faculty and I were there to whip the band into shape over a quick two days!  It was really fun to work with such talented, respectful students who are excited about jazz.  My saxophone section was a bit shy, but they opened up and really improved between the beginning and end of camp.  I also really enjoyed meeting and playing with the other faculty members.  They were all terrific players and fun people, which just proves my point that there are talented musicians EVERYWHERE (even in my hometown!).

Here's a video of the faculty performing for the students at camp:

Finally, my last travel adventure of January was both horrendous and rewarding.  Last weekend I drove to Champaign, IL for my first graduate audition.  I left from Huntsville expecting about an 8 hour drive.  What I got instead was one of the worst travel experiences of my life.  About two hours away from Champaign, it started raining.  Apparently it was the perfect temperature for chaos, because the rain began freezing.  Soon the roads were covered in ice, and things were getting really scary.  Part of the interstate was closed and I was routed on a detour.  I happened to stop and get gas and food, which was probably a good decision.  Once I got back on the road, I encountered completely stopped traffic on the interstate.  What I thought might be a short delay turned into me sitting in the exact same spot on the road for 5 HOURS.  Apparently the ice had caused so many accidents in such a short time that the interstate was basically a cluttered skating rink.  I just so happened to be stuck in traffic next to a guardrail where I could not travel forward or backward.  Saying that it was miserable is an understatement.  I had planned to run through my audition material that evening, but instead I was listening to to traffic reports on the radio and biting my nails.  I started to worry that I wouldn't even make it to my audition by the next morning.

FINALLY, we started moving again.  Instead of spending any more time on the road, I immediately got of the highway and found the closest hotel.  I basically napped for about 3 hours, woke up and got dressed in a suit, and then drove to Champaign at 7 in the morning.  Fortunately, I made it, and my auditions went well, which made the nightmare of a drive worth it.  Surely the rest of my auditions won't be that stressful!

After my audition, I finally got to relax and have some fun.  I hung out with Ben Ford from the Disney band, who was kind enough to be my host in Illinois.  The next morning, we woke up and drove to Chicago for the Disney auditions.  It's tradition for AACB alumni to return to the auditions the next year to say hello to Ron and the crew.  We had a pretty large group of alumni show up- me, Ben, Drew, Chris and Dan.  Ron actually had us sit in the audition room and listen to the applicants, which was probably more intimidating to them than we ever meant it to be.

As I looked at my friends from the band in that room, and as we chatted and reminisced with Ron, I realized we were sharing a beautiful full circle moment.  Just a year ago, all of us had been on the other side of that audition- unsure of whether we would  make the band, unsure of exactly what we were getting into, and strangers to the people who would become our best friends.  After spending a summer in California, all of us have become stronger musicians, more confident people, and we've gained a new family.  I'm so excited for the musicians who will make up next summer's band, because their lives will most definitely change.  I sincerely hope they surpass everything we were able to do as a band and keep raising the bar.

Thankfully my drive back to Bama was much less eventful than my drive north.  Last Monday, I FINALLY had my last procedure for my teeth implant process, and I got my shiny new crowns!  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, all you need to know is that I wasn't born with enough permanent teeth, so I basically had to have some fake ones put in.  To anyone that ever has to get teeth implants, just know up front that it's a pretty long and annoying process.  But it's not the end of the world, even if you play a wind instrument.

That's pretty much all for now!  I have three more graduate auditions coming up in February, so I'm sure you'll be hearing about that soon.  Until then, I'll be in the practice room :)

By the way, if you haven't checked out my new website yet, please do so!  I just updated it with a kaboodle of recordings and some new gig dates.  Here's your chance:

http://www.brianacarrasquillo.com/index.html

Hope everyone is doing well.  How are your resolutions going so far?

2011 In Review

We made it to 2012!

Congrats to all my readers for plowing through the holiday season, finishing out 2011 strong, and making it to the other side that is the year 2012.  Huge changes are in store for me this coming year, but we'll get to that in a minute...in order to catch you all up from my lack of posts this fall, I'll revisit some of the highlights of 2011.

January: I went to the JEN conference in New Orleans right after the start of the new year.  I had a fantastic time and got to hear some great music both in and out of the conference.  Some of my favorites were Jeff Coffin's Mu'tet and the Airmen of Note.  I bumped shoulders with some pretty notable folks in the jazz world.

February: I took an audition for the Disneyland All-American College Band in Atlanta the day after my 21st birthday.  I met Ron McCurdy for the first time there, and left the audition feeling pretty good.  I celebrated my birthday in Tuscaloosa with some great friends.  I performed with Joe Alessi in the Alabama Wind Ensemble.

March: I got the phone call of a lifetime when Ron told me I had made the Disney band.  Everyone was very excited for me, and I was excited for myself!  I remember playing a lot of gigs during March and also having a lot of schoolwork, which was not always the best combo. 

