Well, we’re well into 2009 now… I’m no longer accidentally dating things with the old year.

This is just a quick note to keep too much dust from settling here. I’ve continued to spend time at the two blues jams I’ve been frequenting for a while. Tonight a new one starts up, this one also run by Stan Erhart, who does the Sunday night one at the Old Princeton Landing, so I’m going to drag my little fire-breathing amp and one of my guitars and check it out.

There was also the 3rd Anniversary Celebration of the Redwood City Blues Jam, held in the “big” Fox next door to the usual Little Fox. I volunteered to help with stuff backstage, passed the tip bucket a few times, and helped load a Hammond C-3 organ into a van in the rain in the early morning. It was an interesting and enjoyable way to spend an evening, but not the best way to enjoy the performers. That theater is really a remarkable place, one of those old movie palaces from the 1920’s that’s been restored to something like its former glory.

I also saw Rod Piazza and the Mighty Fliers at the Little Fox, first time I’ve been there for a regular show. Vince Caminiti’s band Bluestate was the opening act. Two terrific bands – lots of fun. The week before, I saw Dave Workman play at The Saloon in San Francisco.

Oh, and January also saw the release of a great new CD by the Derek Trucks Band, Already Free. More about this later, but for now — highly recommended.

I fancy myself to be somewhat encyclopedic about musicians that I love… I seem to remember incredible minutiae about what their career arcs are, what guitars they played, what albums came out when, on what label, etc.

Imagine my surprise when, in the course of doing a little research into the first Tony Williams Lifetime band, I read the Wikipedia entry on them and discovered that, between the last of the Tony Williams Lifetime lineups in 1972 and the New Tony Williams Lifetime lineup in 1975 (whose first album, Believe It, introduced much of the world to the amazing guitar work of Allan Holdsworth), there was a version of the band called Wildlife that recorded tracks for an album that was never released. The band included Jack Bruce and Holdsworth.

Somehow, after 34 years had gone by, I had never know of this, despite otherwise knowing about virtually everything else Holdsworth ever did, not to mention Williams and Bruce.

Either I knew it and aliens erased this memory when they abducted me, or I really somehow never knew about it at all.

At any rate, bootlegs of the tapes (often referred to as the Stockholm Tapes) seem to exist, and recently someone posted them on YouTube with as a static, music-only video file. I’ve added them to my YouTube favorites if you want to check them out.

Very interesting stuff. I’ve never heard the prior Lifetime album, The Old Bum’s Rush, so I don’t know whether or not it’s along those lines, but it’s certainly very different than the New Tony Williams Lifetime material was in 1975-76.

Every so often something like this pops out of the woodwork. Usually it’s somewhat disappointing – things left unreleased often were that way for a good reason.

We often think of this time of year as the end of one period and the start of another, even though it’s an artificial distinction. Like so many folks I tend to mull over what’s gone on the last twelve months of my life, weigh the upsides and the downsides, and start thinking about what steps I might take in the coming year to improve the odds. Yes, folks, it’s New Year’s Resolution time!

So, aside from personal stuff, what am I going to resolve here on this last day of 2008?

• continue the directed guitar practice I’ve been engaged in since October or so
• find opportunities to perform more regularly and to get paid for it sometimes, maybe, even, already…
• write some more music
• record more music
• learn to sing a bit

There, that should keep me busy!

Happy new year…

A few years back I got it into my head that I should pursue solo jazz guitar playing… just to the level of being able to play background music for parties, restaurants, gallery openings, that kind of thing, and maybe make a little coin without having to have a band and all the trappings that brings. So I spent some time learning how to make up simple arrangements of suitable tunes, and worked on being able to play bass lines and chords and melody more-or-less simultaneously. A few years ago I recorded a couple of these and put them up on my website.

After I developed a bit of a repertoire, I played a handful of gigs like that. (I did not try very hard to find gigs, so of course there were only a handful.)

Mixed in during this time period was a related effort to work on being a decent accompanist in a duo, with singers or other instrumentalists, while also taking some classes at the JazzSchool in Berkeley and the Community School of Music and Art in Mountain View.

Time passed, it was late 2006 and I started getting antsy to plug a solidbody guitar in to something with a bit of a roar and play Albert King licks again, so I started directing my energies in that direction and dimmed my focus on solo and duet playing.

So anyway, we had a potluck at my place of work (a.k.a. the day job that musicians are always advised not to quit) yesterday, so I offered to play some music. I have four arrangements of Christmas carols more or less under my belt at the moment, so I figured I’d do those and maybe a couple of other simple chord-and-melody arrangements I’ve been playing forever.

