Well........I came across this clip a while back...and every time someone mentions "cherokee"...I think of it......

This is the way it should be played...and I can see why Cosby would have had a rough time with it! LoLoLoLo

http://youtu.be/CPEgesK0KKQ

No problem at all...but, in my experience, the people who come up and want to be a part of your gig are never and I mean NEVER the people who can do that type of thing. One is almost exclusive of the other. What I mean is that IF someone can play with that seasoned subtlety that allows the mood of the song to emerge -while still enhancing the slight ebb and flow of her phrasing, then they are not going to be the ones coming into someone else's gig and expecting to sit it.

I'm just grumpy about the academic aspects of jazz, lately. Everybody's a jazz musician now. People start dropping the name of their school on gigs, now. I see some good aspects of it, too. School isn't the enemy, after all...at least I hope it's not. Problem is that when there's no place to apply the stuff they teach you in school, the scene becomes flooded with...you guessed it...tons of people with instruments, walking around like gypsies hoping that someone will let them sit in or let them take a chorus of soloing on a jam session tune. And, sure, teachers tell them, "Go out there and put your foot in the door and don't take no for an answer. Let them know who you are!" Take charge. They don't seem to teach students about being humble. They don't teach coolness...quietness...distance... They don't teach sensitivity or respect, either from what I see. The people I see are either really dumb, old guys or really young college guys with "Move over, old man!" attitudes who can't cut anything else other than to play fast, choppy solo-y stuff. Now that school's out for the summer, it's worse than ever. I'm about ready to put up a sign in front of the band "Do not bother the band! No, you can't sit in! We don't care how good you are!"...Burger KinBurger Kin

HAhahahaha!!!! Love it!!!!!!!!!!!! Excited

cool version that Branford did of Cherokee, btw...twenty years ago!

Oh, I know...but nobody has really done it better since..LoLoLoLo

O-lugs...I hear ya about the teacher's aspect, as well as the student's attitudes....the masters of jazz instruction are very few and far between now. Most of them have passed on, and the next generation to replace them, well...lets just say they don't have the same mastery of the craft like their teachers did, or the people skills.

You can tell if the guy is good without him playing a beat or a note.....if he's bragging about what he can play, and what school he went to, etc.....chances are he sucks. The humble ones that sit back and listen, only sit in when asked, and never mention what school they went to, now those are the cats that can play (usually lol!)

The Band

O-Lugs - The more you say here the more I find to agree with! I've seen some of this too! The issue about not having a place to use the stuff you learn in school is right on, even in other subjects.

Be honest ::

Nothing is wrong bring their own sticks and snare or what ever they might bring to a set or a gig or a jam session ...What is wrong with that.....Bet most of the Guys in might agree on something like that ....LOL said might agree

Nothing wrong with that for a Jam session, or open mic night.....but to someone else's gig? That's a big no-no. One shouldn't "be prepared for the eventuality" of being asked to sit in on a song or two like you are suggesting. That's just bad musicians etiquette, plain and simple.

Soap Box

my real intake on the idea of the jazz # to scare someone off is a little freaky to me i cut my teeth on jazz and jazz fusion so you have to be in the zone any ways to play jazz if you cant play jazz anything else is moot it defines you as a drummer but that's,,,,,,,, just a geezer ranting here.........