tag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:/blogs/latest-news?p=5Latest News2017-11-11T12:59:40-06:00Derek Brownfalsetag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/36962642015-05-06T15:31:28-05:002024-03-21T01:00:08-05:00Blogging...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!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/35429242015-02-19T13:59:30-06:002022-08-16T06:21:46-05:00I Hate Commuting! Well...actually...no, I don't.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). <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br><br>However, I'm now very happy to report that three things have completely reversed my thoughts on this:<br><br>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!<br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br><br>This last one is the nerdiest of them all. Here's a brief explanation of my last two trips to Wheaton for an example: <br><br>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."<br><br>(If you didn't follow any of the last paragraph, don't worry. And I promise you, I'm not 100% crazy.)<br><br>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.<br><br>Oh, and just for the record, my parents share a Chrysler minivan.<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/35257422015-02-12T13:24:05-06:002023-12-10T10:55:14-06:00New calendar on my website!From time to time people ask me where they can catch my upcoming performances. My response in the past was typically something like this:<br><br>"Hmmm....Well, I <em>sometimes</em> 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."<br><br>Well, I'm here to tell you that I am now (drum roll please...) officially introducing calendars to my personal website! <br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/7be426462db1b42b7e7a1c2f6ef6832a2f90f13d/medium/screen-shot-2015-02-12-at-1-15-50-pm.png?1423768637" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>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.<br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br><br>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:"<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/7a8f2c046fc098ca7018d2b2cf64a344e13b120d/medium/photo-2.png?1423768826" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>Rest in peace, Grandma T!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/35174042015-02-09T16:10:24-06:002023-12-10T11:28:53-06:00Uptown's Best Kept Secret?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:<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/ef5c4d732f497f9e5dceefbd394a2c7688c66941/medium/preston-bradley-center-outside.jpg?1423461263" class="size_m justify_center border_none" alt="" />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.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/6184579900c5c96c11db47141ab5c7defd540284/medium/preston-bradley-center-peoples-church.jpg?1423460994" class="size_m justify_center border_" />So here it is! It seats about 1000 people and as you can imagine, the acoustics are pretty incredible.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/801b4bf0a2f8a52aff8458201c17764cee81c798/medium/preston-bradley-center-seating.jpg?1423461259" class="size_m justify_center border_" />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? <br><br>Well, I'm glad you asked! I think the unique thing about this one is its expansive <em>atmosphere</em>. 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.<br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>So bring your instrument, sip on some free coffee, and enjoy the sounds of Uptown's best kept secret. "Shhhhhh...."<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/35130772015-02-07T12:26:46-06:002022-04-22T00:57:25-05:00My new families: JodyJazz and Legere ReedsAs 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)<br><br>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.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/8654e1043d5a7d31717d6aeac713b646629639eb/small/jody-jazz-tenor-dv-mouthpiece.jpg?1423332197" class="size_s justify_center border_" /><br>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! <br><br>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.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/d85c3716ca18611e8e4178ee36fabb60e15f9c67/medium/derek-at-jody-jazz-booth.jpg?1423278615" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>So that's Jody on the left with the alto sax. You can also hear a TEDx presentation he did recently <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwe6vN-qZjE" target="_blank">here</a>. 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.<br><br>Just like Legere Reeds; great people and a great product! <br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33823022015-01-30T13:21:57-06:002022-05-09T06:25:18-05:00It's the small thingsComing 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.<br><br>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:<br><br>Check out this photo:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/83269ba5adc5f31ee1ed662ee85ccf7d9ca0329c/medium/photo-1.jpg?1418224211" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>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?<br><br>But wait...look closer now.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/43ce61641f4e2225fc4c82492ae2856c2e4ed17f/medium/photo-2.jpg?1419024652" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>Holy Cow! That's the narrowest escalator I've ever seen! <br><br>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?!<br><br>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.<br><br>I hope I always do.Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34859442015-01-25T20:22:21-06:002022-05-26T06:46:06-05:00NAMM-WOW<span class="s1">Anybody remember the ShamWow? Well, nevermind...<br><br>Wow. NAMM. Pretty great experience. </span><br><br>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). <br><br>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).<br><br>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.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/25187000e99ab72a4423e1166e510108f28dd446/medium/photo-3.jpg?1422238361" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>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. <br><br>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<br><br>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.<br><br>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. <br><br>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.”<br><br>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…<br><br>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.<br><br>Thank you Tim, Lynda, Ryan, Sean, Jody, Danielle, Alex, Matt, Theo, Akim, Martin, Jess, Arno, Adr.., B...., L…., …., …<br><br>(Long list of names slowly fades as the credit music starts up)<p class="p2"> </p>Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34823942015-01-23T10:53:02-06:002022-05-21T03:09:40-05:00"Back in NAMM"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:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/aaebf1fdf06c3887259f7139c458f64e535e1121/medium/photo-1.jpg?1421940455" class="size_m justify_center border_" />ah...peaceful Anaheim...<br><br>...and:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/8d72d1c6083ec82c110ef545aa38795f5be38dc1/medium/photo-2.jpg?1421998722" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>Ah!!! I can't move!!!<br><br>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!<br><br>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).<br><br>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 <em>very </em>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br><br>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!<br><br>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!<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/3850ad9954cffc05b6746985a1e659422143aafc/original/photo-3.jpg?1422031792" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br>Until next time...Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34801762015-01-22T10:05:32-06:002023-12-10T10:51:11-06:00The NAMM ShowSo 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:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/aaebf1fdf06c3887259f7139c458f64e535e1121/medium/photo-1.jpg?1421940455" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>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.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/ca4f63ecbff757e54381c7d24574e13861d89e8e/medium/photo-2.jpg?1421940456" class="size_m justify_center border_" />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!). <br><br>After a quick meeting I headed back to the hotel to try for at least a <em>little</em> practicing (Ah, the eternal dilemma of sax players trying to practice in hotel rooms!). Here's my room:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/eb85c0c7ac9fde501f28c442627f95dc045d9783/medium/photo-3.jpg?1421940461" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>Fairly normal room, right? Though, Hmm... something tells me Disneyland must be near by, but I'm not sure what that is...<br><br>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. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/3fceecc996a3e78b884362d511fc1afbab775345/medium/photo-4.jpg?1421940463" class="size_m justify_center border_" />And like almost everyone around here at this time of year, Yup, they'll be at NAMM. <br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>Well, that's all for now. I finally got some good sleep last night and am ready to get to work!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34771822015-01-20T19:49:52-06:002022-05-20T22:50:51-05:00California, Here I Come!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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>And if/when anything else happens, I'll let you know about it. Stay tuned...Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34199922015-01-18T18:44:10-06:002023-12-10T11:12:37-06:00Practice Room 3.0It's that time of year, folks: Another update on my ever evolving practice room! And believe me, this update is actually worth mentioning.<br><br>Four months ago, when Rachel and I first moved to our apartment in Chicago, I wrote about being pumped that my new rehearsal space was not going to be in a small wardrobe, like the last time I lived in a city apartment in Leipzig, Germany (You can read the post <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://derekbrownsax.com/home/blog/new-and-improved-rehearsal-room" target="_blank">here</a>). Yes, my practice space is still smallish, but it's WAY better than a movable wardrobe.<br><br>That being said, my bigger closet practice room still had a long way to go to become more practical. The biggest issue, by far, was that of soundproofing. Being in an apartment, there are people living above and below us, so noise volume can be a big issue (note: for others. I'm the loud one). And try as I might, it's VERY hard for me to have worthwhile practicing when I know that others can hear me, or worse: if they're annoyed with me. <br><br>There was also the issue of temperature (which fluctuates a lot), electricity (no electrical outlets in there), and space (no place to put computer and other practice stuff). <br><br>But <em>Hark! </em>Who is this on his way?!<br><br>It's Dad to the rescue!<br><br>My parents are super great for a TON of reasons. One of these (and this would barely make the top 100) is that they love to help out with projects every time they visit us. I mean, seriously, who <i>are</i> these people who enjoy doing house projects on their <em>vacation!</em><br><br>So one of these projects was my dad helping me really upgrade my practice space, once and for all. And with the amount of hours I log in there each week, I guess it makes sense to spend a little time and effort making it as good as it can be. So after purchasing some large foam pads, a bit of lumber, some drywall, and insulation, we (or mostly he) got to work.<br><br>And after a full day, here's the finished the project:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/694da61b4ce071ab80a99e6aecd8a8d66f3c6b11/medium/photo-4.jpg?1419031635" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>My practice room/closet is now completely enclosed (all walls, ceiling, and floor) in thick foam padding, which really cuts the harsh noise inside the room. And here's the best part:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/23c50f1bdc284535ccc53d9add9d6e3bfa0c0587/small/photo-5.jpg?1419031802" class="size_s justify_center border_" /><br>We added some major sound-proofing to the ceiling (where the neighbors could most hear me). You can't get a sense of it in the photo, but we basically lowered it a foot and filled it with drywall, insulation, and more foam. Pretty cool, I think!