Once or twice a year I set up the Microsoft Jazz Band. We practice twice in two weeks and then go do a gig like this:
It is the highlight of my playing year. I only get to play 3d alto or 4th tenor but playing with these guys, many of them ringers from name bands, is quite the experience. Unfortunately, I don't think this band wants to gig more than two or three times a year at most.
Then there is the Pacific Cascade Big Band which is the B jazz band for the Woodinville Community Bands org. We do gigs like this:
The difference in the two bands is painfully obvious. And practicing with the PCBB is excruiatingly painful while doing so with the MJB is sheer fun. Now it should be known I fought to set up the B band because there were 10 - 12 saxes playing in the jazz band before we split in two.
So I feel like I owe the PCBB some time and I am playing lead tenor which is a stretch for me. The PCBB practices every week and gigs one every other month or so. And then I have my own Dissonance, a jazz xTet, where x = the number of people who show up, practicing every other week and gigging 3 to 4 times a year.
Add in the concert band stuff and I feel like I'm not progressing because I have so much to practice. Oh, did I mention I am taking two sax lessons a week too? A half hour on alto and an hour on tenor.
Yes, I know, it's an embarrassment of riches. So do I find the PCBB a better tenor lead than me or gut it out? I've been told that the only reason the band exists is because I worked so hard to get it there. And that's true. Should it be about quality or quantity?
It is the highlight of my playing year. I only get to play 3d alto or 4th tenor but playing with these guys, many of them ringers from name bands, is quite the experience. Unfortunately, I don't think this band wants to gig more than two or three times a year at most.
Then there is the Pacific Cascade Big Band which is the B jazz band for the Woodinville Community Bands org. We do gigs like this:
The difference in the two bands is painfully obvious. And practicing with the PCBB is excruiatingly painful while doing so with the MJB is sheer fun. Now it should be known I fought to set up the B band because there were 10 - 12 saxes playing in the jazz band before we split in two.
So I feel like I owe the PCBB some time and I am playing lead tenor which is a stretch for me. The PCBB practices every week and gigs one every other month or so. And then I have my own Dissonance, a jazz xTet, where x = the number of people who show up, practicing every other week and gigging 3 to 4 times a year.
Add in the concert band stuff and I feel like I'm not progressing because I have so much to practice. Oh, did I mention I am taking two sax lessons a week too? A half hour on alto and an hour on tenor.
Yes, I know, it's an embarrassment of riches. So do I find the PCBB a better tenor lead than me or gut it out? I've been told that the only reason the band exists is because I worked so hard to get it there. And that's true. Should it be about quality or quantity?