April: My boyfriend Joel left for his second cruise ship contract, and I was a little bummed knowing that I wouldn't see him until after the summer.  Tornadoes tore through Tuscaloosa on April 27th as I weathered the storm in the music building basement with many of my peers and professors.  It was a scary time, but I'm grateful that none of my friends were seriously hurt.  I was humbled in the days that followed by the way our community joined together.  I helped where I could, but wish I could have done more, and I left Tuscaloosa at the beginning of May feeling like the spring semester was very unresolved.

May: The 2011 Jazz Standards Combo took a trip to Bates Brothers Studios.  We were able to record 5 really quality tracks, and the session was a great learning experience.  For the rest of the month, I spent far too long trying to memorize my music for the Disney gig and struggling with my clarinet parts. I left for California on the 27th.

June: We spent a brutal 2 weeks learning the choreography for all of our street sets at Disney, and I learned that I actually can sort of dance.  Opening our shows in the park in mid June was magical.  I got to know the 20 other brilliant, hilarious, quirky, crazy, generous, beautiful musicians that I lived with, and I knew it was going to be an incredible summer.

July: We began to hit our stride with our shows in the park.  The band performed with Arturo Sandoval, which was every bit as dramatic as you'd guess.  My mom and brother visited me in California, and we drove up the Pacific Coast to see a lot of L.A.

August: I spent my two final weeks in California and made my rounds of very sad goodbyes to everyone I had worked with all summer.  I immediately flew to Colorado to see Joel at his new home in Greeley, where he's attending graduate school.  It was wonderful seeing him again and catching each other up on our summer travels.  After that visit, I flew home to Alabama and saw Steeley Dan perform in Tuscaloosa the night I got back.  School started back a couple days later, and I could hardly wrap my head around how drastically my life had changed again in a matter of weeks.

September: Football season started, and Alabama did better that I even expected.  I started the long and grueling task of planning graduate school visits, and I made a mini roadtrip to University of Illinois and Cincinnati Conservatory at the end of the month.  This meant I got to reunite with my Disney College Band friends Drew, Ben Ford, and Chris!  I also played a TON of gigs in September, which was great for my bank account but bad for my practice schedule.

October: I made more grad school visits to Rutgers and the University of Miami, making it a total of 3 weeks in a row that I was traveling out of state that month.  I did get to see my College Band buds Brett and Ben Katz up in the Jersey/NYC area, so that made the trip fun.  Jeff Coffin and the Mu'tet visited UA and performed with the jazz ensemble, and the experience inspired all of us.  Finally, I had oral surgery to start a teeth implant process during fall break.  Whew!

November: I played with the Black Jacket Symphony's production of The Dark Side of the Moon and had an absolute blast pretending to be a rock star.  I recorded some audition materials and completed all of my graduate applications well before Thanksgiving, which was a relief.  I flew to Colorado for my last grad school visit at the University of Northern Colorado, where Joel is currently attending.  We spent the rest of the week together and had our first "grown-up" Thanksgiving on our own.  It was a welcome reprieve from my insane semester.

December: I finished out the semester strong, and I ended up playing a lot of gigs for B.F. Goodrich.  We made it through yet another chaotic year of Hilaritas, our annual Christmas production at UA, and I performed in footie pajamas.  Joel visited Tuscaloosa once his classes were done, and we both traveled to Dothan, AL to see our friend Stacy Morris get married.  I chaotically shopped for Christmas presents at the last minute, but managed to pull everything off.   I rang in the new year at the Alcove in Tuscaloosa with some friends and strangers, and I found in hard to believe that I had blinked and 2011 had passed.

So here I am in 2012!  In the coming months, I will audition at 4 grad schools, play a senior recital, choose a grad school, graduate from UA, move (somewhere) across the country, and start an almost brand-new life in my new home.  With all this on my plate, the coming Mayan apocalypse is the least of my worries.  I'm excited, I'm scared, and most days I'm a little overwhelmed.  But I am definitely optimistic, and I can't wait to share my journeys with you!

I have just a couple resolutions for this year.  (Side note: aren't new year's resolutions odd?  Do we not realize that we have the capability to change our behavior on any day of the year?)  Here they are:

• Update this site more often!  I am also launching a new web page, that will have my bio, gig schedule, recordings, booking information and more.  There will be a link to this blog on my page as well.  Please check it out!  Here is the site.
• Get accepted to graduate school.  This is more of a continuing goal than a resolution, but I'm putting it up here to keep me motivated to practice for my auditions.
• Start a regular exercise routine.  Between gigs, class, and traveling, last semester was a nightmare for keeping a healthy schedule.  On paper, I should have more time this semester to go to the gym.  It's not really a weight loss goal, but rather a total mind/body/soul health resolution.  I find I'm more focused, less stressed, and more energized when I'm on a regular exercise pattern.  We'll see how it works out!
• Write more music.  I'm determined to include at least one or two original compositions on my recital in April.  I've been itching to write more for a while now, but haven't had the time, so now's my chance!
• Stop biting my nails.  Those of you who know me know that I've made this resolution for probably 6 or 7 years in a row now.  It's a silly habit that I can't kick for whatever reason.  Could this year be the year?