<br><br>And as you may have noticed in the first photo, Dad also built me a two-leveled table for my computer, fan, and other stuff. He even attached an electrical power strip to the table so I could plug everything in. So not only does this help my practicing, but with all this I can now easily record my BEATBoX SAX tutorials right there without having to set up a bunch of stuff or worrying about other people being nearby. <br><br>And as I mentioned, this is just a tiny example of how giving my parents really are. But despite the fact that I'll really never be able to thank them enough for all that they do, here's one more:<br><br>Thanks, Dad!!!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32638472015-01-11T22:42:46-06:002023-12-10T10:57:29-06:00A "Novel" Idea!If you know me well, I'm definitely not one for wasting time. And yeah, if I'm new to a big city and want to actually survive as a full-time musician, there's not necessarily a ton of time to be wasted. But I am still human, and humans do need breaks. And even though I sometimes try to avoid it, I know I still have many unproductive moments throughout the day.<br><br>For instance Rachel and I have gone without a TV for our entire married life (8 and a half years). We did this purposely, as both of us can imagine easily falling into the routine of parking our butts on the couch watching hours of TV each day just because it's there. But then again, we still have computers with the internet and DVDs, so it's definitely just as easy to "waste time" on these as TV. And we do.<br><br>On another note, if you've been reading some of my blog posts, you probably have noticed that I spend a LOT of time on public transportation, especially the "L" going to and from gigs and jam sessions. So what do you think? Would Derek Brown spend all of that just sitting there for hours each week?<br><br>No way! (or at least not most of the time) And crazy as it sounds, I sometimes look forward to my "L" rides. And not necessarily because I'm excited for the music that lies ahead.<br><br>Instead, this is my reading time! And surprisingly for me, it's specifically my "intellectual" reading time, when I read novels and in some instances, poetry. (Who have I become?!)<br><br>The truth of the matter is, I enjoy simple, light reading as much as the next person, whether that's a TIME magazine, a blog, or the latest Dan Brown novel. And back in the B.C. years ("Before Chicago"), I didn't really read much novels. If I did, I usually didn't enjoy it too much or even finish many (except for those guilty pleasure Dan Brown books!).<br><br>Yet there's something about riding the "L", despite the constant interruptions and sometimes strange moments, that lends itself to reading a novel for me. I think it goes back to the fact that I hate the idea of wasting time. When riding the "L", there's really nothing I can do that's <em>that</em> productive. The Facebook/Twitter thing usually takes too long on my phone, I can't practice, I can't nap (for fear that I'll miss my stop), and I usually can't surf the web (for fear that I'll go over our monthly data limit). <br><br>So I guess I try to make my brain productive by reading books I maybe normally wouldn't have the patience for. And you know what? It's worked! While I sometimes lose my place or get distracted, I've made it through a decent amount of books in my 4 months here in Chicago. Here's what I've read so far:<br><br>Of Mice and Men<br>The Great Gatsby<br>Billy Collins poetry<br>O. Henry short stories<br>The Lilies of the Field<br>Godric<br>Brendan (currently reading)<br><br>One thing you might notice is that all of these books are on the shorter side. Yes, I think that helps with my shorter attention span. But the biggest reason is because they actually can fit in my coat pocket (although Rachel just mentioned the word "eBook" to me. Oh yeah, we DO live in the 21st century don't we!).<br><br>So that being said, anyone out there have any suggestions for short-ish novels I should read on my next round of "L" rides?<br><br>In the meantime, I wonder what's going on at CNN.com? I feel like wasting some time...Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34590802015-01-09T10:32:08-06:002023-06-10T02:34:27-05:00You know you've made it when...Last night I performed with Low Spark at a place called the Emporium Arcade Bar. There were other great bands on the ticket as well, including one lead by saxophone legend Herman Green (who I might add is 89 years old and STILL performing! This means, wow, I could still be playing for another 60 years!). And holy cow, the guys in this band have played with everyone from John Coltrane to BB King to Sting to Snoop Dogg!<br><br>Another really cool thing about these performances was that behind the stage is a huge projection screen capable of showing movies. The first band Gramps the Vamp, which calls it's genre of music "Doom Funk," had a retro-ish Godzilla movie playing behind them. I thought this was genius, as the music really provided a perfect soundtrack to the monster mayhem going on behind them.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/95a3c3b658c8553afcccd2f44945ce690d330db5/medium/photo-1.jpg?1420820239" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>By the final band's performance, the movie was the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, at this point I started realizing the downside of projecting full-length films behind bands. I'm so easily distracted by visual things that I had to keep reminding myself, <em>Oh yeah, there's also a really great band playing right now!</em> <br><br>You also may have noticed in the pic above (and in the name of the club) that there were quite a few arcade machines here. There were dozens of these in two large rooms containing all of the classics like Donkey Kong and Spy Hunter. However, here are three I got the biggest kick out of:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/b365e99e85b9738a343b3f97a02c2ed37c02003d/medium/photo-3.jpg?1420820240" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/00789036c137b7e4e32242814d0c60f605329994/medium/photo-4.jpg?1420820242" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>And especially this one:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/5a00ccfcd3e556a91a7d16da922207cd4c378097/medium/photo-2.jpg?1420820240" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>So yeah, two pinball games with Metallica and AC-DC themes and a fighting game featuring Michael Jackson. And you can't see this in the pic, but the two controller buttons for the MJ game were labeled "Shoot" and, of course the most important button, "Dance!"<br><br>All that to say, I guess you know you've made it in the musical world when you have your own arcade machine. Maybe I'll start planning mine now...Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34557212015-01-07T11:26:06-06:002023-12-10T11:31:45-06:00The Never Ending Sore ThroatI've noticed over the past 4 months or so that being a beatbox sax player isn't the greatest thing (so far) for my throat. If you've seen my first BEATBoX SAX music video "Catch'em Up," you might be able to imagine that I sometimes have to do some weird things with my mouth/throat to create some of these sounds. Yeah, it's true, the sax probably wasn't invented with some of these effects in mind. But performing them isn't the issue. It's the practicing.<br><br>Any of you readers who are serious musicians know this: practicing your instrument means working long hours on little things, over and over and over. So any of the weird effects you hear me do on the horn means I've spent a ton of time experimenting with each one, over and over and over. The goal, of course, is to eventually master the technique where it's as effortless as possible, but as musicians know, the practicing is NOT effortless.<br><br>So I've had this sore throat/cough since before Christmas, which would usually go away after a week at most. But it keeps sticking around because of the various events I'm putting it through.<br><br>My throat was really starting to get better about a week ago, until I really started practicing my beatbox stuff hard for a coffee hour performance I did at the People's Church a few blocks away from my apartment here in Uptown. And since then, I haven't really gotten a chance to rest. On Saturday, I taught private lessons all day, which meant I was using my slightly louder "teaching voice." Sunday I did the coffee hour performance. Monday I was in a rehearsal with my "Space Jam" group and then the Monday night "Wonderjam" with Low Spark. And then Yesterday I filmed my latest BEATBoX SAX music video "Chopsticks" (which you can check out <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9ctoAyRYIU" target="_blank">here</a>) and then co-hosted my weekly "Space Jam" at North Bar. <br><br>And besides the individual practicing in between everything, I've noticed the club scene isn't the greatest for sore throat recovery. When not playing at these jam sessions, one has to really speak up (AKA: yell) to talk with other people, as us funk musicians like to keep our music at a certain "feel-the-music" volume.<br><br>Now if it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm really not. Despite the erratic schedule and long practice sessions, I really love what I'm doing so far. But like I said, I've got to figure this throat thing out, if I'm really planning to do a long-term performing career (which I am). If any of you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them. <br><br>In the meantime here's my New Years resolution: to get over this darn sore throat!!!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34199832015-01-04T09:00:23-06:002023-06-10T02:39:58-05:00I WANT THIS!!!A lot of sax players I know are very much gear heads. They get really pumped over new and different saxophone products like new mouthpieces, reeds, etc. And even things that I think can make very little difference like ligatures and reed humidifiers; they love to swoon and debate over. <br><br>Now if you reading this are a gear head, that's great. It's just not me. While some players are constantly experimenting and changing their setup, I've pretty much stayed with the same stuff for years (Mark VI tenor, SR Tech Pro mouthpiece, Legere 3 reeds, if you wanted to know). My go-to line with this conversation is "Yeah, I could try out all of that stuff for a long time, but I'd rather just practice." I know, that might sound a bit pretentious, but don't hate me! And believe me, I can find just as many ways to waste time as the next person.<br><br>All that being said I just saw something online that made my heart skip a beat. It was this:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/86ede4673c16023629b22d4771527a29af9a764e/small/low-g-tenor-sax-lopes-instrumentos.jpg?1419027494" class="size_s justify_center border_" />Maybe you're not salivating like I am right now, but HOLY COW! I WANT THAT!!!<br><br>Let's talk about what this is. This is apparently a Low-G tenor saxophone. So why am I so excited? Well, these are not supposed to even exist!!!<br><br>A little background first (for my non-sax-playing readers). Saxophones, of course come in different sizes and ranges. For most of my playing, I prefer the tenor saxophone, which can only go down to a Bb for its lowest note. The baritone sax goes a good deal lower, but I mostly prefer the tenor for its specific tone quality. That being said, if you know my playing at all, you might know that I play the lowest notes on the tenor a lot (when I'm slap tonguing my various bass lines and whatnot). I've even experimented a great deal with specific Tartini tones which give the aural illusion of going lower. However, I would give and arm and a leg truly play notes lower than a Bb on the tenor (OK, maybe not an arm and a leg, as I'd need the arm to play it. I guess just a leg).<br><br>Now there are actually a lot of baritone saxes that go a half step below others. And I've heard of the extremely rare alto that does as well, but NEVER a tenor. And this picture that I recently saw doesn't just go a half step below its normal range, but three! This might not seem big to you, but to any professional sax player, that's HUGE!<br><br>Now this image brings up a lot of questions that I'm currently pursuing. First of all, what exactly does it sound like? Adding that much length to the bell will definitely alter the tone - the question is how much. Secondly, how hard (and how much) would it be to get a hold of one of these? The maker supposedly lives in Brazil and doesn't have much (if any) information on it. And finally (and most importantly), is it even real? Photoshop sure can do a lot these days. <br><br>So I'll definitely keep you updated if anything comes of this. But in the meantime, just know that no one ever needs to ask me again what my dream gift would be. "Yup, that magical tenor from Brazil."Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32448402014-12-28T16:14:09-06:002023-12-10T10:46:15-06:00"Sax Enhancers?"Terrible title, I know. And I always hate those cheesy saxophone titles like "A Very Sax-y Christmas" or "Sax on the Beach" or "Sax Drive" or...OK, enough!!!<br><br>Anyways, today I wanted to let you in on a secret to my saxophone playing. One could maybe say this secret holds the powers to all of my saxophone skills! (And if you haven't noticed yet in my blog posts that I'm a big fan of hyperbole, not to mention leading the reader on, sorry for the disappointment you're about to face)<br><br>Here it is!<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/3d9682edf7827e56f93ac896ff116187e78f1813/medium/photo-1.jpg?1419026135" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>Well? What'd ya think...?<br><br>Wait... you're disappointed? Or you don't get it? Well I'm sorry then you don't know what it's like playing the sax with freakishly long fingers! What you're looking at are some side key extenders that I made of wood and professionally attached (note: with scotch tape) to my horn. These are there so I don't have to bend my right hand so much when I press those keys.<br><br>Here's another shot for some perspective:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/aeb4db677b9aacd5f1bab4cf1339654a4643516c/medium/photo-3.jpg?1419026112" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>OK, so maybe this isn't the secret to my saxophone playing, but they sure do help a guy like me! And yeah, as you can maybe guess, I'm a bit cheap. Although since I'll be going to NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) soon, maybe I'll actually cough up some money to have a real professional make some more permanent ones.<br><br>However, I have to say I've begun to grow found of these guys. Plus, with these homemade works of wooden art, now my horn actually could deserve the classification "Woodwind."<br><br>We'll see. But don't hold your breath (like I know you are!)<br><br>Merry Christmas everybody!<br><br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34227482014-12-23T01:27:12-06:002022-05-12T00:37:45-05:00"Your Bus is Never Coming" (and other adventures)So a pretty exciting musical weekend for me this past Fri and Sat. Friday night at North Bar I opened for the local Chicago funk band KongFuzi with about 30 minutes of my BEATBoX SAX stuff. I played some of my original tunes, some 80s covers, and a couple of Christmas tunes with a beatbox twist. I also had a new friend of mine, Bryant Smith, sit in on trombone for a couple of tunes. He's done a good deal with traditional voice beatboxing, and so I've been encouraging him to try some of those techniques on the trombone. This of course is much easier said than done, but I'm really excited about some of the sounds he was starting to create in only 10 minutes of trying it out I'm really looking forward to experimenting much more with him in this style. Maybe some duo street performing coming soon (weather permitting)?<br><br>Saturday was a really long, but really good day. I left the house at 9am and didn't get back until 2:30am the next morning. What'd I do all day? Basically three things: teaching, rehearsing, recording. In the morning I taught a few private lessons in Wheaton, IL. After lunch I got with Hayden Ashley, Nate Mark, and Kevin Campbell at the Music Garage, a huge rehearsal space bands can rent out. This is the group of musicians with whom I now co-host the weekly Space Jams at North Bar on Tuesdays (9pm every week). We picked a few tunes to talk through and rehearse that we would then record that night for a demo album. With it we hope to seek out other gigs or residencies (playing weekly or monthly at a club or restaurant). <br><br>So that evening we went to SoundScape Studios, where for the next 6 hours we would set up our gear, record some tunes, snack on Teddy Grahams, listen to playbacks, rerecord some tunes, sit around talking about documentaries, listen some more, record vocals onto our Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds cover, etc. Here are a couple of pics:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/a74d3197f100a3ee7a3f3031a7cfcb51fff7b869/small/photo-2.jpg?1419318545" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/52be3f2fe72135b521dbc06622834fcd465cf294/small/photo-1.jpg?1419318543" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/a135b13ee1d6649eab0e13c87f83bd7b72ac11eb/small/photo-5.jpg?1419318553" class="size_s justify_left border_" /><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>So yeah, despite the process taking a bit longer than we maybe first thought, I think we were all pretty pleased with the end result. We'll probably be posting these tracks somewhere soon, so definitely keep an eye out for that. <br><br>Oh, and a pretty funny thing happened as we were wrapping up after 1am. I went out to the nearby bus stop to text in the bus number in order to see the estimated arrival times. I entered in the bus number and hit 'send'. After waiting a little while I retried the text again. Finally this message appeared at the bottom of my phone:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/2d5cef652f010ef3233d57bef54ace33b3b56bf5/medium/photo.png?1419318527" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>What?! Wow, the Chicago bus system has gotten a little harsh with their notifications! <br><br>But then I noticed to whom I actually sent the text. No, not to the CTA, but to my trombone friend Bryant...at 1:06am. But hey, he's a gigging musician so that's like dinner time for him, right?<br><br>(By the way, in case you were wondering, Bryant, the bus did come. Ha!)Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/34110252014-12-17T15:57:00-06:002017-01-16T07:40:02-06:00Night and DayIf you read my post last week about hosting my first jam @North Bar last Tues, you were treated to the bitter truth of this image:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/278cc7fe8f75218d7740beaa416ae1c148b93ab3/small/north-empty.jpg?1418234740" class="size_s justify_center border_" /><br>...an empty bar. Nate, Hayden, Al, and I had prepared some tunes and were ready to get the jam started last week, but nobody (save one) came! <br><br>So for this week's jam I decided to beef up the promotion, sending out specific Facebook invitations and telling anybody I ran into at other jams/clubs. But this week I also had to find some new subs, as Nate and Hayden had another gig at the same time on Tuesday night. So not only did I need to promote this session more, but I had to find some subs, and think about what charts we could open the set with, without a rehearsal. <br><br>So the big day finally came yesterday. A plus was that my parents were in town from Michigan (maybe they felt sorry for me last week!), and they were planning to come to hear us. So I thought to myself, 'Well, at least my wife and parents will be at the club. That will basically double the amount of people there!'<br><br>As the band (now with Collin Clauson and Graham Caldwell filling in on keys and drums) was setting up and we began our first set at 9:30pm, it was still a little bleak. I saw one other fellow musician who showed up, but that was it. 'Man! This jam may not work out after all,' I thought as I was playing.<br><br>However, as we continued to play more tunes, the scene slowly morphed to this:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/932e3de0ef3df256ea0974c1d2c3d0fc874fe8c5/medium/photo-4.jpg?1418841579" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>and this:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/6cfd3b77539e0884c38307e4b59ab13780d6e82c/medium/photo-1.jpg?1418841570" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>So yeah, within an hour or so, maybe 20 musicians showed up! And they were all fantastic players (and, not to mention, super nice people!). I had been hoping for at least a couple of musicians to show up, but this was WAY more than I had imagined.<br><br>So complete night and day from last week. I know Chicago is huge and has a ton of musicians, but it kind of felt like @North Bar last night was <em>the</em> place to be for improvising musicians in Chicago (or at least in Wicker Park).<br><br>Will this energy last every week? I'll sure try to do my part to keep it going strong, but really, no one knows. As I've mentioned in past blogs, it seems like the Chicago music scene shifts around a great deal. Clubs and jam sessions come and go. <br><br>All I can say is that last night sure was great.<br><br>It felt like family.<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33978692014-12-14T19:03:17-06:002021-07-28T21:05:41-05:00My experimental weekOf my 3 months so far trying out the music scene in Chicago, pretty much each week has been an experiment, from attending jazz and rock jams, auditioning for a couple plays, teaching private (piano) lessons, getting hired part-time with a community college, etc.<br><br>Each of these things involved me getting a little bit outside of my comfort zone, at least socially. I don't think of myself as being particularly outgoing. In fact, I still remember scoring almost perfectly in the middle of the extrovert/introvert Myers-Briggs Test I took in college. So yeah, I'm not extremely bashful by any means, but it does take some social effort on my part to get out there night after night in club after club.<br><br>This past week has been unique, however, in that I really had to get outside of my comfort zone <i>musically.</i> This included my first ever Free Jazz jam session on Wednesday and my first time being featured with a turntablist/DJ.<br><br>Now this wasn't the first time I'd done any "free" playing before (and note: I'm putting "free" in quotes or caps as I'm referring to Free Jazz, which references a particular genre of jazz, not a statement about its lack of cover charge, although because it takes such special listeners to appreciate, it often is free of charge!). Now most jazz musicians my age enjoy experimenting a bit with the avant-garde from time to time. And I particularly like the idea of dissonance, moving into consonance. After all, isn't it dissonance (or conflict) that makes a story great? <br><br>That being said, I usually prefer my dissonance when I know it will eventually resolve, at least partially. Free Jazz, however, embraces dissonance on its own; no resolution needed. And Chicago's jazz scene is often noted for it's underground "free" scene. So despite my lack of experience with this genre, I decided to seek it out.<br><br>My seeking led me to The Constellation, a really hip music club known for its adventurous musical offerings each night. Each Wednesday they feature some type of jazz group and then transition to their <em>Sound of the City Workshop, </em>which is currently one of the only true Free Jazz jams in Chicago.<br><br>The group this past Wednesday featured vocalist Paul Marinaro and drummer/percussionist Mikel Patrick Avery. Their unique, intimate set consisted of pairing solo voice with everything from woodblocks to a cardboard box to a "Kaz-umpet" (Kazoo/Trumpet). It was really cool, by the way.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/5a506acf3a910aabfeb9d7d885e3f3e1a8909a4e/medium/photo-1.jpg?1418587533" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br>And then it was time for me to jump in! After setting up a drum set and bass, various instrumentalists (including myself) joined the stage for some organized (or actually not-so-organized) chaos. And like much of the free-er stuff I've heard in my life, there were some great moments and there were some...uh...more "interesting" moments. And in actually, all the musicians were really talented. I was amazed at how comfortable everyone was with what they were doing. <br><br>In fact, I often think there are two most important things when playing Free Jazz: listening to the others and playing with confidence. No matter what comes out of your horn - and there are always strange sounds emanating from Free Jazz music - if you play it confidently, it often somehow works. If the audience has an open mind, they will trust that you know what you're doing, even if you yourself don't.<br><br>And so while I know Free Jazz isn't maybe the most accessible type of music on the market (biggest understatement ever?), I really appreciate what these musicians are trying to accomplish, taking music to places it's never gone before. And doing it not because it sells, but because they love the adventure.<br><br>On Friday night, my wife Rachel and I headed to Wicker Park as I was invited by DJ Shazam Bangles to sit in with him at a literal underground club called Door No. 3. After a couple other DJs and 30 minutes or so of Bangles' own great stuff, he had me come up to the mic and join him.