#1958708 - 06/17/08 12:39 AM
Open Mike - is this the new black?
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Davo-London
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Registered: 03/07/05
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Loc: London, England
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Been to couple of Open Mikes recently, both surprisingly good.
The worrying thing is the quality of the musicians that appear for these gigs. I was blown away last night by a couple of musicians but the overall standard was very high. Everyone in the pub seemed to be able to play. If you walked in as a punter you would assume that you were the only lemon that couldn't play, which would be quite sobering.
There were two drummers, which stood out last night. One was a friend of mine who's 18 and can funk you to death. You could see that all the other musos were really digging this guy and you've got to respect that kind of talent. But a much older "Dave" got up (not me) and matched Tim for intensity, utter solidity and performance.
Background ...
I was jerking around in musofinder.co.uk, which has 40,000 UK musicians registered and found a local drummer who gives lessons. So I PM him and just chew the fat and he says why don't I come down and see him tonight at The Mermaid. Well blow me down with a feather, that's my local pub!!!
So I swagger down and find Tim and another bass player I know hanging out with all these other musos playing a sequence of jams/covers but with a strict rotation system. Effing brilliant.
Next monday I guess I'll have to join them, cos there's no way I'm going to beat them.
Thanks for listening.
Davo
_________________________
"We will make you bob your head whether you want to or not". - David Sisk
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#1958735 - 06/17/08 05:03 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: Davo-London]
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Chad
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Loc: Pittston, Maine, USA
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Cool! I keep trying to convince my wife to move to London...
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"Music is the breath of God speaking to man's soul, so we musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear His voice, we read His lips..... That is why musicians are honorable." - Beethoven
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#1958749 - 06/17/08 05:49 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: Chad]
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Luke73
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Registered: 05/14/03
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Loc: Melbourne, Australia
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Cool - sounds much better to the Jam nights I've been to 
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#1958753 - 06/17/08 06:01 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: Chad]
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DavidMPires
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Where;s that pub Dave I might join in sometime...for the beer not the playing
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#1958757 - 06/17/08 06:14 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: DavidMPires]
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Phil W
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That sounds like fun. All the open mics I've been to have been acoustic singer/songwriter affairs. I used to go to a lot of jazz jam sessions and play - but tbh - I never got any worthwhile work from it and it just meant playing endless choruses while the horn players went on and on and bands full of musicians cueing up instead of punters. This sounds better.
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#1958770 - 06/17/08 06:37 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: Phil W]
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jcdlc72
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Registered: 12/11/07
Posts: 371
Loc: Caracas, DF. Venezuela.
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the last "open... anything" I've been into were about two or three years ago... at a car mechanic's workshop that every Sunday in a while got the cars out of the place and gathered several musicians and equipment for free jamming. I was invited, so I went. Unfortunately, there were plenty of percussion players, a couple drummers, about three bass players, a couple guitar players and about 4 or 5 wind instrument players (couple saxes, a trumpet, a flute).
Dunno if it's me getting old, or being accustomed to a more strict kind of work... but any time I got on "stage", I got tired of it at the first three minutes of it... mostly because there were no forms to work on, sometimes being stuck only on a single chord without a meaningful turnaround. Not even a blues progression, but more of an excuse for the percussion players to sweat their guts off.
I wen to the place about... twice, and never came back there afterwards. From that experience, some of the players gathered and founded a band they named after a popular nickname for a street dog, and added the "jazz" word afterwards. They say they play "free jazz", but some of the musicians in there which I know, happen to know little or no music theory, or have no abilities to analyze what they're playing.. harmonically speaking. Furthermore, I have shared stage with them on some events (funny ain't it?) and I'm totally unable to withstand a complete set, since I feel it tends to go the same way of those jam sessions... pointless jam and abuse of the instruments without a "musical" (in my maybe strict terms) intention to it.
Dunno if I'm just made from a different wood... or if I'm just being too strict for this... Or if I just find funny that, it seems, everyone can put the "jazz" label to anything that might just not fit any standard, and pass as an "interesting intellectual" by it...
