Friday, June 26, 2009

I'm jazzed


In my previous entry, you saw how two nights ago, I "shared the stage" with blues guitarist Chris Duarte and now last night I shared the stage for real, for one song, anyway with world renowned jazz alto saxophonist, Trenton's own Richie Cole. I tried recording the thing on a cheap camcorder but the sound if unusable. Here's the only proof, a video frame grab. Richie very graciously called me up for a blues number (bebop scares me) at his appearance at Bordentown's Record Collector. This night was thirty years in the making since it was about that long ago that Richie played at a picnic I was attending and the word was that musicians could bring their instruments and jam. When I heard all that jazz, I turned around and put my guitar back in the car. He later told me "We could have done blues" and even before The Simpsons came into being, I slapped my forehead and said "Doh!" Now I finally had my second chance and I want to thank Richie Cole and the band for making my dream come true.

I got da blues


Last night I got to see Blues guitarist Chris Duarte in a master class and concert performance at the War Memorial in Trenton. The unusual setup features the audience sitting on the back of the stage and the performers on the front of the stage facing us. Sounds mixed-up, but it's a very intimate setting, plus I can now tell people that I shared the stage with Chris Duarte! That's Chris at left with local phenom Paul Plumeri Jr during the master class. There are sixteen photos at http://michaelmancuso.zenfolio.com