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/9e93cb7ac152326a637b012621008add2a7c2aec/medium/photo-4.jpg?1418587516" class="size_m justify_center border_" />It took me a few minutes to get into the groove, which with a DJ is constantly changing. One thing I didn't consider beforehand was the issue of tuning. DJ's often pride themselves on transitioning between records, which involves matching the tempos by speeding up or slowing down records. This in turn alters the pitch of the recordings, so I was constantly adjusting my mouthpiece to try my best to match the pitches.<br><br>But once I got a hang of this, however, and when we found a couple of grooves that worked nicely, I thought we had some great moments. Like I said earlier, I've never really gotten the chance to improvise and interact with someone scratching records. Plus, both this and the Free Jazz jam also really allowed me to use some of my "beatbox sax" extended techniques, giving me the chance to mimic a scratching sound and lay down some of my own percussive beats. <br><br>So could either of these things turn into something bigger for me? Who knows. But I hope to do more of this kind of stuff in the future, further stretching my musical limits and opening my ears to new ideas. As I've told friends so far, I really have no clear idea where I'm specifically headed, musically. But I do know I'm really fortunate to get the chance to experiment with so many new and exciting musicians.<br><br>So what will it be this coming week? How about some Country and Zydeco! <br><br>Well, maybe not yet, but I do need to visit one of the many Blues jam sessions around town soon. I'll keep you posted,<br><br>Derek<br><br>P.S. If any of my Chicago readers are free on Tuesday or Friday night, I'll be again hosting the weekly "Space Jam" on Tuesday at 9pm at North Bar; and then I'll be doing my BEATBoX SAX thing around 9:30pm opening for a local funk cover band on Friday. Maybe I'll see you there!<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33822992014-12-10T12:27:16-06:002021-06-30T01:44:08-05:00Weekly Jam (of the music variety)Last night was my first time in Chicago co-hosting a jam session. It's a weekly funk jam at 9pm at the Wicker Park club called @North Bar. We call it "Space Jams" (here's a <a contents="link" data-link-label="" data-link-type="" href="https://www.facebook.com/events/280462618744131/" target="_blank">link</a>). And no, it's not inspired by the Michael Jordan/Looney Tunes movie of the same name, but by the <em>intergalactic mix of psychedelic cosmic improvisations with celestial soul and far-out funk</em> (How do you like that!). The band Annalee & the Midnight Sons had been hosting a jam there on previous Tuesdays, but like much of the Chicago music scene, things are constantly coming and going. <br><br>So how did it go, you might be asking?<br><br>Let's just say the fire department came to break up the session because we had way too many people in the club. <br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/431a12e5e5c621efe6ad298fae1ff0c24f67185b/medium/north-full.jpg?1418234740" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br> Ok. Well. Not exactly... (So maybe I stole this pic from online. I'm guessing it's a St. Patrick's Day event, hence all of the green)<br><br>In actuality, this picture probably sums it up a bit better:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/278cc7fe8f75218d7740beaa416ae1c148b93ab3/medium/north-empty.jpg?1418234740" class="size_m justify_center border_" /><br><br>So it was basically the band (sax, keys, bass, and drums), the owner, the bartender, and two others. But hey, the eight of us had a rockin' time! And really, we only learned that we were doing this jam a few days ago, so we barely had time to promote it. Plus, I still have yet to learn how to officially "invite" people to events on Facebook (Don't worry, though. I'm working on it!).<br><br>That being said, I'm really excited about playing with Hayden, Nate, and Al. They all sound great, and I love the on-the-spot interaction we're able to get on each tune. I know that once the word gets out, Tuesdays here @North will be hoppin', socially and especially musically. Like many jam sessions around the city, we start with a set of our own stuff and then open it up for anyone who wants to play or sing (or rap or belly dance or whatever).<br><br>So if you're in the neighborhood on a future Tuesday night, head over to @North (near North + Ashland) for some fun and adventurous jamming! I'll see you there!<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33689472014-12-06T16:30:34-06:002022-05-11T07:24:02-05:00“2014 World Tour!” (or “Three Gigs in West Michigan!”)<p>This weekend I’m blogging from the road. And don’t worry, I’m not the one driving. Yesterday, the four Low Spark guys and I packed our gear into one (yes only one) car. Check out this photo.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/8de809f32d14ea3101473d347552eee520e8a08e/medium/photo-1.jpg?1417824431" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p class="p2">Yeah, pretty tight. And do you like how my tenor sax case seems to just magically float amidst the rest of the gear? </p>
<p class="p2">The five of us then drove three hours to Grand Rapids, MI with instruments and cases between our legs and on our laps. One nice thing about being tall is that whoever I’m with, I almost always get offered the passenger seat. Plus, it’s fun to look back and see three adult guys sitting in the back seat. Makes me happy for some reason.</p>
<p class="p2">We arrived in Beer City, USA (shhh! Don’t tell that to Milwaukee!) at the most well known microbrewery in Michigan, Founders Brewing Co. After a set up and great meal we played a great set for a pretty big crowd. This concert was extra special for me, as my family is from Michigan, and so my mom, dad, brother, wife, and two sister-in-laws were all there. Definitely a good time!</p>
<p class="p2">Tonight I’m in Holland, MI (a very short drive from Grand Rapids) where my wife and I met in undergrad at Hope College. After a brief nostalgic drive through the city, I’m now headed to a rehearsal with the rock band, Grooters & Beal, with whom I’ll be performing Saturday and Sunday night. We’ll be doing a Christmas Rock Vespers concert. And so you know I’m not lying, here’s a pic I just took from the road.</p>
<p class="p2">Oh yeah, billboard action!<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/bb648ba392a333c2f8cc97844f2c5a82f3e2f8c2/medium/photo-2.jpg?1417824412" class="size_m justify_center border_" /></p>
<p class="p2">So who would have guessed that my most happenin’ weekend since moving to Chicago would be in little ol’ West Michigan right around where I grew up! <br><br>Until next time, <br><br>Derek<br><br> </p>
<div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/d2bb4a35bc8a96641eb871ec3bf73a65851280de/medium/photo.jpg?1417904631" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">Here's the Rock Vespers stage I'll be playing on. Pretty dramatic, huh?</p></div>Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33554462014-12-03T09:48:54-06:002022-05-26T08:51:44-05:00Running into peopleAs I've been here in Chicago now about 2.5 months, (seems like WAY longer!), it's kind of fun to look back once and awhile.<br><br>While I still force myself to go out and jam most nights, I'm now usually visiting the same clubs. I'll still make it a point to occasionally hit up a new jam session once and a while, but I'm getting to the point where I'm fairly sure I'll at least know a musician or two at each place I go. Yeah, Chicago is huge. And yeah, I'm only hitting a very small part of the music scene (that being the jazz, funk, and some of the hip hop scenes), but it's still fun to realize that I actually run into people I know at these jams. The big city has become a little less big.<br><br>Since the beginning (a whole 2.5 months ago, remember), I'll admit I've had quite a few intimidating moments. These ranged from my first time at the Green Mill jam, my first "All Pro" session at the Wonderbar, my first solo sax open mic performance at the Uncommon Ground, to my first time street performing in Lincoln Square (without a pass!). <br><br>Each of these firsts involved not knowing anyone, and having no idea what might happen. Well, I guess I knew that good music would probably happen, and that seems to be enough. And as has been a repeating theme in my blog so far, the more I've done each of these things, the exponentially easier it has been to keep doing them. <br><br>So like I said, it's been fun running into people at various places across the city. But a new one of these actually occurred last night. <br><br>I was finishing practicing in my apartment when I, once again, forgot about dinner. I shoved down a few random leftovers (You gotta love Thanksgiving and the week of leftovers it provides!) and raced out of the door to make it to a friend's performance at Jerry's Sandwich's in Wicker Park (and to the @North Bar jam after that). As I was nearing the red line, someone stopped me and said "Hey, don't you recognize me?" It was Rachel, my wife!<br><br>She and I have done a lot of fun stuff in the city so far, so it's not that we're apart a ton that I didn't recognize her. It's just that last night we were doing two different events and walking in opposite directions. Plus, I have long legs and like to walk fast, especially in the cold. It was also funny because when I did the little double take in recognizing her, it looked like she had been crying. Nope, just the Windy City doing it's ice cold windy number on the eyes! We chatted briefly about our evenings, and I told her I'd see her late (another common theme of these blogs!).<br><br>So of my list of random people I've run into on the streets of Chicago - from musicians and friends, to Rev. Jesse Jackson (seriously!), to a random movie filming crew - I can now add my favorite one...<br><br>...my wife.<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33323202014-11-29T16:09:26-06:002022-05-04T06:27:23-05:00"Smile"Viewer discretion is advised. (Well, not really, unless you have issues with horn players and their saliva!).<br><br>As many of you know, I've started a YouTube channel called "BEATBoX SAX" (you can visit it <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/user/beatboxsax" target="_blank">here</a>) where I've begun to post music videos and tutorials featuring me using various percussive effects and techniques while playing the sax. It's been a lot of fun hearing feedback from friends and complete strangers from all over. I've also been getting a lot of questions from sax players asking how I practice this stuff and how long it takes to learn (hence the weekly "Tutorial Tuesdays" I've started).<br><br>Today in this blog however, I want to mention one aspect of my practicing that isn't so glamorous to talk about: spit.<br><br>Yeah, that's right. I play a wind instrument, and that involves a lot of air (and yes, sometimes a bit of moisture from my mouth) flying through the horn. Saxophonists aren't known for their saliva as much as trumpet and trombone players, but as one could maybe imagine, my beatbox style sometimes might involve a bit more than normal.<br><br>One quick note, however, is that a lot of the moisture in the horn is actually condensation from the warm air passing through a colder instrument. In fact, a past student of mine mentioned being at a master class where the tuba teacher actually flicked the moisture from his spit valve on the audience! Now, it may be just me, but that seems a bit extreme! Yeah, it might be mostly condensation, but hey, it's probably called a "spit valve" for a reason!<br><br>So since some of my various techniques and more experimental ways of playing might involve more of this moisture, I've come up with a simple solution for keeping my practice room... uh... more dry.<br><br>Let's call it Derek Brown's patented "Practice Room Protector."<br><br>But ok, maybe it's not patented. And maybe it's actually just the back of a Cheerios box I put around the neck of my horn. And it probably looks a bit ridiculous when I practice with it. But hey, it works for me. <br><br>And as you can see in the picture below, the one-word message it contains isn't the worst thing I could be staring at for hours.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/8052d6f0cc9ef71885ee8db9c059724143705a77/medium/img-6807.jpg?1417023049" class="size_m justify_center border_" />Until next time,<br><br>DerekDerek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33139792014-11-21T11:22:15-06:002023-12-10T10:59:40-06:00Oh yeah, LISTENING to great music is fun!Uh oh... I haven't performed somewhere since Monday!!! Am I losing my boldness to perform in Chicago as much as possible? Am I running out of energy? Am I getting lazy? Am I longing for a more regular sleeping schedule?