What are your resolutions this year?  Whatever they are, I wish you luck and encourage you to stay motivated and positive beyond January.  I'm very hopeful for 2012, but then again, I'm pretty hopeful anyways.  Thanks for reading, and please check back soon!

Sweet Home, Alcove

Hello?  Is anyone still with me?  I realize it's been over a month since my last post.  It's been far too long, and I apologize that this post is so overdue!  I guess that's what happens when you start back at school and it absolutely takes over your life and consumes all free time.

Recently, my gig schedule has taken almost just as much time as my class schedule.  This is mostly a good thing, but occasionally it can make for REALLY long weeks.  This past week I had the good fortune of playing 7 paying gigs in 7 days.  I had a good time playing all of them, and I made a good chunk of change.  I'm too modest to disclose numbers, but let's just say that I made enough to more than match what I paid to buy a new clarinet at the end of the summer!

The range of gigs I've played recently has been pretty wide, and it's made for an entertaining week for me and a lot of new stories.  I did several straight-ahead jazz combo gigs for university events recently, and the band was treated really well at all of them.  Plus we got to eat!  (Side note: the catered gig food diet is not recommended for weight loss or even general health, but it is delicious.)  Since I didn't do a ton of small combo playing and improvisation all summer, it's been really nice to work on that again.

Last Friday was pretty interesting in particular simply because of the juxtaposition of playing I did that evening.  I played a jazz quartet gig for the UA Arts and Sciences Leadership Board earlier that evening.  It was mostly populated by professors, and it was a classy, controlled, and laid back event.  Just a few hours later, I carried my saxophone into a dive bar in Tuscaloosa called The Booth to play with a local cover band called the Druid City Band.  Talk about a 180.  The Booth is mostly populated by fraternity and sorority members and is typically crowded, wild, loud enough to induce vomiting, and just downright terrifying sometimes.  I went from tastefully improvising over "Have You Met Miss Jones" to wailing pentatonic licks over Widespread Panic tunes and high-fiving my new fratty fans in the same evening.  Both gigs were certainly fun in very different ways, and they required me to use very different aspects of my playing.  The important thing to remember is that no matter who your audience is, you're being paid to entertain them.  (Even if your audience is a group of several drunk girls who insist on sitting on the stage and spill beer all over your shoes...)  You must leave your ego at the door and do what the gig calls for.  And in most cases, if you do that in a humble way and respect the music you're performing, you can have a blast playing anything.

I played another interesting gig on Saturday night at the Kappa Alpha fraternity house.  Just so you have a mental picture of where I was, this is what the basement/party garage at the house looked like:

 Looks pretty family friendly, right?  Yeah...

The name of the band is Cosmic Charlie, and they do Grateful Dead covers plus cover the entire Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album.  I was the designated sax soloist, so I got to play those famous solos off of the album on "Money" and "Us and Them."  The other perk of this gig (other than playing fun music) was that I got to reunite with several of my musician friends from the band.  They're based out of Athens, GA, and I've only played a couple gigs with them when they've come through Alabama before, but we all really hit it off the first time we met.  Every time I've performed with them, they have brought an incredible amount of energy, clarity, creativity, and professionalism to the gig, and they are very knowledgeable about a variety of styles of music.  It just goes to show you that there are talented musicians everywhere, and you should never dismiss anyone simply because they're playing cover tunes at a frat party.

After my marathon gig weekend, I had a break for a couple days, and then I returned to my weekly gig at the Alcove International Tavern on Tuesday.  Out of all the venues I've played since I've been in Tuscaloosa, the Alcove has felt the most like home.  This month marks 2 years that I've been playing a weekly jazz gig there on Tuesdays, which is quite a miracle in a town that isn't really known for being hip to the jazz scene. (I have musician friend who was seriously asked one time "Oh, so you play jazz- like Rush and Neil Peart and stuff?")    However, the Alcove has the exact combination of ingredients that allow jazz to not only survive but thrive there.  

So what makes this bar so special and different from the droves of other bars in town?  Part of it is the management.  Chad Smith, the owner, opened the Alcove in 2009 with the idea of creating a space that was unique.  He built much of the bar on his own and by hand, and he made it into a hip space that's sophisticated enough for the elite business people of Tuscaloosa, but relaxed enough for the average college student to feel comfortable as well.  He also wanted to take a risk with music: instead of always hiring the typical rock/pop cover bands, he wanted to start a jazz night from the very beginning.  Thanks to good fortune and a little bit of dumb luck, I sort of fell into the gig from the start, and I've been playing there every Tuesday ever since.  I'm thankful for an owner and friend like Chad who had a strong enough creative vision to try something new and trust that it would be successful.

