My Thank You letter to Jamey for 2015, just posted today:
Friday, July 17th, 2015
Jamey Aebersold
Jamey Aebersold Jazz
1211 Aebersold Drive
PO Box 1244
New Albany, IN 47150
Dear Jamey,
As a four-time camp participant this year, I’m writing to express my thanks for hosting such a magnificent camp and lobby for a couple of things that worked particularly well for me that I hope you’ll be able to continue.
For context, we’ve spoken briefly a few times and I’m confident that you’d recognize me even if you can’t match the name to the face; I’m that 54-year-old intermediate upright player with the graying beard lugging around my Eminence travel bass between ‘the cage’ and the practice rooms multiple times a day. This year, as last, I attended both weeks and the weekend rhythm session between. I was in Dave Stryker’s combo the first week and Bobby Shew’s the second. Bobby was a fantastic combo leader and we had a good combo that stayed to work together every night until dinner.
As before, I had a few once-in-a-lifetime experiences: Bobby’s combo, Chris Potter’s performance, a duet with John Goldsby, playing with Dave Stryker and Adam Nussbaum plus more, but one of the things I found I really enjoyed were the original pieces the faculty performed. The faculty concerts, alone, are worth the cost of tuition for me and I learn a tremendous amount following the tunes, watching the players interact, and watching the bass faculty play, and I find I really appreciate the variety of jazz that’s played. The original pieces from Dan Hearle, Fred Hamilton, Diego Lyra, Chris Fitzgerald, and David Friesen were a welcome addition to the usual standards. In my opinion, both standards and originals are important for the campers to hear, even if they don’t like every piece. In my case, I’ve found that I’ve come to like and admire David Friesen’s compositions, for instance, when at first I didn’t care for them much.
During the weekend rhythm session, we broke out into trios working with Fred Hamilton. At first, Fred had me and a drummer come in, got us to lock-up and then brought in David Kana. No surprise, we fell apart once David came in. Some corrections and we locked up again, then Fred had a guitarist join us. Fell apart. Some corrections and we locked up. This was some of the best instruction I’ve ever received on playing successfully with a rhythm section and I’d very much like to be able to experience it again next year. I asked Fred to work with me and the drummer in my combo during the week and he agreed, on his own time – very generous of him. I heard some rumblings that this might not continue and if so, I think that’d be a shame because it’s training that’s very difficult to receive anywhere else for many of us. As Lynn Seaton pointed out, my private teacher doesn’t get much opportunity to assess my interaction in a combo very often. I think this might make a great Master Class offering too.
Along those lines, I’ve “played with the faculty” 6 times so far and only one of them worked out well. Usually it’s because the rhythm section is abysmal, not the faculty member’s fault. There’s usually one very weak player who’s not listening and that’s enough to ruin any groove, and most of the time, at least one person doesn’t show up. This last time, everyone did show and we got some good and helpful criticism from Jim Ketch. The previous week though, only the guitarist and I showed up and we got through it marginally without much groove, but nothing obviously amiss other than a lack of confidence and conviction. We played one song and chatted for the rest of the hour. What would really be cool and much more valuable, in my opinion, is if we could do this as “faculty plus one”, meaning a faculty quartet and a student quartet and the students take turns filling in with one of the faculty. The time I got to play a few choruses with Stryker and Nussbaum was one of the most liberating I’ve experienced. The “time” and groove just took care of itself and I found myself playing far more nuanced and advanced than the entire rest of the week.
So, to sum:
1) More original compositions in the faculty concerts
2) more trio workshops as part of the weekend rhythm sessions and/or Master Classes and
3) A “faculty-plus-one” Master Class - maybe instead of the “play-with-the-faculty”
Finally, let me thank you once again for hosting such a great camp. I’ve done my research looking for camps closer to me and I keep determining that, in my opinion, yours is the best for me. I believe yours is one of the largest, which is important both in terms of the variety of students and faculty, and you have the most experienced faculty who are both successful and admired performers and teachers. And, the camp is extremely well-organized and well-run for such an undertaking. I know that I speak for many - people who’ve attended the camp for 25 years consistently, 17 years, two 12-year-olds, and many 3-4-5-year attendees - when I say we sincerely hope the camp continues long after you’ve passed on your daily responsibilities, because it is an International treasure of the arts.
With sincerest gratitude,
Tom Lane
Torrance, CA 90505