<br><br>Well, this last one might be somewhat true, but that's not why I haven't played out in a few days. The real reason is the other side of being a freelance musician, supporting my fellow artists. Just like in so many other fields, no one can do this thing alone. It doesn't matter how amazing someone is on their instrument, if they don't get along well with others, and if they don't share and support others, it's highly unlikely anyone's going to want to support them. <br><br>Plus, so much of music is collaborative by nature. Most musicians play in a band or group of some sort, and that's one of the things, I think, that makes music so great: working together for the common goal of creating the best music possible in that moment. Also, in a huge city like Chicago, it's impossible to have any kind of visibility without spreading the word a little, albeit on Facebook or Twitter or through word of mouth. No one I know really loves self-promotion, but we all have to do it if we actually want to reach people with our music. And after all, isn't music supposed to be about communication, from the artist to the listeners. Pretty tough to communicate if no one's there to listen. (Hmmm...If a musician plays in a forest, and no one is there to hear it...)<br><br>So that leads me back to these last few days, where I've worked a little on being on the listening side a bit more. And let me tell you, it's actually been a bit strange walking through the "El" turnstiles WITHOUT my tenor sax. Each time I do it, I have to ask in my mind, <em>Am I forgetting something?</em><br><br>Wednesday night I took the red line and bus (pretty typical for me now) to this really swanky place called The Bedford. Check this pic out:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/e959e095b86776613b08df682b53573ba0d6ab0c/original/the-bedford.jpg?1416589123" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Yup, this club is in an old bank. The band (amazing tenor sax player Dustin Lorenzi's group) was playing inside of this actual vault! And the walls were all golden safety deposit boxes. Pretty hip, to say the least.<br><br>Thursday, my wife and I made it a date and walked two blocks again to the historic Green Mill (which I've blogged about before). I recently met another tenor player Dan Meinhardt who plays regularly with the Alan Gresik Swing Shift Orchestra on Thursdays. This was my first time hearing a classic Big Band in Chicago, and these guys do it right! They have singers, dancing, and they're actually recording each Thursday for a live internet radio show, complete with old-fashioned commercials and commentaries (not to mention it's taking place in arguably the oldest active jazz club in the country). Another friend Barclay Moffitt was sitting in on tenor, and so it was great seeing him as well.<br><br>And finally, tonight I'll be heading to The Constellation to listen to new friend and trumpet player James Davis's CD release concert. Definitely looking forward to i!<br><br>And the coolest thing about this whole "supporting" business? Well, there's actually two. Firstly, the more I get out and hear these bands, the more cool people I meet, and the more fun I have around them. And secondly, this doesn't really have to be about networking or support or "business," it's just going out and listening to great music!<br><br>It's fun!<br><br>I hope you get the chance to support live music somewhere soon, and have fun!<br><br>P.S. In case you haven't seen it yet, I've released my second BEATBoX SAX music video on Youtube. It's a bit different from the first, as it's an 80s cover tune. If you didn't know already, I definitely have a guilty pleasure of 80s music (shhh...don't tell any other jazz musicians!) Here's the <a contents="link." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18qDNG59i_c" target="_blank">link.</a> And speaking of supporting artists, if you like the video, I'd definitely appreciate your sharing it with others. Thanks, and enjoy!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/33006412014-11-18T12:54:48-06:002023-12-10T11:16:47-06:00Tutorial TuesdayI just launched my second (of many) YouTube tutorial videos on how to play sax in the beatbox style. This week I'm going over one of the most important, and actually one of the easier, techniques for playing in this way: the backbeat "Pops." Check it out <a contents="here." data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyarjh3THXU" target="_blank">here.</a> <br><br>And in the meantime, I just joined Twitter (Derek Brown @Derekbrownsax), so if you're in to that thing (not sure if I am or not, we'll have to see!) let's connect there. <br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32965942014-11-17T16:06:08-06:002022-05-12T00:45:27-05:00Three Jazz Shows In One Night? Almost...Visiting 3 jazz clubs in one night is not a typical thing for me. Yes, I've been hitting things pretty hard since moving to Chicago two months ago, trying to play somewhere at least 4 nights per week. But usually visiting one place per evening is enough. That is, until I get offers from other musicians. Because if you haven't realized this yet about me, if someone new offers me a chance to play somewhere, I'm gonna go for it. As kids (and some adults) say these days: YOLO (You only live once).<br><br>So last night I made plans to revisit the jazz jam session at Moe's Tavern, to say hello again to the great musicians I've met there in the past couple of months. Also, an old colleague of mine from Abilene, TX was in town visiting and wanted to hear me play.<br><br>But then an <em>amazing</em> sax player in town, Rajiv Halim, invited me to come out to a jam at Norman's Bistro on the south side from 9-midnight. Ok, cool. The jam at Moe's starts at 7pm, so I can definitely make the next jam a little after 9pm. And then hey, I'll be home before 12:30! <br><br>But then as I'm driving to Moe's I remember that a past colleague from my grad school days in Cincinnati, Mai Sugimoto (another killer saxophonist), had invited me to the Hungry Brain to hear her group, which might go pretty late (hopefully to 2AM?). So hey, what the heck. Let's do it all!<br><br>So the jam at Moe's was great (only got to play on one song, but Gustavo Cortinas's group sounded terrific!), and then meeting my old friend Sam and hearing and sitting in with Rajiv was awesome. I then raced to the Hungry Brain, but alas, not everything can be perfect: Mai's group was packing up their gear as I walked in the doors. However, the happy ending was that I still got to chat with Mai for the first time in over 6 years. Oh, and I have to mention that in the middle of this, my cell phone (AKA road navigator) died and I had to do a little extra driving aimlessly around to find a couple of these places. But I'm still here!<br><br>So I guess the moral of this story could be: not everything works out, but if you keep doing stuff, good stuff will be included.<br><br>Yeah, you can quote that gem!<br><br>P.S. About 40,000 views of my YouTube video (http://youtu.be/8LEuTnykXp4) within one week! I'm blown away by all of the support from you all. Thanks so much! And be on the lookout tomorrow for my next "Tuesday Tutorial" video. Take care!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32881172014-11-14T16:56:54-06:002014-11-14T16:56:54-06:00Whirlwind!!Been a busy few days in the (cold) Wind City! In case any of you have been wondering, here's what I've been up to:<br><br>Monday: I went to The Gala, a one-of-a-kind open mic/party that features anything from slam poetry, to freestyle rap, to break dancing, to singer/songwriters, to visual artists, to beatbox saxophone-ing (???). Well, sadly the last item in this list didn't actually happen. But you can't say I didn't try! I brought my horn and tried to arrive early to sign up, but by the time doors opened, I was already a few names down on the wait list. Bummer. But hey, this was a pretty cool, unique spot with amazing diversity and good vibes. They even have an extra late jam session at a different "super secret location" (that's their words, not mine). At the end, the MC puts the address into a rap/chant so every can remember and meet them there. Kinda reminds me of a secret society in a Dan Brown book... but way more musical and fun! (though yes, I have to admit I have a guilty pleasure of Dan Brown books. I know, you can hate me, but it's true)<br><br>Tuesday: Daytime: Released my BEATBoX SAX video! (see above or click <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://youtu.be/8LEuTnykXp4" target="_blank">here</a>) This was a lot of fun to make, and has been really fun hearing people's reactions. It's also been really cool to meet new people online that somehow came across the video. Thanks a TON to all of you who shared the link and/or commented and whatnot. As you probably know, we musicians can NOT do any of this without support from our fans. So I REALLY appreciate your support! (Ok, now enough with the random capitalized words for emphasis. Maybe...)<br><br>Nighttime: Jammed at @North "Space Jam" jam. (Did you get that? If you're counting, that was 3 "jam" words and 2 "at" words in one sentence. Oh yeah.)<br><br>Wednesday: Daytime: Taught private lessons in Wheaton, IL at Jerry Evan's School of Music. This has been a great way to stay connected with my music instructor side (In case you didn't know, I was a jazz instructor at Abilene Christian University for 6 years before this). Plus, an actual paycheck once in a while does wonders for the soul!<br><br>Nighttime: Last minute (meaning after 11:30pm) headed back to the @North Bar for "Sliced Beetz" with DJ/MC Marcos Rivera. I've been looking around Chicago lately for various Hip Hop musicians/turntablists/beatboxers lately to see about possible collaborations with my own sax style. I'll keep you posted on how this pans out, of course.<br><br>Thursday: Just about to head off to another "super secret location" for a "super secret" event. But actually, in all seriousness, I really can't tell you what this is. Sorry. At least not right now. Don't worry, it's legal, and if I can tell more in a future post, I definitely will.<br><br>So there you have it. Been a great week so far. Thanks again for helping to make it great with your sharing of my video and whatnot.<br><br>Also, be on the lookout for my next video release this coming Tuesday. It'll be a bit different, but I think you'll dig it!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32765222014-11-11T08:48:07-06:002022-02-07T11:33:05-06:00New official "BEATBoX SAX" videos!Hey Everybody,<br><br>Big news from me today. I'm finally releasing the first of my BEATBoX SAX videos, that I recorded with David Youngman in an old flour mill in Hillsdale, Michigan a few weeks ago. Check it out and let me know what you think! (Click <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LEuTnykXp4" target="_blank">here</a> to see it on YouTube)<br><br>I'm also simultaneously launching my BEATBoX SAX tutorial series on YouTube, that I'm calling "Tutorial Tuesdays." (click <a contents="here" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s3WfGenafo" target="_blank">here</a> for the first one.) For anyone interested in learning more about how I produce some of these percussive/beatbox sounds, I'll be focusing on a different technique each Tuesday. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to my YouTube page BEATBoX SAX if you'd like to keep up to date with these.<br><br>And finally, if you like this first video, stick around as I'll be releasing a second music video on Tuesday, Nov 18th, featuring a beatbox arrangement of one of my favorite pop tunes. And if you like this stuff, I'd really appreciate it if you help spread the word. Thanks!Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32741622014-11-09T21:35:48-06:002022-05-24T06:08:36-05:00Sunday morning gig<span class="font_regular">I had my first Sunday morning gig today! With my dad being a retired pastor, you might think I'm talking about performing at a church. However, I was finishing this particular gig probably as the earliest of church musicians were probably waking up. So, I guess I'll have to admit, no, this was not a church gig.<br><br>Sorry, Dad...<br><br>But hey, he'll be happy to know that it was a great night, with not just one gig, but two. And I've had some great, music-filled nights here in Chicago. But for the amount of fun music played in one night, this one takes the cake.<br><br>I started the night in Humboldt Park at a glass blowing open house (of all places!). Fellow Chicago saxophonist Tim Koelling and his jazz fusion trio <em>Pink Monkey </em>invited me out to their 8-midnight gig to jam with them. I have to admit, knowing that I also had a 1:30-4:30AM that same night (morning?), I was a little hesitant to go.