The other factor that makes the Alcove so special to me is the audience.  For the past two years, every Tuesday I've had the pleasure (and sometimes shock) of meeting an array of strange and wonderful people.  Some are regulars and strangers who I've nicknamed over time: Clark Kent, Golden Dollar, Hawaiian shirt guy (whose real name is Doug), Prom Hair Lady, etc.  Others are people who have become friends and loyal fans, and I love chatting with them every week and often times discovering new music through them.  The bar is also filled with businessmen drinking bourbon, professors who come to escape the college party bars, visitors from other countries who are passing through town, hipsters in plaid and thick rimmed glasses, country boys who didn't even know they could enjoy jazz, music students, moms on ladies night out, and the occasional creepy older gentleman.  I've always been a people watcher, and this job lets me observe the behavior and interaction of all sorts of fascinating people.

The last (but certainly not least) factor that makes the Alcove feel like home is my band.  I've worked with several arrangements of musicians there over the years that have all had a special place in my heart.  However, I feel like I've particularly hit my stride with my current group.  I play with Jonathan Harms on guitar, Josh Kavanaugh on bass, and Michael Battito on drums.  They are all great musicians and terrific people, and they make my job pretty easy every week.  After playing together for quite a while, I feel like the group has really started to gel and develop our own vibe.  For the first time in possibly my whole musical experience, I really feel like I'm starting to find my personal voice, and I owe it to these guys for opening up avenues that let me explore that.  It's a rare and beautiful thing to play with musicians that truly allow you to be yourself, and week after week I never take that for granted.

This past Tuesday felt particularly magical to me.  Maybe it's because fall weather is starting to blow in, or maybe it's because of the nap I took that afternoon, or maybe it's just that the crowd was exceptionally enthusiastic.  For whatever reason, I felt more comfortable and satisfied with my playing than I have in a long time.  I closed my eyes for a long time while digging into a solo on a particular tune.  When I finally opened them back up, what I saw amazed me: people were dancing.  To a jazz quartet.  To my band.  And they were students who were my age.

All of the sudden I realized that jazz isn't dead, and it's not even irrelevant.  It doesn't need to be confined to museums and academic institutions, to stuffy concert halls or historical presentations.  It isn't simply the music of an older generation that bears no relation to me.  It's a living, breathing, EVOLVING art form, and I'm actually a part of it.  And despite the preconceived notions we have as musicians, people WILL actually listen if you just give them a chance.

I left the bar that night in good spirits.  I laughed to myself as I noticed Doug discussing the merits of Tom Petty with a student less than half his age, and I saw the table of Mechanical Information Systems students still partying their Tuesday night away.  The Alcove will always be a home for me.  There isn't another place in Tuscaloosa like it, and I'm starting to think there aren't that many places in the world quite like it either.  

Maybe there's something more to this town than football after all.  

Onward and Upward

I can't believe it's over.  After 11 weeks working for Disney with 20 other amazing friends and musicians, we had to say goodbye.

I wish I could communicate completely exactly how I felt on our last days together.  It was a strange mix of joy and sadness, of wanting to stay in the moment and knowing in the back of my mind that we would soon have to move on.  While I will miss all of my fellow college band members dearly, I know the time was right for us to part ways.  We have much to accomplish outside of this summer.  There is a whole world waiting out there for us.  Onward and upward, as Ron would say.

I want to take a little time to mention all of my friends from this summer individually.  I've always felt like I express myself more accurately in writing than in speech, so hopefully this will let all of my bandmates know how much they really mean to me.  And hopefully for my other readers, it will give you a large enough slice of there personalities to know what wonderful people they all are.

Corinne- I seriously couldn't have asked for a better in-room roommate this summer.  You are such a beautiful person inside and out, and everything you do is filled with such authentic joy and passion.  Thank you for all the love you brought to the band.  I know you'll be a friend I'll have for life.  Best of luck with taking Provo by storm with all your great plans!

Stephanie- You are truly one of the most unique people I have ever met.  It was thoroughly entertaining to have you as a roommate all summer.  I hope you always stay true to who you are, and keep up your rollerblading and scrabble skills!  You're incredibly talented, creative, brilliant, and witty, and I hope you find a career path where you can use all your skills to their fullest extent.

Lexie- I think all of us in the band will agree that you have an incredible amount of energy!  I always admired your outgoing personality and your kindness to people of all backgrounds.  I'm very proud of your job with the Navy, and I hope they treat you well!  Maybe you can teach those soldiers some dance moves ; )

Brett- There's no doubt you're an incredible musician.  However, I learned this summer that you're also a great friend.  It was great to see you come out of your shell this summer, loosen up, and have fun!  I hope you can take some of the joy from this summer and apply it to all of your musical endeavors.  I wish you the best of luck, though you don't need it- I know you'll do great things.

Dan- I really admired your playing from day one in the band.  It was a blast sitting and dancing next to you all summer, and you kept me laughing even through all the long rehearsals.  You've really got it together, and I wish you nothing but success with your CD and all your projects that follow.  Just remember us little guys when you make it big someday! :)

Ben Katz- NEW YORK!  I'm really glad we got to know each other this summer, and I'm happy to say I now have a good friend in NYC.  I hope the New School treats you well, and I hope I'll be able to get up there and visit you sometime soon.  I'm sure you'll take over the city with your killer sax playing AND your super fly Express wardrobe!