I then proceeded to play about as poorly as I ever have. Flubbing notes, completely forgetting what comes next, stuff like that – just horrible. And it wasn’t just the first number – each song was another exercise in mental excruciation.

Made me stop and think – what is so great about playing solo? For me the attraction was always something like this:

• no band practice to arrange, schedule, coordinate
• no splitting of the proceeds
• it’s really cool to be able to play in this style

But each time I’ve played solo, there is always the unalterable fact:

• if you make mistakes, you are naked – there is nothing to hide them behind.

In a band if you flub something you can usually cover it up without too much trouble. But alone, a nice fat mistake is just so glaringly obvious, hanging there in the air like a big sonic turd for all to audially whiff… whew…

Falling down all over in the safe environment of a party was embarrassing.

But I’m glad I did it. I haven’t played solo in front of people for over a year and a half and have not kept up with it at all, really, so I shouldn’t be at all surprised it was able to sink to such a level.

If I really want to pursue this kind of playing, I should just knuckle down and make sure I practice that type of playing more, and then get out there and do it more.

And also accept that there are always going to be mistakes and learn not to care that much about it… because if I worry about it, it just makes it worse when the inevitable happens. Mistakes that I clench over just beget more mistakes and lead to severe emotional distress.

‘Tis the season to be overwhelmed. Every year I swear I’m going to start my Christmas preparations in September next year but instead it seems that I start even later. Having relatives back east, which typically involves having to get a package in the mail by — well, by, like, now — adds extra pressure.

Anyway I thought I’d take a brief moment here before my wife Victoria spirits me off to Hillsdale Mall to rave about a new Christmas CD, Jingle All the Way, by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. It’s just brimming with utter genius, both the playing and the arrangements. The centerpiece is a 5-and-a-half minute medley that centers on “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” but includes six other tunes threaded in and around each other in the most brilliant, inspired way. And there are three songs (I think it was three) featuring Tuvan throat singers (the Alash Ensemble), one a duet with one of them plus Béla. It’s just brilliant. (Now, I know Tuvan throat singers are going to sound funny to the average American — they sound a bit like Popeye humming in the shower might — but seriously, give it a chance, it’s amazing stuff.) Other guests on the CD include Edgar Meyer on double bass and Andy Statman on clarinet. The last cut is a “solo” rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “River” on which Béla plays the banjo and piano simultaneously.

These guys are just amazing — so brilliant, so gifted, so much fun… this just might be a Christmas album I’ll be playing year round for the foreseeable future.

I’ve been hitting the local blues jams again. Lots of fun. Playing is of course the reason I go there, but listening to some of the folks that show up is usually a blast as well. Last week Mark Hummel appeared with Steve Freund at the Little Fox Theater. Last night Garth Webber sat in with Stan Erhart‘s band at the Old Princeton Landing.

Last week someone taped most of one of the numbers I played on, and so you can get to see and hear me play a solo on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih2Q4Y1D90Y

I was looking forward to seeing Robben Ford next month at the Great American Music Hall but the shows have been canceled. Next show coming down the pike is the Five Peace Band – Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, and Vinnie Colaiuta (with Brian Blade filling in when Vinne goes back to work for Jeff Beck in February).

Speaking of Jeff Beck, his recently-released live CD, Performing This Week… Live At Ronnie Scott’s, came out in November. A DVD recorded during the same five nights last November was previewed on the BBC and is supposedly being released in February 2009. From the looks of it, it’s going to be a fantastic DVD. The BBC ones were on YouTube but they seem to have been removed.

Haven’t been to a single music show since February… but I’m getting back on track again and hope to soon be back on the blues jam scene and performing solo, duo, and otherwise.

On the guitar playing front, I’ve been working hard on my alternating picking, trying to get more precise and improve my articulation. Also been getting more and more comfortable with diminished and altered dominant sounds and hopefully they’ll start surfacing in my playing soon. Learning lots of lines and always learning to play them in at least two fingerings/sets of strings, facilitating finding notes and intervals in multiple places along the neck. All somewhat dry and academic but I can feel my fluidity gradually improving. Working with some books: Robben Ford‘s Blues and Beyond, Pat Martino‘s Linear Expressions… also a CD-ROM set from Larry Carlton, 335 Blues.

