Due to the more recent busy-ness in my schedule (That's a good thing!), I have taken a break from blogging regularly. However, feel free to scroll down to read past posts, and be sure to check out the rest of my site.  Enjoy!

As some of you may know, I do a fair amount of commuting throughout the week.  I've already spoken here of my many "L" rides to gigs throughout the city, and the small books I like to carry in my coat pocket at all times (you can read that post here: http://derekbrownsax.com/home/blog/a-novel-idea).  

Today, though, I want to talk about my other form of commuting: driving in Chicago traffic.  For those of you that can feel your blood pressure begin to rise at just the mention of those last two words, I'm sorry, but I have to bring it up.  Since October, I've been driving twice each week to the suburban town of Wheaton, IL to teach private lessons at a place called Jerry Evans School of Music.  

When I tell other musicians about my teaching in Wheaton, I often get looks of slight pity saying, "Yikes, that's a long way."  And yeah, if I am teaching one or two lessons and have to drive 1.5 hours BOTH ways one day, it feel VERY long!  I do have to admit that I frequently found myself mid-traffic jam, counting the months until I might end this employment.

However, I'm now very happy to report that three things have completely reversed my thoughts on this:

1. Since beginning my teaching in October with only 3 students, I am now up to 12 or 13 students, so about 6 or 7 students each day.  As you could maybe imagine, this is INFINITELY better than 2 or 1 each day.  In fact, this means that I am now actually spending more time teaching than driving to and from.  Always a plus!

2. With help from local Chicagoans, including Jerry at the school, as well as traffic apps, I'm now able to cut the driving time down to between 50-65 minutes on average.  And as you can imagine, this is WAY better than 1.5 hours, or the occasional 2 hours (Ugh!!!).  The biggest secret here is really no secret at all: don't drive during rush hour, fool!  And in Chicago, rush hour is fairly lengthy, going until around 7pm.  Therefore, if I'm done with lessons at 5:45pm, I'll now definitely bring my sax and practice at the shop, which really isn't much different from practicing at home.  

3. Like my book-reading on public transit, I'm now way more productive during my driving!  Yes, I know some of you may be rolling your eyes again on this last point, thinking: 'Geesh, Derek, you don't ALWAYS have to be productive all the dang time!  But let me say, it's not productivity like calling business partners and checking the Dow Jones my Bluetooth headset.  I love doing one of three things (not including my love of making lists of three things, like in this post):  1. Listening to new CDs I've checked out from the library (Lately I've been in a hip-hop phase), 2. listening to podcasts (nerdy NPR ones like "This American Life," "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," and "Start-up"), and 3. my new favorite: improving my time feel.

This last one is the nerdiest of them all.  Here's a brief explanation of my last two trips to Wheaton for an example:  

I turn on my iPhone metronome app to 4/4 time.  Then I spend the next hour patting 3-against-4 rhythms on my leg (while avoiding crashing, of course).  If you were to witness this in the car, you might hear me counting out loud, things like "TRI-puh-let, tri-PUH-let, tri-puh-LET, tri-puh-let," or "1 e and UH, 2 e AND uh, 3 EE and uh," or even: "MO-ther DRIVES a BU-ick" and "MY FA-ther DRIVES a FORD."

(If you didn't follow any of the last paragraph, don't worry.  And I promise you, I'm not 100% crazy.)

The best thing is that while a lot of musicians don't spend enough time working on improving rhythm (including myself), hey, I've got 4 hours each week to kill!  Might as well do it then, while I can't practice my sax.  It's a slow process, but once again, week after week of this,I actually may get somewhere.

Oh, and just for the record, my parents share a Chrysler minivan.
 

From time to time people ask me where they can catch my upcoming performances.  My response in the past was typically something like this:

"Hmmm....Well, I sometimes mention upcoming gigs on my Facebook page or website, but other than that, hmmm...yeah, I need to get a calendar or something on my website."