<br><br>But after the fact, like so many times recently, I was so glad I did. It was really great playing a mix of jazz standards, random cover songs, and originals with this group of awesome musicians. Definitely looking forward to jamming with them again!<br><br>And at the Wonderbar playing with Low Spark, we had some EPIC jamming, particularly around the 3:30AM point. We had some new musicians sit in with us, and I got to make things a little weird with some of my effects pedals. Plus, I think playing this long and late allowed us the freedom to really cut loose and experiment. Good, creative stuff. And holy cow, who are all these people listening?! I don't know why they are up so late (unless they are other musicians), but I love them!<br><br><span style="font-size: 11.8181819915771px;">And here's the amazing thing about the night: as it went on, from 8PM all the way to 4:30AM, I think I yawned maybe once, and this was in the car in between places. I definitely did not predict the positive energy I'd get throughout the night.<br><br>So actually, I think I CAN understand the people at these clubs that are up so late. Once you're at a good place and you're in the zone, whatever that zone might look like to you, it doesn't matter how late it is. Motivation/passion/creative-energy is way more powerful than sleep. As Low Spark bandmate Ben Kolber reminded me last night, "You can sleep when you're dead."<br><br>(Though I have to admit, tonight I'm looking forward to a full 8 hours!)<br><br>Until next time,<br><br>Derek<br><br>P.S. I'm really excited to release my music video "Catch'em Up" on my Beatbox Sax Youtube channel in the next 24-48 hours. Be sure to keep an eye out for it!</span><br><br><span style="font-size: 11.8181819915771px;"> </span></span>Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32706392014-11-06T21:40:41-06:002022-05-27T07:13:40-05:00"I feel great! I feel terrible. I feel great!"This may be a musician thing. Or it might be a Derek thing. Maybe it's the stress of being a performer or of having perfectionist leanings, or maybe it's just my mind's chemical makeup. But whatever it is, I can have some pretty extreme mood swings. And sometimes it seems like it's every other day.<br><br>For instance a few days ago, I was in a pretty bad mood because I had to mail back my new laptop computer, and I had already thrown out the box. (Doh!) I also couldn't seem to find enough time during the day to practice like I wanted. <br><br>But then...<br><br>Two days ago I was feeling great. I had played some nice gigs with Low Spark, I had just met some really nice musicians at the Moe's Tavern jazz jam, and I had almost finished editing my music video. 'This whole freelance musician thing is awesome!'<br><br>But then...<br><br>Yesterday, after spending most of the day trying to get my webcam working properly, and spending about 3 hours in Chicago traffic to teach one private lesson, 'What am I doing here? Life stinks.' <br><br>But then...<br><br>Last night I had another gig with Low Spark, and I felt good about my playing. Life is good again!<br><br>But then...<br><br>This morning, I was back again failing miserably with my webcam and trying to start up some self-employment bookkeeping Excel files (yuck!). I could feel the negative pull slowly coming back. <br><br>But then...(last one, I promise!)<br><br>I took a break, picked up my sax, and headed for the practice room. A couple hours later, and I'm back to feeling great. <br><br>This last one was a biggie. Why? Well, I think it's because looking back at the recent ups and downs, most of the events that led to my major mood swings were beyond my control, or at least contained elements beyond my control. And this seems to be pretty normal. A good thing <em>happens</em>, I feel good. A bad thing <em>happens,</em> I feel bad. Yet this last thing, my decision to practice, didn't <em>happen. </em>I <em>did </em>it. It was a conscious decision on my part to break a cycle and move on. And it worked!<br><br>Now I'm not patting myself on the back just yet, because even though I know I'm capable of doing things like this more often, I usually don't. But why not? And why can't I just look beyond my short term problems and know that when things fall down, they almost always bounce back up? And usually the very next day!<br><br>I know I'll always have these ups and downs in my future, but maybe writing this post will help remind me of this: I can't control everything, but I can play the saxophone.<br><br>P.S. Happy 200th Birthday Adolphe Sax! (and yes, this inventor's last name was actually "Sax." I wish that was MY last name!)Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32638962014-11-03T16:41:40-06:002022-05-27T02:57:59-05:00The Better the Musician...I've mentioned this briefly before, but I'll say it again: There are a lot of really friendly musicians here in Chicago. Now I know this is true in a lot of places (Abilene, Texas comes to mind), but I've just been really pleasantly surprised time and time again in my several weeks here.<br><br>For some reason I've always had a mentality that the better the musician, the bigger the jerk they are. This can certainly be true, as certain famous musicians (Classical, Jazz, and Pop musicians all included) are often known for being very difficult to work with. We've all heard about these crazy demands that some artists make like "must be picked up from the airport in a white limousine set at precisely 72.5 degrees." Yikes! <br><br>On one hand, I can kind of understand this. After all, they've "paid their dues" for decades and have seen and done about everything. I get it. Their time is precious. They definitely deserve respect. <br><br>But so do the rest of us.<br><br>Just because the musicians at the very top have put in so many hours practicing and gigging doesn't mean others haven't. I've said many times that it's amazing how many mind-blowing saxophonists there are playing in the tiny corner of tiny bars in cities across the world, and here's the kicker: NO ONE KNOWS WHO THEY ARE. I don't say this to put them down, but actually the opposite. Maybe <em>these </em>are the musicians that deserve the most respect of all, because they're willing to make amazing music night after night without any of the appreciation or visibility of those that are famous.<br><br>I was at a jazz jam last night at Moe's Tavern and there were a lot of great musicians. But the biggest impression that was left on me while riding the "L" home afterwards, was how nice and welcoming everyone was. Even if I didn't have the greatest improv solo ever, they still told me they enjoyed my playing and that they looked forward to seeing me around. <br><br>Yes, music has a very important business side to it. And there will always be some competition between musicians anywhere. Sometimes this is healthy, and sometimes not so much. But at most of these jam sessions I've frequented, it's been way more about friends having fun making music together than about individuals showing off to see who's the top dog. And it's the former that will make the music grow and be more inviting and inclusive.<br><br>I heard one local musician recently say "It sometimes seems like here in Chicago, the better the musician, the nicer they are." If that's true (and so far, it seems to be holding up), then this really is a special place.<br><br>So why are the Chicago musicians I've met so nice? Maybe it's because the jazz or funk scene isn't the biggest scene right now, and we have to support each other to help keep it growing. Maybe they just want me to keep coming to their jams so that there's another paying customer in the club. Maybe I'm just catching them on their good days.<br><br>Or maybe they're just nice.<br><br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32611132014-10-31T19:17:17-05:002022-05-11T07:22:47-05:00Fun.After a 3-strikes-you're-out kind of night on Wednesday, last night (Thurs) was a homerun. Wednesday involved me taking the train and bus to a club to specifically try and sit in with a DJ/turntablist that I recently heard about that likes to collaborate with other musicians. I got to the club around 10pm and he was there...but his turntable was not.<br><br>Turns it he borrows the club's, but they had lent it out to someone else. I didn't get upset, though, because he wasn't upset, and plus the club owner is a really nice guy. And musicians around here, I'm learning, are mostly very chill. Plus, I talked with the two of them for a good deal and made plans to be there sometime soon again and jam.<br><br>So that was only one misfire. And come on, it's only 11pm now. The night is young! (Cant' believe I'm saying that, but it's pretty true for a musician here!). So I remember that another music club is nearby that's looking for something new on Wed nights. I walk over there to see if they've figured things out yet and...<br><br>Strike two. No music yet. Without getting too depressing (because it really wasn't), I'll quickly add that strike 3 was stopping by the Green Mill a little after midnight only to find that a sax player that regularly plays there late on Wednesdays had cancelled as well.<br><br>That just meant I went home and did some extra editing on my upcoming music videos, which was needed anyways. So not a great live music night for me, but that was to come the next day.<br><br>Thursday was another another Chicago first for me: my first time here getting paid a little something by the club itself, not just tips. (Hey, I'm moving up in the world!)<br><br>The incredible fusion group Low Spark (with whom I've been jamming regularly at the Wonderbar on Monday nights) asked me to perform with them at a really cool club called Martyrs'. We shared the night with two other bands: the Lowdown Brass Band and Andy Frasco. After sound checking and changing into our costumes (it was the day before Halloween, after all), we played for 50 minutes and had a lot of fun. Here's a pic of us in our stylin' 70's outfits:<br> <div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/f2cc3acfef70e54aa95fe1f03e8c846f249b0d5c/original/photo-1.jpg?1414800441" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">Yes, those pants are real!</p></div><br><br>And from there, the energy just kept going up. The Lowdown Brass Band, wearing typical musician Halloween costumes (AKA wigs), played a really cool mix of New Orleans "Second Line", Reggae, Hip-Hop, and Funk.<br><br>The last group to play was Andy Frasco and his band. My best way to describe Andy would be a piano-playing cross between James Brown and John Belushi. And seriously, this guy and his band were off the wall, playing everything from blues and boogie-woogie to Rage Against the Machine (Yeah, they actually did that). I don't know if I've ever seen such a unique mix of personalities and such care-free energy on stage. Really inspiring in a crazy/goofy kind of way. But the more I think about it, I don't think I need to add the descriptor "crazy/goof kind of way." Plain and simple, they were really inspiring.<br> <div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/ed895bab8bf94b2c5145f2f3483e3d9d0e0b689f/original/photo-4.jpg?1414800967" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">Andy is the blue, blurry one. He's blurry because he's dancing like crazy!</p></div><br><br>So hats-off to Low Spark for being awesome and continuing to let me play with them (including at a Halloween party tonight!), to the Lowdown Brass Band for keeping saxophones and brass instruments relevant in today's music scene, and to Andy Frasco and his band for being so...<br><br>for lack of a better word...<br><br>fun.Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32551672014-10-28T18:31:52-05:002021-06-25T06:19:00-05:00The Ever-Changing Chicago Music SceneJust missed it - just made it. That's been my story with a couple of jam sessions here in Chicago. A few weeks ago I had heard some great things about a jazz/rock fusion jam at a club called LoKal (which is SO much cooler than spelling it Local or Locale). I showed up two Wednesdays ago, and I noticed two things. <br><br>First of all, the place is pretty small for a venue known for its live music. It's funny, as this is a theme I've noticed a lot lately where lots of clubs' photos on their website make the place look a lot bigger than real life. Or maybe it's just me projecting what I hope a place will be like. <br><br>Secondly, I didn't hear any music! There were some other musicians that appeared a bit lost as well, but nobody was setting up gear or jamming. After asking around I found out they had just canceled the Wed night jams indefinitely due maybe to someone that lived above or next door complaining about the noise. Ah, the eternal live music conflict of volume levels! Darn. So over the next half hour or so, all I heard was how <em>great </em>the jam was and how <em>sad</em> it was that I missed it by a week.