matthew wengerd|bassist

It’s funny to see so many musicians playing the same instrument in one room. Campers are rehearsing as I type.

…and the staff fooling around:

I just finished escorting some of our under-age campers to a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut for lunch. Starting Sunday evening, meals will be at Masterson’s (on campus dining) and we will not need to escort anyone off campus. We have been really productive and expect another huge push through tomorrow before settling into some semblance of a routine. It’s invigorating to see such excitement on some of the attendees’ faces.

It was nice to meet Talkbass moderator Chris Fitzgerald, who is on faculty at the University of Louisville. Chris is the second TB moderator I’ve met in person (Jairaj Swann being the other) and has proved consistently that bass playing is a brotherhood. I’m looking forward to lessons with the faculty here. Our very own Jack Wilkins just arrived and I expect Steve Davis to come in shortly, rounding out the USF contingent.

Students are waiting in the hall to attend their second rhythm section session.

I’s seven thirty in the morning, much later than I normally get out of the apartment, but I am not dealing with it well today. We’re getting ready to check people in for the two-day seminars, getting instructions from Ben Gritton. I’ll be checking in people’s gear, but they get to schlep it. Perfect!

We’ll see when things change for the day, but I’ll be off for my a.m. assignment in just a minute.

Very late last night, I arrived in Louisville, KY for the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops. I am in the middle of helping set up for two weeks (and weekends) of camp. Look for updates as I get a bit of downtime.

Aside from the fact that I’m lazy, I have an excuse for my brief silence. On Tuesday the 12th of June, Meghan , Rylee, Audrey and I packed up and headed North. We stopped in Beckley, WV for the night and finished the next morning, getting in a little before noon. Though the drive was less stressful than I expected, but not without it’s difficulties. Rylee refused to drink from the travel water dish and, several hours into day one, started panting like a dog. I’ve never seen a cat pant, and found this disconcerting. She got lethargic and temperamental and worried us quite a bit. She drank from her own dish that night, though.

We went to Ohio for my Brother-In-Law’s wedding. The four of us have known each other since High School, which is why I was actually looking forward to this. The week was busy with golfing and parties and rehearsals and such. Each time I head to Ohio, I’m reminded of how much I miss it. It was beautiful up there.

I kept intending to blog and transcribe and do so many other things, but it just wasn’t happening.

Picture proof:

By far, the most common search string directing people to this site is “Charles Barr.” Charles was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Bass Section and was tragically killed last summer, having been struck by a truck while cycling. Richard Waugh, CO violist, embarked on a project to cement the memory of his dear friend and named it Riding For Charles. Today, Waugh dipped the front tire of his bicycle in the Atlantic Ocean following a 17 day coast-to-coast ride to raise money for the Charles Barr Memorial Chair .

I haven’t even had a chance to read all the posts (Waugh posted daily, via phone dictation to people back home), but I have been deeply moved by this endeavor. It is so uplifting to see someone take up a cause so personal. It’s great to do charity events and arts events, but I believe that depth in our daily lives is achieved in the presence of our friends. Waugh poignantly reflects:

After I left the beach, I did break down for a moment. I’ve been focused on this ride for a long time, and now it’s over. I thought of Charles and the RidingforCharles project and how that project has also come to an end. It’s bitter-sweet. But the Charles Barr Memorial Chair will exist as long as the Cleveland Orchestra does, and through this ride I have come to know Eric and Cathy and am pleased to call them dear friends.

My best wishes to Waugh and the Barrs (pictured), who were able to visit with Waugh during some of the precious down time the riders had. Please consider contributing to the fund.

I’ve been gone. I’m back. You’ll be hearing about why and seeing my new project soon!

The traffic on this site has nearly tripled in the last five days! I would love for this to keep up.

Look for musings on the recent work to my bass very soon!

Many, many thanks to be.jazz for the link. I’ve discovered a lot of interesting reads through it. There are great photographs to boot.

Oh, and he linked the USF Jazz blog a while back!

Win Hinkle veered from his usual topic of discourse to talk about amplification in jazz; recounting his experience at a Ravi Coltrane soundcheck. Win is a tells-it-like-it-is kind of guy and I don’t always agree with him, but his post makes a pretty strong point.

As a bassist, I find I usually need to amplify when playing anything larger than a duo/trio in a small room. Now, there are plenty of purists who go all-acoustic, but I think it’s realistic to use an amp. What I think is absolutely uncalled for is miking drums and horns in small rooms. It’s dismaying to see big-name pros bringing entourages of soundmen to club dates. As a musician, I spend so much time working on playing with sensitivity that I cannot imagine ruining that with trillion-watt sound systems.

Add Win’s blog to your reader; you may not always agree, but it’s bound to be a good read.

I played a benefit for the the volunteers of WUSF this week at the USF alumni Center. You can see pictures of the event here. Not only does my right hand look awful, but I have a nasty case of bassface. ugh.

DJA was last seen liveblogging the Bang on a Can festival in NYC. Art music with a punk rock ethos (whatever that means).

It’ amusing to read through Darcy’s posts and see the effects of time, caffeine, and sleep deprivation on his posts. It’s commendable to stay the course (oh, brother) for twenty-six hours of challenging music, but DJA stepped it up a notch by liveblogging it. Now, if he had upped his pictures live, too, now that would be the end of it…

Apparently, I have had this link saved on my delicious since Halloween. It was just brought back to my attention by this thread at Talkbass. The generous webmaster of this site has compiled links to listening and purchasing sites (iTunes and amazon.com, chiefly) for every tune in the Real Book 5th edition. I am a firm believer (as it’s been taught to me) to listen to as many examples of tunes you’re learning and I have 3-10 versions of most tunes in the book, but this is a great place for a jazz musician with a small library to find recordings of tunes they want to learn.

It would be nice if the site had multiple (read: dozens, when available) versions of each tune and noted which were the generally agreed upon “definitive” versions. It could be detrimental to a player to only listen to highly-arranged/-stylized versions as their source material.

Bookmark this one in case anyone ever asks, “Where can I go to hear the tunes in the Real Book?”

(I am posting this link as soon as I read it in order to beat Jason Heath to the punch. Jason is a wonderful, prolific blogger who posts things with such speed and regularity (at least way more than I can muster) that I find many things tagged toblog in my delicious on his blog long before I even get the chance to read the whole thing. I hope to say I beat him to it just once!)

Michael Hovnanian’s blog climbed to a new height in my book today with a candid look into the day-to-day workplace issues of life in one of the world’s great orchestras. the CSO has been without Music Director for an entire season and the musicians have worked (sometimes dealt) with a series of guest conductors this year.

Michael relates an amusing story (with a protected identity) culled from this week’s rehearsal. I will only give you a teaser:

The grizzled old principal dragged his eyes from the crossword bedeviling him the past three rehearsals. “Maestro,” he drawled.

Eyes rolled in the orchestra and a kind of ‘here we go again’ sigh started up, just what a weary old-time saloonkeeper might do when he knows his place is about to be busted up and there isn’t darn thing he can do about it.

You owe it yourself to read the rest of this.