Well, I'm here to tell you that I am now (drum roll please...) officially introducing calendars to my personal website!  

And not only do I now have a specific Calendar page (click on the "Calendar" tab above), but I also have a list of my upcoming performances on the right side of my home page, if you scroll down a little.

While each listed event might be a different musical group or genre (from my weekly "Space Jam" band, to Thursday's weekly Low Spark residency at aliveONE, to a performance this Saturday with the band Willy Dynamite), if it's on the list, I'll be playing in some capacity.  I'm also trying to include all the important details like location, if there's a cover charge or age limit, and etc, so there are no surprises.  

So hopefully you can catch me at one of these upcoming events, and feel free of course to email or facebook me if you have any questions.

And with that I'll leave you with a humorous exchange involving me, "Space Jam" drummer Nate,  Auto-Correct, and the similarity between the name "Graham" and "grandma:"

Rest in peace, Grandma T!

Yesterday I performed again at what I'm calling the Acoustic Jam Session, at the Preston Bradley Center, truly one of Uptown Chicago's best kept secrets (the building, that is).  If you don't know of this place and you're a musician in Chicago, you need to.  Also known as the location for The Peoples Church, this is a gorgeous and huge historic space from the 1920s.  Check out these pics:Here's a shot from the outside on Lawrence St, just a few blocks in from Lake Michigan.  From the side, it's not too much to look at.  But the feux classical architecture of the front hints at what's inside.
So here it is!  It seats about 1000 people and as you can imagine, the acoustics are pretty incredible.
So as I was saying, I'm trying to get musicians together to do a weekly acoustic jam session.  Yes, there are lots of great jams happening around Chicago (including the "Space Jam" on Tuesdays at North Bar that I co-host.  Sorry for shameless plug).  So why attempt to add one more?  

Well, I'm glad you asked! I think the unique thing about this one is its expansive atmosphere.  I mean, check out the above pictures again.  This epic auditorium just screams HISTORY!  Like the Aragon Ballroom and Uptown Theater, the Preston Bradley Center was built during Uptown's golden era, the 1920s.  And as you can imagine, every note anyone plays will sound good in this room with all of the natural reverb acoustics.  Yes, I understand the appeal of performing in the intimacy of a small room.  But I also love the idea of the opposite: a few musicians huddled together in the middle of a vast space, with sounds soaring across the cavernous ceiling and reverberating through the century-old wood.

Right now, this is mostly a grand (or not-so-grand, but I think really fun) idea of mine.  As things are now, we're meeting around 11am, during a coffee hour after the 10am Peoples Church service ends.  Lately its been mostly me and Joseph, the church accompanist.  I'll do a bit of my beatbox sax stuff and then we'll play some stuff together, everything from ragtime to Bob Dylan, to Strauss.  

This isn't a jazz jam.  It's not a funk jam.  It's not an open mic.  It's none of those things, and it's all of those things (ok, sorry for the cliche line).  But seriously, this jam can be whatever anyone who shows up wants it to be.  

So bring your instrument, sip on some free coffee, and enjoy the sounds of Uptown's best kept secret.  "Shhhhhh...."
 

As many of you know, I traveled with the Legere Reeds team to Anaheim California a couple weeks ago to be a part of the NAMM Show (see posts below if you missed them).  In one of the posts I hinted that I might be endorsing another saxophone company soon.  And so as of very recently I can now say that I'm officially at JodyJazz artist! (http://www.jodyjazz.com/endorser/DerekBrown)

After performing at the NAMM jazz jam (hmm...I like the flow of that!), I met with Jody Espina himself, the mouthpiece genius who designs and play tests every mouthpiece JodyJazz sells.  At their booth, both he and team member Danielle suggested various pieces for me to try.  I went back and forth a bit, play testing multiple pieces.  But the first one I tried, I really loved! It's a DV Tenor 8* mouthpiece, and it's looks and (more importantly) plays great.