<br><br>Fast forward to last night and I took the "L" down to a place called The Tonic Room for their weekly (or so I thought) fusion jam session. The house band there was really great, and I was feeling really good that I had discovered a cool new future "hang." That is until the drummer Robert Dicke announced that this was their very last jam session here. Darn again! But hey, at least I caught the tail end of this thing. And I'm especially glad I didn't show up to nothing next week.<br><br>I jammed on a few tunes and met some new musicians. Overall, a very fun night, and very glad I came. It's just too bad some of these sessions can't survive. However, I'm guessing new jams will slowly pop up around the city to make up for it.<br><br>I guess Chicago's music scene is like anything else: some things go out of fashion, some go into fashion, some things die, some things are born, the circle of life, Hakuna Ma... Sorry.<br><br>But just know that when new jam sessions are born here in the city (especially the funky ones), I'll be there.<br> <div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/3a80133c7fdc6a4644d5a5d4affcd8187f5b9238/original/tonic-room.jpg?1414536753" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">RIP Monday night Tonic Room jam session.</p></div>Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32529462014-10-27T16:32:24-05:002022-05-27T02:56:55-05:00Lights, Cameras, Action! (Lame title, I know)This past weekend I crossed two state lines to make a couple of music videos. (Okay, going from Chicago to southern Michigan isn't too crazy a drive, but I like the sound of my first sentence!). Since moving to Chicago over a month ago, I've decided to film a couple of music videos that showcase my own "beatbox saxophone" style. I've been developing this fun solo way of playing my horn over the last 8 or so years and figured now would be the time to record some of it. I also plan to launch a weekly youtube tutorial series on how I create most of these sounds, but that's getting ahead of myself.<br><br>So anyways, I had been speaking over the phone with a good friend and music collaborator of mine David Youngman. If you don't know him, he's an amazing fingerstyle guitarist (check out his website here: http://www.davidyoungmanmusic.com/) with whom I've done a good deal of touring in our jazz/bluegrass hybrid group <em>Afterthought </em> and our more experimental <i>The Duo Project</i>. We talked about my coming over to his hometown in Hillsdale, MI sometime to do a video or two. He's got quite a bit of audio and video equipment accumulated over the years and has a really good ear and eye for things. <br><br>The most exciting thing of our filming was the location. David got ahold of a guy in town that owns a huge old flour mill and warehouse that we could use for a day. Check it out below:<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/032101d0b69548f93eb2a9fe7c295b6acbcaf37b/original/photo-1.jpg?1414444235" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><br>Pretty atmospheric, huh?<br><br>So Sunday afternoon we brought all of our gear into this massive building, got the lights and recording gear set up, discussed our plan for filming, and then action! By the end of the evening, we had 2 songs completed. To people who haven't done this kind of thing before, that might not seem like much. But you'd be surprised how long these things can take, especially when you want the sound quality, the lighting, the camera angles, and etc just right. And plus, there's always lots of experimenting going on (as well as exploring!).<br><br>So how did these videos turn out? You and I both will have to find out, as I just got back to Chicago and can start to begin the even longer process of editing the gigabytes and gigabytes of data we recorded. The good news is that the audio was all done in single takes, as I wanted to preserve the authenticity of my solo style without any overdubs or effects. The video: now that's another story, but expect some fun and interesting camera work.<br><br>So I think the weekend was a real success, but you the listeners will have to be the judges when it comes out. And when will that be? As you've hopefully come to expect from me here on this blog...<br><br>I'll keep you posted.<br><br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/ba93fa21e381e24d43110945793dd863c453d748/original/photo-2.jpg?1414444239" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32484922014-10-24T10:08:25-05:002022-03-19T02:35:07-05:00Thank you, Yellowjackets.As a freelance musician, other than playing out as much as I can, it's also really important to hear other bands as well. One obvious reason is for support. I come to your show, maybe you can come to mine. Another important reason is for inspiration.<br><br>Last night was definitely for the latter.<br><br>My wife and I visited the Jazz Showcase. This club, while maybe not having as legendary a history as the Al Capone-frequented Green Mill, is definitely one of the top clubs in Chicago. And without question, the Showcase definitely gets the biggest jazz performers that pass through Chicago.<br><br>Playing last night (and this whole weekend) is the popular jazz fusion group, The Yellowjackets. This group, while changing some members here and there, has been together for 34 years. That's almost 3 and a half times longer than the Beatles were together!<br><br>So as you can imagine, the Yellowjackets definitely don't need my support. But wow, are they inspiring! From blistering fast improvisations to swelling ballads, they played it all. Saxophonist Bob Mintzer even pulled out the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) from time to time, for some 80's sounding synth effects. And for those of you who don't know, my guilty pleasure is 80's music!<br><br>Even though the performance was a bit pricey for the two of us, it was definitely worth it. I'm already itching to work on some new ideas on my horn, inspired from last night. And it helps remind me of how original and wonderful jazz and music in general can be. <br><br>And speaking of that, I need to get practicing here this morning. But just remember, it may and probably will cost more than you'd like, but don't forget to be inspired from time to time. <br><br>Because as I was getting at in my last blog, maybe food really isn't the sustainer of life. Maybe it's inspiration that really keeps us going.<br><br>Just don't tell your dietician I said that...<br> <div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/0aa1bc41b0e6f2b5c2f81c06d859fa3edc622fb8/medium/yellowjackets-jazz-showcase.jpg?1414162179" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">YellowJackets @ the Jazz Showcase, with the great Charlie Parker watching over.</p></div>Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32446442014-10-22T22:35:48-05:002021-08-25T00:44:51-05:00Oh yeah...Food!The short of it is, yesterday I ate a bowl of cereal and bowl of Easy Mac & Cheese. Yep, that was it. (I know Mom, NOT the diet of champions.) I also woke up at 12:30 in the afternoon. But hey, let me explain.<br><br>Monday night was a very busy day, with two local theater auditions (maybe I'll explain this in a future post), and two jam sessions. The last one ended around 3:30am, which meant I didn't get home until 4:30am when you factor in a couple of delays on the Red Line "L". Therefore, waking up at 12:30 the next day (well, technically the same day), means I got my recommended 8 hours of sleep, thank you very much! I probably could have slept longer, except for the fact that I had a reminder alarm go off at that time for an appointment at 1pm.<br><br>That being said, I took a quick shower, scarfed down a bowl of cereal (definitely my food of choice), and biked off to my appointment. Upon my return to the apartment a couple hours later, I immediately went into my practice room for my daily saxophone workout.<br><br>A few hours later the Mac & Cheese was quickly consumed right before my wife and I headed off to a theater downtown with some free tickets. After the show I rode the bus to a new jam session I hadn't been to (the club is called<em> @North Bar</em>) and stayed until after 1am.<br><br>The funny thing is I never really thought about my lack of nutrition, or even basic foodstuff that day, until I was walking home from the Red Line at 2:20am. My stomach was cramping up, and by the second block I realized, <em>You know? I don't think I ate too much today. Hmm.</em><br><br>My wife thinks I'm crazy that there have been days where I'll practice right through lunch and not even remember to eat. I don't know. Maybe <em>music</em> is my food! (Ha ha, lame!)<br><br>Though to all of you concerned about my eating habits as of late (I'm talking to you, Mom), don't worry. I did end up eating a third meal yesterday: cereal.<br><br>...at 2:30am.Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32403792014-10-20T09:02:43-05:002022-04-13T12:32:04-05:00What Is This Thing Called "Sun"?Take a look at this picture and tell me what's strange about it (in a jazz context):<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/18b37469ffbe19a5e6f2a459947db2f7e5f5cf7d/original/nitecap.jpg?1413778779" class="size_l justify_center border_" height="277" style="width: 393px;" />This is me playing yesterday at a jam session at Nitecap Coffee Bar with guitarist Jarvis Raymond's trio. (No, that's not the strange part!)<br><br>But how about that bright white light through the windows behind us? What is that? Is that the glow of a large white neon sign? Nope. What about a host of angels listening in on our jam? No, but that'd be pretty cool! So what is it?<br><br>I know you'd never guess, and you won't believe it, but it's actual sunlight!<br><br>So yes, this gig was actually at 2pm (Note: that's PM, not AM). To a jazz listener in a big city, that should be a bit mind boggling. But to me, who is still learning to stay up beyond midnight most nights, this is pretty darn right refreshing.<br><br>And yes, it was a Sunday, so it makes sense that the public might not be willing to stay up as late before a Monday. But then again, the Wonderbar jams I frequent are from 10pm-1am, and then 1:30-4am. And that's a Monday!<br><br>So I'm grateful to Nitecap for being bold enough to think that instrumental jazz might be tolerable in the early afternoon on some days. Though you know what? I can't confirm these 100%, as I've never been to one myself, but I've actually heard rumors that there are in existence a thing called jazz brunches... with live jazz groups. <br><br>What is this world coming to?!<br><br><br>(...but sign me up!)<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32380862014-10-17T17:27:56-05:002022-02-10T06:54:32-06:005 out of 6 ain't bad!Continuing to heed the advice I received to "get out there and keep showin' up", I've got a new record so far this week. I've gone out or played in a musical event 5 out of the last 6 nights. <br><br>Sunday - played a jam session at Moe's Tavern (see post below).<br>Monday - played the funk jam at the Wonderbar.<br>Tuesday - no music event (though my wife and I did go to a free movie screening)<br>Wednesday - attended fellow University of Cincinnati alum Paula Douglas's vocal jazz show and sat in on a few tunes (see picture below, if you need proof)<br>Thursday - hung out at The Whistler and heard he Heavyweight Dub (a cool "dub reggae" band with a couple of musicians I've recently met)<br>Friday (tonight) - going to an opening at the Zhou B Art Center on the south side to sit in with guitarist/DJ Geoff King Luk.<br><br>A quick side note. I'm not trying in anyway to show off about how busy I am (especially when you consider how much money I made at these events, which is a big fat $0). I'm doing this for two reasons: 1. This blog is basically an online journal where I can look back and see how far (or little) I've come. Actually typing these things out helps me to process how well I'm sticking to my goal of living adventurously here in Chicago. 2. Some friends/family/musicians might be interested in what I'm up to, and how I'm attempting to "make it" as a freelance musician in Chicago.<br><br>And the coolest thing about point 2 is that these readers then inspire me to go out and take risks even more! As I've said before, if I'm just sitting around night after night, I know that people will have no interest in this blog. And also, if I do take a risk that backfires, hey, it'll just make a better story! So a big thank you, readers. <br><br>As far as making a living doing all this, obviously I have a LONG way to go. But I'm definitely noticing how much more comfortable (or at least less scared!) I feel getting around Chicago, meeting and hanging out with musicians, and sitting in on jam sessions. And to me, this is a big deal. If I'm not comfortable doing any of this, maybe I need to rethink what I want to be doing in life. <br><br>But don't worry, I haven't gotten so comfortable as to pick up all of the stereotypical vices of a freelance musician<br><br>...yet.