Andrew- You made me laugh all summer long with your quotable quotes and hilarious party shirts.  Besides being a super fun guy to hang out with, you're also an incredibly talented trumpet player with chops of steel!  I'm happy for your move to North Texas, and I know you'll do great things there.  Don't let anything get in the way of your positive attitude and incredible work ethic- remember, after this summer, you can do anything!

Mike- I'm sorry we never found Italian ices, but I do hope you still enjoyed your time in California!  After watching our final train station video, I'm even more impressed by your incredible trumpet range.  I know after this summer though that you are capable of much more than just screaming high notes, and I hope you find a career path that allows you to use all of your talents.  Best of luck!

Drew- You really are the Golden Boy.  I enjoyed hanging out with you all summer and playing lots of frisbee, volleyball, and soccer (despite Chris's soccer accident).  Thanks for being my partner in planning and organizing so many activities.  We're both sort of in the same boat as we enter our senior years and start the whole grad school audition process, so I hope it's as clear cut and stress free for you as possible.  I really look forward to seeing you at JEN- expect a big hug!

Kai- Everything you do breathes individuality, whether it's your trumpet soloing, your intellectual conversations, or your thrift store sweater choices.  I truly enjoyed listening to you play every day of the summer.  You definitely have your own voice, so stick to it because you've really got something special.  Best of luck "cultivating your hedge" and deciding what direction to take in life- I know you'll be successful no matter what you choose!

Ben Ford- I think you definitely win the award for wittiest one liners in the band.  I was always laughing when I was around you.  Besides being a naturally hilarious comic, you're the most powerful lead trombone player I've ever heard.  You're also a wonderful friend, and I admire your incredible patience with and encouragement to everyone in the band.  You've got great things ahead of you, so stay positive and stay focused!  I'll see you playing in one of the premiere military bands someday :)

Kyle- You truly are the real deal, sir.  I was so blown away by your soloing from day one, and you never ceased to impress me.  You're still really young, and I know you'll practice your butt off to get where you want to be.  Make sure you take the time to make connections with people and have fun too!  It was great to see you come out of your shell some this summer, and I only hope that process continues.

Sean- CHAMP!  You are a killer trombone player, an amazing friend, and a true southern gentleman.  I'm so glad we got to share an American summer of barbeques, beach trips, arnold palmers, and hilarious sound effects provided by you.  You really have a heart for helping others, and I know that will take you far.  Please visit Alabama like you said you would!

Jon- I think you had one of the most amazing transformations in the band this summer, both physically and mentally.  I was so happy to see you become a confident, positive, encouraging force in the band.  I love your sincerity and your terrific hugs :)  Hopefully this summer has taught you that you can do anything you want- I really look forward to seeing where you'll go next.

Danny- My other Puerto Rican half!  Throughout the summer you were consistently polite, upbeat, and a pleasure to work and hang out with.  You're also an incredible dancer, as I found out with our three little pigs choreography!  I know you have way more up your sleeve than just playing tuba, and I look forward to following your musical adventures.

Eric- It's all gravy, dawg.  I can't remember a single day all summer when you didn't seem happy to be playing percussion toys.  You did it so well that I almost forgot what a great piano player you were too!  You have an incredibly unique sense of humor, and I was always laughing when I was around you.  Best of luck with your comedy and piano enterprises.  I can dig it!

Adam- I think you win the award for the most chill person in the band.  From the beginning, you were always an easy and fun person to talk to and hang out with.  As much as we joked on you for it, the band really was a great group of guys- and you were absolutely one of them!  Keep playing that bass, and I really look forward to seeing you (and everyone else!) at JEN in a few months!

Tommy- Everything you say and do is really genuine and heartfelt, and that's something I appreciate.  It was really fun to see you accomplish your lifelong dream of working at Disney.  You certainly brought a high level of enthusiasm to work with you every day.  Your dedication to your wife and your family is something we all respect and admire.  I hope you continue to pursue all of your dreams!

Mitch- I know being the youngest member of the band may have been a challenge, but you certainly made yourself a vital part of everything we did.  We couldn't have made it through the summer without your enthusiasm, positive energy, and steady "bus driving" on all our jazz sets.  You have such a bright future ahead of you, and I know you're going to accomplish a lot before you even finish your undergrad.  Stay motivated, stay focused, and please stay in touch!

Chris- As our T.A., it's only fair that I saved your shout out for last.  Thank you so much for everything this summer- you did a fantastic job and I can't imagine how we would have all made it without you.  I had a blast hanging out with you both on and off the job, and I learned a lot about all of your strange and varied talents: trombone playing, beatboxing, dancing, whistling, nerf gun shooting, etc.  I hope you figure out exactly what you want to do in life and go for it!  I'm absolutely confident you can do anything you want.

