another landmark rehearsal with AST

I broke new ground in tonight's rehearsal: I played keyboards along with my horn! It was a completely beautiful experience, to say the least.

Tonight was my first time playing piano or keyboards with anybody else. I've never played keys outside of my study. I brought in my old Korg M1 and hooked it up using my very first patch cord for the very first time and plugging into the amp of our main keyboard player, Chris.

We worked out some stuff where I play backgrounds behind piano and bass solos. Behind the piano solos, I mainly play different jazz voicings (e.g. Gmi¹³, C^7b9/#9, etc.) with a 60s funk organ or electric piano patch. Behind the bass solos, I get to play more sparsely, laying down broken bass lines or simplified groove segments in the lowest register. I'm basically living out one of my biggest musical dreams at that point, which is to play funky basslines with a drummer kickin' a live backbeat with me. Fuck, yeah.

I was a lot more psyched about this than I probably let on to the guys. Chris was totally into it, though. He encouraged me a lot, he gave me suggestions about the best patches to use for different grooves, and he taught me some of the voicings he uses for comping. I felt like a superstar up there, switching between my tenor sax and the organ. Sheeee-it. I'll almost definitely play this at our next gig at SOHO Kitchen in Halifax on Friday, April 8th.

Rap artist THE GAME at The Halifax Forum Tuesday night

I just e-mailed this little invitation to a handful of our friends in Halifax. I'll be surprised if any of them join me, but it would be great if they did. I sort of expect to be flying solo on that gig, though.

Yo yo YO!

Brothas and sistas, check this site for deets about our man The Game, a.k.a. Jayceon Taylor (and that's pronounced "JASON", yo), representin' COMPTON and of G-UNIT fame (that's 50 Cent's first rap posse and his current hip-hop clothing label), who's playing RIGHT HERE IN HALIFAX Tuesday night!

And yo, that poster is a bit hype cuz the gig'll be at The Halifax Forum on Windsor Street (not the "Civic Centre"), and the tickets are $42.50 each. I don't especk the shit to get rollin' till 11 PM at the earliest, but you all'd be more than welcome to join me as I enjoy the show. A local DJ and turntablist called CLASSIFIED will also be opening for The Game, and he is worth seeing (and his latest album is also worth buyin', fo' REAL -- you can check that at his site here).

So hit me back with an e-mail in the morning if any a you muthas want to get down and dirty at this funky show. I'll be callin' the Forum's box office Tuesday by noon to buy my ticket, and if y'all wanna join me, I'll get one for you, too. If I miss you at the show, I'll just send you a review of what y'all missed...

Peace out from your blackest honkey around.