Lionel Hampton

I was gone for 2 days this week due to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Moscow Idaho. This festival was something I always looked forward to in high school, but we didn't get to go my senior year because our band was slowly dwindling to an unhappy handful of inexperienced junior highers. So I was really excited to go this year.

What's more, I actually got paid to accompany Mead Middle School. So I drove down to my house Tuesday night. My parents came with me to middle school day on Wednesday, at my request (it was either that or hang out with the middle school kids, who I swear are not human). It went pretty well. There was one awkward moment in the warm up room where I had to read the bass line to Route 66 and got completely lost. I'm sure that instilled confidence in the kids. But once we got on stage even with me scrambling to turn pages things went pretty well.

Thursday was college day, and I elected to drive down (with mom and dad in tow, this time not by choice) a couple of hours early to hear Jazz Ensemble I. It was worth it, and they actually ended up winning best college ensemble! My combo did reasonably well, although I have yet to see the comment sheet. I was expecting a critique, but they didn't give one which was kind of a huge disappointment. I mean, I wasn't expecting us to win and the critiques are really the reason to go in any case. But as far as I could tell, it was one of our best performances as a group, at least from my point of view. I really took some chances and tried to react/interact with the other musicians, not just stay stagnant on the sidelines. There were some really good moments that came from that. There were also some more shaky ones. And I'm still not sure what my solo sounded like. But I tried to stretch myself, and that's the important thing.

I might have done a little better if the stupid U of I camera man hadn't stuck his camera right in my face. I had just finished my solo and suddenly he walks up right next to me with his tripod and then zooms in on my face or my hands or something. Meanwhile I was forgetting where I was in the chord progression because of my camera phobia. Thanks pal.

I later found out that 2 of my fellow combo members won their solo competitions. Our sax player and our trumpet player. So it was pretty cool to know that I was playing with the best of the best, locally anyways. :-) Now you can understand why combo has been freaking me out all year, although they are all super nice about it.

Well, I must go to Mass for my Music History class. But that was last week pretty much in a nutshell.