this past week i had the opportunity to do a couple of shows with R&B legends (sadly, not new edition) The Temptations and The Four Tops. initial impressions: i don't know any of these guys' tunes, this pays nice, get my high baffle saxophone sound on, fun to have this experience. final impressions: way the hell different.
i did two shows with The Temptations, one with The Four Tops. turns out, i actually do know a bunch of material from both of these acts. so did the sold-out audiences. i didn't recognize many by the titles (with the exception of My Girl ... hello) and the background figures didn't trip many memory switches for me. but once these acts started doing their thing, my brain exploded with years and years of melodies and lyrics and dance moves and harmonies and codified curly-q licks. these tunes have legs (and so did these old dudes), standing the test of time. sure it was an older crowd, but young faces in the house were bouncing right along with those arthritic-riddled blue hairs.
the stage presence by both acts was spot-on, as you would expect. they had their schtick together, and it worked smoothly. they always gave a "i'm not tired at all" and "we love playing in iowa" and "i'm really into it" disposition to the audience. when members caught a breather, it was with their backs to the audience. toweling off, sucking back some water (and coffee!), regaining their composure, giggling amongst themselves - keeping it to themselves. no down time between tunes either, which is always impressive. my lips were begging for a break, but i wasn't about to complain. i'm half their age and just sitting down the entire time.
both groups had rehearsals the afternoon before the evening show. both musical directors (Bob - temps, 'Tree - tops) worked without scores. they talked down a bunch of the show, not really throwing around a bunch of musical terminology. their conducting technique was so-so. their rapport with the musicians was good. but man, they totally knew these charts. every little rhythm missed, every accidental ignored, these guys were on it like stink on shit. i was so impressed with how fast their ears were working and how relaxed they were about the whole thing, it made me begin to wonder about the value of music school. these tunes worked, the charts worked, the finale parts were decent, and these guys never breathed a word about senior recital or solfege or student loans. in fact, they trusted our musicianship. 'Tree was especially faithful, talking us through nearly the entire book without having us play much at all. i had solos with The Four Tops, and he never had me run them. not in the rehearsal, not in the soundcheck. he just looked at me and said "you're gonna be great, man".
the shows were all pro caliber. production was good, traveling rhythm sections were nice, schedules were kept pretty on point, the main singers were professional and thankful, the food was okay, and the bread was decent. a wonderful experience. it was also my professional debut on flute, which had me super nervous for about a month. turns out, there was only one chart with flute, and it was unison within the section. lynne hart played 2nd alto, and she can really play flute, so i backed off the mic a bit (a lot) and let her shine.
not so wonderful? i checked into the Holiday Inn in cedar falls after the double bill show, tired as hell. got the keys to my room on the other end of the hotel, carted all of my crap down there, and found out that neither of the keys worked in the door. i hoofed it back to the front desk (with my stuff), got new keys, and a hotel clerk accompanied me to my room. i'm not sure if he thought i didn't know how to work the key or what, but i was too tired to care. we went all the way back again and, sure enough, my keys worked just fine. the clerk gave me a smug look, and then propped open the door so i could get in the room with all of my luggage. i took two steps into the room and halted immediately when i heard a guy say "i'm in here man, i'm in here!" geesh - there was already somebody in my room!!! we apologized and went back to the front desk again to figure it out. the clerk and i joked about how thankful we were that we didn't walk in on some hanky panky going on. i got a new room, and went with the clerk again to go find it. he was new to the gig (of course) and couldn't locate the room. we walked around for a while, found it, got the keys to function properly, and knocked before entering. bizarre...
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