So why'd I make the switch? This piece make it easier for me to project, and has a very rich tone throughout the whole range of my horn. In short: it's a blast to play! 

So right while I was trying these out, in typical NAMM fashion, Jody asked me to jam with he and some other musicians at their booth.  Isn't NAMM great?  I just love the comradery and collaborative energy that exists between so many great musicians all in one place.

So that's Jody on the left with the alto sax.  You can also hear a TEDx presentation he did recently here.  As you can hear from the video, Jody's a really great guy, with a big passion for helping others to follow their dreams.  I'm very excited to now be a part of their team.

Just like Legere Reeds; great people and a great product! 
 

Coming off of a really big, exciting weekend for me at NAMM (as well as a secret audition that I'm actually legally not allowed to mention right now.  Sorry!), I thought I'd take a moment to talk about the more everyday kind of stuff.

Gigging around Chicago using public transit means I do a lot of waiting around.  One benefit of this means I get to notice a lot of small things around the "L" and bus stops that I frequent.  Here's one brief example:

Check out this photo:


This is a pic of the stairs and escalator ascending out of the North/Clybourn "L" stop.  Other than the fact that it's pretty long, nothing looks that strange, right?

But wait...look closer now.


Holy Cow!  That's the narrowest escalator I've ever seen!  

Yes, that is a picture of my shoe, and yes, I may have big-ish feet.  But seriously, have you ever seen such a crazy sight?!

OK, maybe you have.  Maybe you've actually seen WAY more crazy stuff.  And OK, maybe I have too.  But hey, waiting around for the same "L", week after week, you really learn to appreciate the small things.

I hope I always do.

Anybody remember the ShamWow? Well, nevermind...

Wow. NAMM.  Pretty great experience.  

I just got home from Anaheim late last night, and it’s pretty hard to describe everything that happened at NAMM (read my previous posts if you’re still thinking I’m talking about the divisive 1960’s American conflict in southeastern Asia).  

Friday was a long but great day.  From 10-6pm I was mainly at the Legere Reeds booth doing brief performances…er…I mean “demonstrations” (This is a regulation fine point on the trade show floor).  Similar to Thursday, these would include moments of no one really noticing or hearing, to bigger, exciting jams with other instrumentalists joining along.  I’ve found that my “beatbox style” of playing lends itself pretty well to these types of performances as I can provide a sort of rhythm section to the other players without drums or guitars there, which also really helps keep the decibel level down as well (see my last post for this one as well).

What really made Friday unique is what is maybe Legere’s biggest moment of the NAMM Show: the “invitation only” pro Jazz Jam later that night at the neighboring Hilton Hotel.


So I’ve been to plenty of jams in the recent months, and as you may know, I also cohost a jam every week (“Space Jams” at North Bar, 9:30-1am, Chicago.  Sorry for the shameless plug).  But wow, I’ve never been to a jam like this.  

This jam was 5 hours of nonstop epic saxophone MADNESS!  And let me start off by saying that no longer was I amazed to hear things like: “That drummer is the regular guy for American Idol’s house band,” or “This sax player was named Canada’s top instrumental performer.” That’s because this was one of the biggest jam sessions at the biggest music convention in the nation.  And did I mention this is located in the heart of the entertainment industry? Los Angeles

My apologies if it sounds at all like I’m boasting, because I’m not.  I was just in awe of the sheer talent in that room, and only prayed that I could somehow not stick out like a sore thumb.

Yes, as Legere artist (note: the event was also hosted by BG and Theo Wanne, two other great companies in the winds industry) I led a tune and did my solo, and it went pretty well.  I’m always pretty hard on my own performances, but people seemed to enjoy it.  But wow, I heard so many amazing, powerful, technical, and emotional performances the ENTIRE NIGHT.  I was telling someone how any of those solos, had they been the first of the night, would have gotten such big cheers, but there were just so many that we basically all got spoiled.  