Listening-wise, I’ve found several things that Wayne Krantz did in years past: a Jay Anderson CD, Next Exit, from 1992; Victor Bailey‘s Low Blow, from 1999; and Jasper van’t Hof‘s Blue Corner from 1993. Great guitar playing… I was also impressed with John McLaughlin‘s latest, Floating Point.

Wow, thirteen months and change since I last blogged… seems a bit silly to bother but let’s give it one more college try, now that my somewhat derailed life is back on the track…

I can still barely believe I allowed myself to say “sure, get me a ticket” to a friend that actually was insane enough to fly from California to NY just to to go see the Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood reunion concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden in late February. As it turned out, it was the week of my mother’s 90th birthday (you go, girl!) and I was going to fly back to NY that week anyway…

So there I found myself, inside that cavernous arena on a chilly Monday evening in February. I was more than half expecting to be at least halfway disappointed, but as it turned out the show was as good as it could be – the band was terrific, the principals were clearly enjoying it and in excellent form, they played a satisfactorily long time (a bit under two and a half hours), and even the sound was good inside that huge hockey barn.

They opened with the thundering riff of “Had To Cry Today,” from the Blind Faith album, and then Winwood’s magnificent voice came in with the first line of the song, and from there it was smiles and grins for the rest of the night. Throughout the night they played most of the rest of the Blind Faith material (“Can’t Find My Way Home,” “Well Alright,” “Presence of the Lord,” “Sleeping In the Ground”), a couple of Traffic songs, a couple of Derek and the Dominos songs, several songs from each of their solo careers, and a real surprise or two (notably the Buddy Miles tune, “Them Changes,” and the Hendrix classic, “Voodoo Child”). Of particular note to me was how well their voices sounded together (when they were in Blind Faith Winwood did all the vocals), especially on the Dominos tune “Tell the Truth.”

Anyway, if you’re interested, this site has the set list, a bunch of photos, and reviews from attendees.

February 9th was the last post, and here we are and it’s June frickin‘ the first already. I continue to be very sporadic with this blogging thing, so I guess (so far at least) it has not engaged my energies very much…

Since my last post I found myself out of the band I spoke about after our one lined-up gig had been played. It was a bit surprising but what the heck. I’ve continued to seek a slot somewhere but with limited success. I played a few duet gigs with the singer from the band, the terrific Janna Mordan, and hope to continue doing that whenever possible. I now seem to be in a rock band but I’m not going to say another word about it until I really am. I’ve continued to show up whenever I can manage at the Redwood City Blues Jam (2nd, 3rd, and 4th Wednesdays each month at the Little Fox Theatre, soon to be every Wednesday) and at the Sunday night jams at the Old Princeton Landing; the Domenico Winery jams are now only the first Sunday each month and I’ve not been there since January…

I took a guitar lesson in March or April from Dave Workman which was very helpful, I’ve been digesting some nuggets from that since that have helped me over some humps…

Music I’ve seen: the earlier-mentioned Ford Brothers Blues Band with Robben Ford at Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz was terrific… and last week I saw the amazing stupendous phenomenal Richard Bona at Yoshi’s in Oakland again, this time leading his own group.

It’s been a while since I’ve done this…

Since last writing I rented The Complete Monterey Pop Festival DVD set from Netflix. It was fun to watch the original movie again. The Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, and the Who segments really hold up, and the Ravi Shankar one is just stunning.

The extra disks were good too. One was the complete Otis Redding set and the complete Hendrix set, both of which had been released as separate theatrical releases in the 80’s, if I’m not mistaken. The third has some of the outtakes from the movie, and I’m still working through that disk. Hoped to see something cool in the Electric Flag performance but it was rather disappointing.

Since I last wrote I’ve seen a couple of good live shows too… in mid-December I saw Mike Stern with Richard Bona, Bob Franchesini, and Dennis Chambers at Yoshi’s in Oakland, and last Saturday, February 3, I saw the great Wayne Shorter quartet (Danilo Perez-piano; John Pattituci-bass; Brian Blade-drums) at the Marin Center in San Rafael. Next Saturday I’m going to see Robben Ford play with his brothers, The Ford Blues Band, at Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz.

I’ve also been going to blues jams in Redwood City, Pacifica, and Princeton-by-the-Sea, and some jazz jams at the Domenicao Winery Tasting Room in San Carlos, as part of an effor to find other people to play with… and posting “guitarist seeking” ads on Craig’s List. Last week I finally joined a band, and we’ll be playing our first gig next Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, at a place in the Santa Cruz Mountains called the Brookdale Lodge, which apparently has an actual brook running through the center of the dining room, and supposedly is haunted.