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Now with "THE CHICKEN"!! BIG band, HOT singer...

#41
Basshole, no problem. You're right, I asked for opinions - so thanks for posting. Glad you like the band. Shame about the singer though, right? :D

Actually I really like her style, myself, as do quite a few other folks (see comments herein). But if you don't, then you don't - good job we're all different I guess. She'll just have to take the knocks. ;)

No, I'm not dating her, that's our drummers job.

Jeff - thanks to you also. You're dead right, the sort of stuff we play is different to a conventional big band, of course, so we are going for a slightly different onstage vibe. But like you, I too like the all black look; just another case where everyone has their opinion, I guess. On the reading thing first mentioned by smallmouth, yes, we all were reading- as I said, one rehearsal was all we got. Even the singer had the lyrics there handy because she didn't know some of the numbers right through (that might explain the vibrato, as well :D). My own view on this is that if you can rehearse enough to manage without the dots then you can concentrate on grooving a bit more and putting on a show. Whether we'll get to that stage or not is another matter.
 
#42
bassybill said:
Basshole, no problem. You're right, I asked for opinions - so thanks for posting. Glad you like the band. Shame about the singer though, right? :D

Actually I really like her style, myself, as do quite a few other folks (see comments herein). But if you don't, then you don't - good job we're all different I guess. She'll just have to take the knocks. ;)

No, I'm not dating her, that's our drummers job.
Click to expand...

Bill...do you know the musician's joke about "God's girlfriend"?
 
#44
I can tell this without problems, I think.

Musician dies, goes to heaven. He's really good, and he's actually asked by St. Peter if he can sit in with the "house band". He is very flattered, and of course, pulls up a chair, and settles in.

The band is lead by Count Basie. He takes the first solo. Brilliant. The guy is just dumbstruck. Next up, Bird...who takes a positively amazing sax solo. This guy can barely contain his glee. Just then, Dizzy stands up, and KILLS IT.

Now, this guy is just gushing, and he turns to the cat next to him and says "WOW, this is just fantastic!" and the cat next to him says "yeah, but God has this girlfriend, and she sings..."
 
#45
Basshole said:
I can tell this without problems, I think.

Musician dies, goes to heaven. He's really good, and he's actually asked by St. Peter if he can sit in with the "house band". He is very flattered, and of course, pulls up a chair, and settles in.

The band is lead by Count Basie. He takes the first solo. Brilliant. The guy is just dumbstruck. Next up, Bird...who takes a positively amazing sax solo. This guy can barely contain his glee. Just then, Dizzy stands up, and KILLS IT.

Now, this guy is just gushing, and he turns to the cat next to him and says "WOW, this is just fantastic!" and the cat next to him says "yeah, but God has this girlfriend, and she sings..."
Click to expand...
:D

Nice.
 
#48
If that was a one rehearsal gig, then I say that was really good! Like Jeff mentioned, maybe having some matching music stands might make it look better. For that type of music, if everyone memorized their parts and threw in a few dance moves or coordinated sways, it would add a quite a bit. I would also say that the horns could tighten up the lines a little bit (more staccato) a la Tower of Power.

And you need to be on a riser. We can't see you back there!
 
#49
bassybill said:
Jeff - thanks to you also. You're dead right, the sort of stuff we play is different to a conventional big band, of course, so we are going for a slightly different onstage vibe. But like you, I too like the all black look; just another case where everyone has their opinion, I guess. On the reading thing first mentioned by smallmouth, yes, we all were reading- as I said, one rehearsal was all we got. Even the singer had the lyrics there handy because she didn't know some of the numbers right through (that might explain the vibrato, as well :D). My own view on this is that if you can rehearse enough to manage without the dots then you can concentrate on grooving a bit more and putting on a show. Whether we'll get to that stage or not is another matter.
Click to expand...

It's cool. I'm not really into "putting on a show" - for me music is all about music, but I know a lot of people don't feel that way. Your band looks fun, and I know that stuff is all about the audience and it doesn't really matter what you and I think anyway :p

Just for fun, this is what I want to see when I think "big band": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qAgx8h4fmc :cool:
 
#50
It doesn't load for me...but off-topic, what the hell is up with your homepage? I clicked on it and I got infected by a JS/Downloader-AUD. And the page had weird *#!@ on it, like viagra, free ringtones and stuff, you know, the usual misleading offers. :confused:
 
#55
Hey Bill, enjoyed the video, thanks for sharing it with TB.

Big band is right! It's neat to see all the horns and saxes up front.

Excellent video and audio work.. looks and sounds very professional.

I would love to work with a female vocalist who's that good!

Couldn't see much of the bass player, though.. :(

I enjoyed it.. thanks again! MV
 
#57
Bill, I'm not crazy about the singers voice myself, she's good but she sounds almost generic to me. She's not a minus, but her voice isn't a big plus, her looks more then make up for it though.:cool:

And why does your camera dude hate bass players? He's probably a theist!:D
 
#58
You guys are like a bigband playing music that wedding/barmitzvah bands play. Do you guys play at large weddings?

burk48237 said:
Bill, I'm not crazy about the singers voice myself, she's good but she sounds almost generic to me. She's not a minus, but her voice isn't a big plus, her looks more then make up for it though.

And why does your camera dude hate bass players? He's probably a theist!
Click to expand...
+1

Edit: I also found it very weird and frustrating that the cameraman was not filming the soloist during the solos, but rather, everyone else in the band.
 
#59
Thanks for the comments again, people, good and bad. Burk - I hear what you're saying about the singer. She's perhaps isn't the absolute greatest I've ever worked with, but she's pretty darn good and very young, so still learning.

And yeah, the cameraman obviously finds my views on religion intimidating and avoids any sort of dialogue. ;)

Jazzin - no wedding gigs yet, available for bookings though. We've only done about 4 gigs in the 3 years we've been playing as a unit, either festivals or self-promoted "one-offs". The band isn't really that commercially viable for obvious reasons and all of us have other musical commitments that take up more of our time. This is pretty much a fun thing - we all like playing this sort of party material on gigs but don't make a heck of a lot of cash doing it. The smaller version of the band does better in that respect. ;)

Having said that, the big band gig at the Jamhouse last night went down an absolute storm. Nice, sweaty venue, GREAT crowd, fun set. I loved it. It was our first gig since December (and last Sunday was our first and only rehearsal since December, too - we pretty much just pick up a gig every few months or so and have a quick rehearsal the weekend before and laugh at how badly we remember the charts :D).
 

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