I'll miss you all dearly, and I can't wait to see you around "on the other side."  I'm already thrilled about going to JEN in January and reuniting with several of you.

Lastly, I'd like to thank everyone else who was involved in making this summer incredible.  I can't say enough wonderful things about Ron, Patti, Lori, Patty, Ben, Ernie, and the whole Disneyland team.  You guys were more than just our bosses, employers, and managers- you were family to us, and from my first day on the job I always felt welcome.  Thank you to the countless Disney employees- costuming, kitchen staff, parade dancers, security, show support, other entertainment acts, sound crew, etc etc etc- who made us feel loved and at home.  Also, thank you to my wonderful boyfriend Joel who cheered me on all summer even though it meant we'd be apart for months.  And thanks to all my family and friends back home who have encouraged me the whole way through.

So what's next?  Well, hopefully a multitude of great things.  I plan to keep this blog going as a journal about all my musical and non-musical journeys.  There are a lot of plans I have in the works, and I'm very excited to hit the ground running for my last year at the University of Alabama.  Hopefully you'll follow me and see what happens!  Like I said before, it's only onward and upward from here.

Bless you all, and go in peace.  Love to everyone.

An Embarrassment of Riches

Holy smokes!  The past couple weeks have been so chock full of adventures that it's hard to even know where to begin.  Hold on to your seats!

To catch you guys up from a while ago, I need to tell you all about my encounters with some studio magic.  A couple weekends ago, the band was invited to an ASCAP young composers scoring session at FOX studios.  The event was held at FOX's huge scoring stage where they record for films.  Several composers had won a spot in this program, and at the culmination of their classes, they got to conduct and record a film cue they had written.  The coolest part about the whole experience is that they had a full orchestra of some of Los Angeles's best studio musicians sitting in front of them.  We got to sit in the room and be flies on the wall for the session, which was pretty mind blowing.  I was most impressed with the musicality that all the players brought to the compositions on the first read through.  It's one thing to sight read everything technically perfect; it's a whole other level of professionalism to actually make music on your first time through a piece.

The studio guys were welcoming enough to let us hang out next to their sections and even glance at their parts over their shoulders.  Alex Iles, Jim Thatcher, and John Lewis deserve big shout outs for letting us hang with the brass section during the session!

I tried to take a lot of pictures while at FOX, so hopefully you can get a sense of how impressive this room was.  Check it out:

That's the scoring screen behind the orchestra.  Watching how the music lined up with the film was pretty cool!

This is a cimbasso, which is a trombone/tuba hybrid instrument.  Apparently it is the loudest instrument ever.  Think of the soundtrack to Inception, and it will all make sense.

The band got in on a little studio magic of our own when we went to our recording session for out CD.  Every summer the AACB records a selection of some of our jazz material and street tunes.  The CD isn't produced for retail- it's simply a way for all of us in the band to take home a recorded memory of how our band sounded this summer.  Our recording session was at Warner Brothers studios on their gigantic scoring stage.  It was probably the nicest studio I've ever visited (sorry, FOX!).  We were picked up from the dorms at 7:00 AM that Tuesday, then we traveled to WB, recorded for 4 hours, traveled back to Disney, and played 3 sets that evening.  It was an exhausting day, to put it lightly, but everything went about as smoothly as possible.  We were able to record about 5 or 6 jazz tunes and most of our street set material.  If anyone wants to check out the recording after I get it, I'll be happy to share it with you!

Our recording room from the sax section's point of view.  Check out all the rich mahogany!

The board to end all boards.  Gear nerds, feels free to geek out.

We've had an "embarrassment of riches" in our guest artist department over the past two weeks.  Saxophonist and woodwind doubler Sal Lozano was with us for a concert of July 30th.  Sal has a terrifically dry sense of humor and is a wonderfully generous musician.  He's also played with everything and everyone in town from Disney to Gordon Goodwin's band to Dancing With the Stars.  Sal was kind enough to meet with the saxophone section previously in the summer for a group masterclass, so it was great to see him again.  As a special bonus, he brought the whole saxophone section goody bags of reeds from Vandoren!  You can never have too many of those around.

Singer Sunny Wilkinson performed with us this past Thursday.  Sunny has had a long career as both a musician and music educator.  She's a really brilliant and talented jazz vocalist who certainly has her own musical voice.  Now, to be honest, I'm always a bit wary of charts that singers bring in for the band to read.  However, all of Sunny's charts were excellently written and really fun to play.  I was impressed with how knowledgeable she was in all aspects of jazz- the history, the theory, and the music business.  The concert was a ton of fun, and I learned a lot about musical phrasing just by listening to Sunny sing melodies.