And yes, as people were clearing out of the hotel, the commonly heard joke was something like “It’s just too bad there weren’t more sax solos tonight.”

So after the longer day Friday, yesterday seemed like a blink of an eye.  After checking out of the hotel I walked the few blocks to the Anaheim Convention Center for one last morning at the NAMM Show.  While I did a bit of my usual perfor…Ah!…demonstrating at the booth, this was my morning to really try out some saxophone gear (Uh oh, always a dangerous thing for a sax player).  The really unreal thing was that some of the product owners at these booths were at the Jazz Jam the night before and had some really positive things to say about my playing.  So without saying anything more, as things are still in the works, lets just say that Legere Reeds might not be my only endorser anymore.  More on this later…

So I guess I’ll end this post with this: Thank you so much, Legere (and especially VP of sales Tim Elvy) for including me so warmly into your family and for giving me this amazing introduction to the music industry.  And thanks to the many wonderful musicians, distributors, and exhibitors that made this weekend so enjoyable.

Thank you Tim, Lynda, Ryan, Sean, Jody, Danielle, Alex, Matt, Theo, Akim, Martin, Jess, Arno, Adr.., B...., L…., …., …

(Long list of names slowly fades as the credit music starts up)

 

Ok. No more NAMM puns (at least for now).  So yesterday was the official beginning of the NAMM Show and yeah, the atmosphere was a bit different from our set up day on Wed.  Compare these pics:
ah...peaceful Anaheim...

...and:


Ah!!! I can't move!!!

However, I'm told to just wait until Saturday, when the REAL crowds come!  It was also very interesting noting that this was one of the few times I've seen where the men's bathroom had a much longer line out front than the girls.  I guess guys really like their music gear!

So the day started with a quick Legere team meeting, and then we hit the ball running.  My main task throughout the day was to chat with people interested in playing, selling, or distributing Legere reeds, and to give brief performance demonstrations (which basically meant me doing my beatbox sax thing).

At the beginning I was having kind of a hard time getting the flow of things, mainly wondering about how much I should play or not.  The reason I had these issues is because NAMM is very strict on their noise policy in the exhibit halls.  And for good reason: with 100,000 people jammed into a HUGE hall filled with thousands of loud instruments (e.g. Drums, electric guitars, drums, trumpets, drums, and did I mention drums?), I'm glad people are a concerned about noise pollution.  That being said, the policy is pretty strict: only five minutes of performance every hour and it must be under 85 decibels (which I read is the equivalent of city traffic from inside of a car).  And there are actually "sound police" that walk around with sound level meters constantly walking around. 

So after slowly getting a feel for how much and how loud we could play, I was able to relax and have some fun.  The best times would be when a sax player or two would come to the both to try some reeds and we'd all start jamming together.  Then usually a small crowd would gather to listen and cheer us on. 

The other Legere saxophonist at our booth Ryan Saranich has been going to conventions and performing a TON in general, and seriously seems to know the majority of people at NAMM.  He introduced me to so many amazing musicians, many of whom sat in at our booth.  

It would be like, "Oh here's ________, the current sax player with Prince and Stevie Wonder.  And here's so and so who played with Michael Jackson.  And here's ________ from Snarky Puppy.

So yeah. Wow.  Anybody you see walking around here could have played all over the world with the absolute biggest names in the industry.  And some of them ARE the biggest names in the industry!

As the exhibit hall closed, fellow booth helper Sean and I went outside to watch a great concert by Trombone Shorty and his band, ate a later dinner, and hit the sack, ready for another great day filled with lots of who-knows-what!

Until next time...

So after a REALLY great "Space Jam" on Tuesday night at North Bar (someone counted at least 23 musicians!) I got about 4 hours of sleep before my wife Rachel took me to O'Hare to fly out to Los Angeles at 8am.  After a good flight and a quick drive to Anaheim, here's what greeted us:


So yeah, like I said in my last post, HUGE!  I met the rest of the Legere Reeds team (all super great people, by the way), and helped to organize some of the Legere booth.