P.S.: Or maybe I just don't get Free Jazz. Made me remember that, as a kid, after having heard a couple Pat Metheny things, I went to a record store (Vinyl!!!) to buy my first Metheny album... and they told me "we've got the latest one.. there!". I came home with it, happy.. and when I put it on my turntable I wondered whether I'd put it at the right speed... or if I was feeling well... It was "Song X" with Ornette Coleman... I put the record back on its sleeve and didn't heard it for a long time. I tried several times afterwards, and "nothing happened". Once a friend asked me for it, I gave it to him and never wondered about it again... Maybe I'm just not into Ornette's...
Edited by jcdlc72 (06/17/08 06:40 AM)
Edit Reason: The P.S.....
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#1958775 - 06/17/08 06:49 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: jcdlc72]
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mattulator
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Registered: 07/27/04
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Loc: Fishbum, USA
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There is always an open mic around here somewhere. Used to be great things to visit if you're looking for musicians or are looking to network. Over the last couple years it has turned into a place to jam for the folks who aren't quite good enough to be in a band. As bad as this sounds, those of us who are in bands call it "the scab jam". It is always presided over by people with egos that are much, much larger than their talent and they have effectively chased all the musicians looking to network away. Shame.
_________________________
Standing in a river, waving a stick. Quantum Soup
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#1958784 - 06/17/08 07:09 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: mattulator]
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Phil W
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I've played a lot of free jazz or improvised music. I don't listen to it too often. At it's best it is played by guys who have the biggest ears in music and have something original to say outside of the normal 'rules' of music (I got to play with Eddie Prevost and the late John Stevens who was phenomenal). At it's worst, there are some charlatans - I guess it's similar to the conceptual art world.
I think Ornette has actually become fairly accepted by the mainstream now, his approach is very much melodic but he's not for everyone.
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#1959049 - 06/17/08 03:02 PM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: Phil W]
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Davo-London
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Well I agree that an endless blues jam is less than desirable but these cats were different. The guy in charge could guitar and sing and he kept the whole thing moving. He also introduced a female vocalist who wanted to sing moondance. So there were a few discussions on chords and off they went. Pretty impressive.
Anyway. I have a very sensitive ego/bullshit detector and it wasn't needed that night.
Davo
_________________________
"We will make you bob your head whether you want to or not". - David Sisk
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#1959144 - 06/17/08 06:56 PM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: cassius]
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Frank M
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Registered: 11/21/03
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We have a couple of regular open mics here. I stopped going to them primarily because of my obligations to the current band and secondly, they seem to be interested in entire bands. It's really hard for me to go out and pick up a drummer, a guitarist and a vocalist every week (twice a week) and get on the same page in 20 minutes. We have half-a-dozen harmonicas, however.
When I (we) do have the occasion to get up there, it's great! Just people playing music, no ego, no stupid, play through the mistakes. The Thursday place sound a little like what Mutt is describing.
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Respectfully, Frank M They have to keep me. I own the domain name. The Columbia Jazz Trio
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#1959149 - 06/17/08 07:12 PM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: cassius]
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RHINO_ROB
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Registered: 04/27/04
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I went to a couple of open mics. One to try to get a gig at the club. I was told that we needed to get there early because the sign up sheet filled up quick.
We showed up 45 minutes before the event. When they started the sign-up I was second in line. When I signed in I was ninth on the list. The guy running the event filled in the first seven slots before he even handed out the sheets. It was suppose to be three songs then the next person on the list.
So we waited for our turn. On two separate occasions the guy in charge had who ever was up play another song or two while we waited for the next person on the list to actually show up. One guy actually played the same song three times just in a different key.
Finally at about 12:30 we got our turn. We got up, played our 3 songs. Everybody in the bar got up and danced (the first time that night) . After we finished we found out that the guy that books the gigs got tired and left at 11:00.
Other than that any other open mic I have been invited to were the same. "Sure we allow bass players, just as long as you can play 12 bar blues medium shuffle."
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#1959346 - 06/18/08 06:55 AM
Re: Open Mike - is this the new black?
[Re: RHINO_ROB]
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mattulator
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Registered: 07/27/04
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Loc: Fishbum, USA
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"Sure we allow bass players, just as long as you can play 12 bar blues medium shuffle . . .
. . . while we noodle endlessly and try to impress, well, anyone."
_________________________
Standing in a river, waving a stick. Quantum Soup
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