Following that, trombonist Jiggs Whigham performed with us in a concert on Saturday.  Jiggs has an unbelievably impressive resume, and he's played with just about everyone from Dexter Gordon to Mel Lewis to Cannonball Adderley.  He's also recently been appointed artistic director of the German Youth Jazz Orchestra BuJazzO.  BuJazzO is made up of German students from the ages of about 17-25, and it's a very prestigious jazz ensemble that finds the best students from all over Germany.  Since they're currently on a U.S. tour, they actually got a chance to come hang out with us a Disneyland for a morning.  We played for each other, and then did a couple charts together.  Our band was incredibly impressed by their playing, and it was a really fun hang when we mixed up the ensembles and played together.  It was a great international moment, and I realized that the students in BuJazzO are much more similar to all of us than they are different.  It's pretty amazing that even though they're from the other side of the world, we can all share our love of jazz music and perform it well.  Even though jazz was made in America, it's become an international music, and to me that's really encouraging.

Our concert with Jiggs went really well.  He still sounds incredible, and it was a blast to share the stage with him.  Jiggs was our last guest artist concert scheduled for this summer, and I think it was a pretty good choice to close that portion of the summer with him.  

We officially have one week left performing in the park before we leave- to be specific, 4 days.  I'm pretty blown away that the summer has zipped by so quickly.  Everyone in the band is starting to get really sappy, and I'm sure we'll all be a mess after our last set next Friday.  Right now I'm just trying to spend as much time as possible with the 20 other people in the band I've come to know as family this summer.  I'm having a very strange conflict of feelings as the summer heads towards a close.  On one hand, I'm incredibly sad to say goodbye to everyone and to leave California.  On the other hand, it's starting to feel like it's the right time to wrap things up.  Even great things must come to an end at some point- it's just a fact of life.  I know I'm incredibly excited to stay in touch with everyone after the summer and see what incredible paths everyone will take.  The College Band program wouldn't be nearly as meaningful if it didn't have some sort of long-reaching impact past August 14th.  I know my friends will go on to do great things, and I can't wait to brag about all of them as they go on to conquer the world.

I'll leave you all with a story about one of my most meaningful experiences of the summer.  Ironically it taught me much more about people than music, but I think it's one of the most important things that's happened to me in the past two months.  One of our band super fans is a guy named J.J.  We see him just about every week and sometimes two or three times a week at our shows.  Now, J.J. has Down syndrome and possibly some other conditions I'm not completely aware of.  Before you feel sorry for him though, you should know that he probably enjoys what we do more than any other audience member.  He stands up and cheers for the entire show, and he even knows some of our dance moves that he'll do along with us.  It's incredible to watch his sister's face light up (she's the one who brings him to the park all the time) as she watches him watch us.

One day last week after our train station set (the last set of the day), after we had already walked backstage, Patti our stage manager rushed us back onstage to take a picture with J.J.  This was definitely a special situation because we don't usually go out of our way to take group pictures with guests.  J.J. was thrilled to see the band and ran up to us.  We all gathered around him and the whole time pictures were being taken, he was smiling and laughing and yelling in happiness.  I was so overwhelmed by his joy that I literally started tearing up and almost outright crying.  (For those of you who know me well, you have to understand that this is a pretty big deal, as I don't get choked up too often.)  

What that simple picture with J.J. taught me is that we have the power to change lives in this band.  Every day, with every encounter we have with guests, we have the chance to make their day a little better.  The band obviously means a lot to J.J., but what he may not know is that he means a lot to us.  It's guests like that who make this job worth every long rehearsal day, every cramped van ride to the park, every sweaty and hot set, and every sore muscle.  If you've ever been blessed enough to make a career out of being a musician, I hope you never take your job lightly.  Though it sounds cheesy, I think it's really true- we have the power to change the world, one life at a time.  Never take that for granted.

I'm sure there is going to be a sappy and emotional post about my last days here in the near future, so be on the lookout for that!  Have a great week, and I'll be back with you soon :)

Awestruck.

A lot has happened since my last post.  Thinking back on the musical experiences I've had in the past couple weeks, I can hardly believe it all actually happened.  Fortunately I have 20 other witnesses in the band who can back me up and say that it really did!

Two weeks ago, we had Arturo Sandoval come and play a guest artist concert with us.  Yup, THE Arturo Sandoval.  It was a really special occasion because we turned our usual Friday night swing dance sets into a Latin dance party with Arturo.  It was nice to play 3 full sets with a guest artist- usually when other guest artists come, we only get to play one 30 minute Plaza Gardens set with them, which always feels too short.

We had two mornings of rehearsal with Arturo before the show.  They were definitely high energy and somewhat chaotic as we tried to get all of his music in order.  Arturo is definitely a very intense guy- he gets completely into the music whenever he plays.  He also has the most blinged out trumpets I've ever seen.  Ha, they had cigar stickers on the bells of the horns!  I don't think I'll ever forget the first time we played through A Mis Abuelos with him as a band.  As soon as he came in with the super loud screaming melody line, it was this really bizarre full circle moment.  I can remember listening to that song specifically when I was in middle school and geeking out with all my trumpet player friends.  Fast forward several years, and here I was playing it with him!