Here's a pic of me at the booth with Ryan Saranich on the left (another Legere saxophonist, who I'll be jamming with throughout the show) and Tim Levy in the middle (VP of Sales for Legere, and the nicest guy ever!).  

After a quick meeting I headed back to the hotel to try for at least a little practicing (Ah, the eternal dilemma of sax players trying to practice in hotel rooms!).  Here's my room:

Fairly normal room, right?  Though, Hmm... something tells me Disneyland must be near by, but I'm not sure what that is...

That night, Tim Elvy and his wife took me and Sean (another Legere helper) to a great music club nearby called Spaghettini, where we heard Canadian guitarist Rob Tardik and saxophonist Carson Freeman, who both did a great job with some really fun, uplifting music.  And like almost everyone around here at this time of year, Yup, they'll be at NAMM.  

And speaking of that, I just read two interested stats about the NAMM show.  The first is that around 96,000 people were here last year, and the administration is actually hoping for a little LESS this year.  Yeah, you heard that right, this event is by invitation only and it's so big, they're trying to keep it even more focused.  They don't need as many people as possible to come, as it's already so successful.

The second stat I just heard is that supposedly 50% of all the exhibitors at the NAMM show get sick by the end of the weekend.  (Uh oh, that includes me!)  I guess with the crazy amount of people trying out a bazillion instruments, talking to each other (AKA "yelling") over all of the music going on, and whatnot, germs tend to spread.  So here's hoping I don't catch this years "NAMMthrax," as the regulars call it.

Well, that's all for now.  I finally got some good sleep last night and am ready to get to work!

In case you haven't noticed the little gold and black icon a little ways down on my website, as of maybe a month and a half ago, I am officially a Legere Reeds artist (Here's the proof, if you need it for some reason: http://www.legere.com/index.php?page=derek-brown).  I haven't made a huge deal of it with people I know and meet so far, because I want people to know that I play Legere reeds because I really like them, not because I'm sponsored by the company.  

Truth is, I've been playing for years on these reeds, even when they weren't as well-known or supported by the sax community.  If you readers know a thing or two about saxophone playing, you probably know that they're called "reeds" because they're usually cut from the plant, reed cane. This is also one of the reasons saxophones belong in the woodwind family, because of the "wood" reeds.  

So I can completely understand why some musicians would do a slight double-take when they see that my reeds are see-through (like a cool party trick or something!).  They're in the category of synthetic reeds, meaning they act like actually cane reeds, but with many added benefits.  I particularly love Legere reeds because they are WAY more consistent than any other reed.  Some sax players I know will buy a box of 10 cane reeds and only play on 3 or 4 or them.  And that's somehow acceptable?!?  But that's definitely a drawback of going the natural way, as some cane plants naturally grow better than others.  With Legere, I know exactly what I'm getting with each individual reed.  In addition, Legere reeds last a LONG time.  Even with all the abuse I put them through doing my beatbox stuff, these reeds will last me a good 8 months or more, compared to maybe 2 months MAX with traditional reeds.

So enough about the reeds for now.  As the title of this post mentions, I'm headed tomorrow morning to Anaheim, California where I'll be representing Legere at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM for short).  I've never been to this before, but I've heard amazing things.  First of all, it's HUGE; maybe the largest of it's kind.  Secondly, you never know who might show up.  I've checked out some YouTube videos of various exhibits and jams and often the best of the best musicians are there.

So what will I be doing there with Legere?  Great question!  I'm going to find out with you, and hopefully blog about it while I'm there.  Of what I do know, I'm pretty sure I'll be doing some performing demonstrations at the Legere booth and helping out a bit at the Legere jam session.

And if/when anything else happens, I'll let you know about it.  Stay tuned...