Besides playing incredible trumpet, Arturo also plays timbales and piano and really well.  At the end of one of our rehearsal days, he sat down at the piano and started playing "All the Things You Are".  He was totally absorbed in that tune for about 10 minutes, and we all just stood and watched him in silence.  Ha, we were so transfixed that Patti our stage manager had to force us to leave and get on the tram to costuming.

Our concert with Arturo was a strange mix of terrifying chaos and musical joy.  We were never sure of what our tune order would be until a few minutes before each set, and at most we had played each tune twice through before the concert.  We were literally on the edge of our seats trying to concentrate as much as possibly on the charts in front of us.  Despite the tinge of anxiety, the concert was outrageously fun.  Arturo played beautifully and impressively as expected.  At some points we could literally see STEAM (or mist, or whatever it was) coming out of his bell from the intensity of the air he was pumping through the horn.  The most nerve wracking parts of the concert for me were my flute parts, which were fairly extensive.  Side note: why is it always that you learn to play flute with this beautiful, upright posture, but they every time you're doubling in real life, you're hunched over into a microphone in the worst possibly playing position ever?  They should teach you how to play flute while you're crammed into the fetal position and your elbow is in your neighbor's shoulder.  That would be a more realistic playing situation.

Before the very last set, Arturo took a couple minutes to talk to us.  He somehow got off on an anti-drug and alcohol rant that was absolutely terrifying.  I didn't ever intend on abusing either one of those, but I certainly won't after Arturo threatened to hypothetically fire us all if we ever did.  Scary!  

The concert was definitely a high point of this summer and a landmark for the whole College Band program.  My souvenir and proof that it happened is this picture I got with Arturo after the concert:

As if that concert wasn't enough of a musical pinnacle for the summer, less than a week later we had John Clayton come in as a guest clinician.  If you're not familiar with John's work, he's an incredible bass player, arranger, and bandleader.  He's also one of the most deeply intellectual and generously kind people I've ever met.  I sincerely hope that everyone gets the chance to be around John at some point, because it is an absolutely life changing and perspective altering experience.  

John talked a lot with us about our career paths.  It was both a very humbling and encouraging experience to have someone as successful as John show sincere interest in our life goals.  John's perspective on improvisation is this:  There are no bad solos, and there are no good solos.  It's all art, so the judgement is left up to the listener.  All we can aim for as artists is to play with honesty and clarity- play what we feel, and play it with the technical proficiency required to get the emotional message across clearly.  That thought process was a real game changer for me.  I realized that I don't need to worry so much about judging the quality of my solos against those of other players I admire.  I only need to aim to express myself as clearly and honestly as possible.  That definitely involves jumping a lot of technical proficiency hurdles that still stand in my way, and a lot of soul searching to truly find my musical voice.  I'm starting to finally reach the point in my musical career where I think I'm on the brink of really creating something that's my own, and that process is really exciting.

The other point from John's clinic that really hit home was when he advised us all against a "fear-based education."  What he meant by that was going to music school- particularly graduate school- to get a degree you're not really interested in only because you're worried your plan A won't work out.  For instance, if your dream job is to be a top studio musician, you don't necessarily need 3 degrees.  However, plenty of people will stay in school only because they're afraid to take the plunge into their career or aren't really sure what steps to take to get where they want.  Now, I'm a big fan of school- I plan on getting a master's degree myself, and I may end up with a doctorate someday.  But John's statement made me really consider why I want to go to graduate school.  I decided my motives are pretty noble:  I really desire the knowledge and new perspectives I'll gain wherever I go, and it will help me build a musical network in other areas.  Of course, having extra degrees will theoretically help me get a teaching job, which is something I want to do (and not just "fall back" on).

Our concert with John was a total blast.  All the tunes we played were his arrangements and really well done. Even though John is a very gentle and somewhat reserved person in conversation, he is a fiery bandleader.  He literally runs around the stage and has a collection of pretty crazy cues!  His energy and passion for the music is infectious.  John, who studied with Ray Brown, actually plays on Ray Brown's bass.  He brought it with him and I got the chance to touch it, which was a eerily powerful experience.  You can't touch an instrument with that much history and not get chills.

Oh, and check this out- anyone recall the INCREDIBLE performance of the National Anthem by Whitney Houston at the Superbowl way back in the day?  Whitney kills it, but what's equally amazing about this performance is the super hip arrangement the orchestra is playing.  Guess who wrote that?  Yup- John Clayton.  Take a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE&feature=related

There is a lot more to tell you about events that have happened, especially over the past few days.  Since this is already a long and rambling blog post, however, I will save it for a not so distant future post.  Cliffhanger!  We're on our 9th week out of 11 here in the College Band program, and I still continue to be in awe every day of the opportunities I've been granted.  I'm incredibly thankful for whatever it was that got me out here, whether it was a good audition, a reference from a friend, dumb luck, or a divine plan (or a little bit of each).

More to come soon!  Stay tuned :)