<br> <div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/42c3bcea6cdeadcdbd5bdee68cda38d26b156fb9/medium/img-6668.jpg?1413585001" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">Jamming on 'Route 66' with singer Paula Douglas.</p></div>Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32320652014-10-14T14:30:22-05:002022-05-11T03:10:06-05:00"Good Job!" versus "Nice Arpeggios!"In my brief time so far here in Chicago, I've noticed something about compliments. As performers we all love getting compliments, and it's fun to give them as well. Things like "Awesome playing, Man!" or "Killer solo, Dude!" are always great to receive. And honestly as performers, I think we need to hear this kind of stuff to keep us going. It's not that we all have huge egos and have to be reminded of how we're God's gift to human kind. However, if music really is a type of language or communication, we need to know if we're actually reaching people. It's not just about us; it's a connection between musician and audience.<br><br>But of course, we all basically know this. So going further, I've learned more recently that the more specific a compliment is, the more meaningful it tends to be. It's true. Anybody can say "Great job!" after anybody's performance, and usually almost everybody does, good or bad. And yeah, sometimes even if I know I didn't do that great, it does actually help hearing someone give generic compliments like this. <br><br>But if someone points out something specific that they liked about my playing, that means they were really listening, and that they're really being honest. "I loved the way you gradually built up the intensity of your solo" or "I really liked your unique rhythmic ideas." It also helps us to hone our craft. Who doesn't want to know what parts of their art are actually connecting with others? This is valuable information for us to be better communicators.<br><br>And even if it's an extremely tiny little thing like, "You're low notes sound nice," or even if you don't have the "correct" musical vocabulary like, "Whatever that thing was that you played after the really loud thingy; that was cool." These are all very meaningful things to us as musicians. <br><br>And finally, another great thing about specific compliments is that you can even give them to generally bad performances and still be completely honest, and still be encouraging. "I liked your stage presence" (while leaving out the part of NOT liking their music) or "I really like the sound of your snare drum" (while leaving out the fact that their timing was all out of whack).<br><br>Thanks for listening to my two cents on compliments. I sat in at the Wonderbar again last night, and while I didn't feel like it was my best playing, I actually did get some really nice specific compliments on my playing. And those few words alone have been the reason I feel so good right now today.<br><br>So the next time you have a chance to compliment somebody, take an extra 5 seconds before saying anything, and find something specific to mention. It makes a difference. I know.Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32303232014-10-13T16:59:50-05:002021-11-15T00:03:18-06:00"He's Gonna Play by Himself?"Last night I braved some autumn rain, took the Red Line "L" to the 77 Bus and walked a few blocks to a place called Moe's Tavern. They say it was voted in the top 5 dive bars in Chicago (I guess I didn't know "dive bar" was an official category of bar). The place was pleasant and the people I met were all really friendly. There was even free chili.<br><br>I came for sort of a "Two for One," as on Sundays Moe's has a jazz jam session followed by a typical open mic. Most people would probably do one or the other, as it's pretty rare for pop musicians to sit in at jazz jam session and even more rare to hear any kind of jazz at an open mic, which is usually just singer/songwriter stuff (AKA singing guitarists). I myself am trying to do a bit of both worlds, so I planned to come early and stay late for both things.<br><br>The jazz jam was really great, as the musicians were all really easy to talk with and 'hang.' I exchanged a couple of business cards and cell numbers (remember, it's ALL about the connections) and had a good time playing some traditional jazz.<br><br>After that all the jazz musicians left and a bunch of new people came in for the open mic. As per usual, I signed up on the sheet and waited my turn. I told the host running the event that I'd be playing the sax. So as the singer/guitarist before me was ending his few tunes, the host got out his bass guitar and asked what I wanted to play. I guess he was trying to be nice by offering to play with me, because seriously, a single wind instrument playing by itself is not usually the kind of thing an open mic crowd at a "dive bar" wants to hear.<br><br>So I told him, "Oh yeah, I'll just be playing solo sax: by myself." <br><br>Then there was this funny echo thing that happened. The host said, "You're gonna play by yourself?" to which the bartender, who I guess was listening in on our conversation immediately added, "He's gonna play by himself?!" He also added a "Pretty wild. Pretty wild."<br><br>I've come to expect this kind of response. And I can completely understand the weird looks. I mean, I myself would probably be pretty nervous as an open mic host having a solo wind instrument play a few songs. I guess it could be either really bad or really good. Not a lot of room for in between.<br><br>One other thing I've come to expect and enjoy when I play these open mics, is the silence that comes after I start doing my saxophone beatbox thing. It doesn't necessarily mean people are speechless or anything. It's probably mainly that they're taken a little by surprise and aren't really sure how to react, at least for a little while.<br><br>So I thought I played fairly well, and the crowd response was pretty good at first. Although by my third solo sax tune I think the novelty had begun to wear off a bit, and I'm starting to think about catching that 77 Bus back to the Red Line before it stops running. When I end, the applause isn't quite what I was hoping for, but hey, at least the host and bartender told me they were really impressed.<br><br>So no new amazing contacts or gig offers from this open mic night for me. But hey, maybe at least the next time I show up at Moe's, the host will ask a little bit more enthusiastically, "So are you gonna play by yourself again?"<br> <div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/6c59b9efc013c6fb0cb312017e88c99a7d24e988/original/img-6647.jpg?1413237499" class="size_orig justify_center border_" height="319" /><p class="caption">Open Mic at Moe's Tavern (Pretty atmospheric, huh?)</p></div><br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32286602014-10-12T02:04:59-05:002022-06-01T03:55:01-05:00The Magically Reappearing Crowd!If you read my last blog, you'd have learned that I had one of my first "official" gigs last night at a cool little record store called Transistor. Kay and I were the second band (of 2) to play that night. When I learned of this I thought, <em>Hmm... Okay, this could be cool. All the fans of the first band will maybe stick around to hear us right afterwards. </em><br><br>The other band was called <em>Morphtet, </em>and they were really great. Their instrumentation, however, was a bit ironic: tenor sax, congas, and a keyboard. Kay and my instrumentation: tenor sax and congas. Did you get the connection? Hmm again. As far as keeping the crowd around to hear us, this could be a good thing or (maybe more likely) a bad thing.<br><br>So in the 15 minutes between bands, as they're tearing everything down and we're setting up, everyone leaves. Well, not everyone. My parents (in from Michigan), my wife, the store owner, and the sound guy are there. Great.<br><br>I'm feeling a bit depressed during our first tune. We sounded great, I thought, but no still no one else in the crowd.<br><br>Now one quick note before we move on. Usually when I am playing my stuff in front of people, I keep my eyes closed. If my eyes are opened and I see anyone entering or exiting, or anyone responding in any way to my playing, I tend to get distracted. It's not that I don't like these things; I just simply get distracted easily and lose focus. <em>It's not you; it's me.</em> I digress.<br><br>So just as we're finishing our second tune, I open my eyes and <em>Holy Cow!</em> There's a bunch of people in the room from out of nowhere!! And they're not my family or the owner!<br><br>Okay, so it was probably only an additional 8 or so people. But considering the small size of the club, and the fact that when I had previously closed my eyes they were not there and now when I opened them there they are; that definitely feels like some sort of cool magic trick!<br><br>So to you 8 or so strangers (or should I say "angels") who decided to take a chance on a strange sax and conga duo in a tiny record store on a busy city weekend night, forgetting your etiquette training of not entering while the band is playing, thank you. You may not know it, but you made our night.<br><br>And lastly, to the parents, spouses, store owners, and sound guys who are always at the gig, but not usually fully appreciated for their consistency and support, thank you. We may not know it, but you make these nights possible.<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/19104b22c9e2e6b743becf5779dabdbe34f6a77d/original/photo-1.jpg?1413087473" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32248342014-10-09T18:59:13-05:002023-12-10T10:48:40-06:00First "official" gigs in Chicago! Well...Being in Chicago for three and a half weeks, I feel pretty good about how many times I've played with other musicians so far, from jam sessions to open mics to street performing. It's been a great adventure, and I definitely plan to keep up these things. That being said, I've heard it's a pretty nice thing to actually make some money for performing! Now as I've mentioned earlier, I have made about $70 while street performing, but I don't know if that really counts as being a "professional musician." <br><br>Last night was my first time since arriving that I was actually invited to perform with a band. This was new for me here in Chicago, as it wasn't just me showing up at a jam and asking to sit in. This was the result of my jamming with the house band each Monday at the Wonderbar. And by the way, this band is called <em>Low Spark</em> and there are some of the best jazz/rock fusion players I've heard. And even better, they're all awesome guys, with ZERO egos (which is sometimes are rare thing for really good musicians!). So anyways, they liked my playing enough to ask if I wanted to play a few tunes with them at a different club, aliveOne. So nothing too big, but I'll take it!<br><br>Tomorrow night I'll be playing with my new street-musician-conga-playing friend Kay Smith at a cool record/book/art store called Transistor. This gig may not "count" as well, as it doesn't actually guarantee money to the band. If the tips collected for the night go over the sound guy's fee, then we split the pay with the two other bands playing. So we might get $20 or 20cents. And if not we at least get a recording of our performance, kind of like God's Garage (see earlier post). So it's good exposure (which I definitely will accept at this point), but maybe not the best for putting bread (or my preference: cereal) on the table. But hey, we've got our temporary band name, <em>Brownsmith</em> on their billing. <br><br>So there you have it, quasi first "official" gigs in the Windy City. Do they actually count? Who knows. And really, who cares? Things are moving. And more and more I don't think it matters how fast, as long as there's movement.<br><br>I hope all of you readers are moving somehow as well.Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32203682014-10-06T19:41:31-05:002022-02-06T07:50:31-06:00Not the ideal text to receive...Last night I was invited to a very low key jam session at the Montrose Saloon, a friendly neighborhood bar described on their website as "rough around the edges." And despite the slightly longer commute times, I've definitely become a fan of public transportation here in Chicago. So I grabbed my sax case and walked a bit to a nearby bus stop for my ride there around 9pm. A short while later I arrived, jammed a bit, met some new friendly musicians, jammed a bit more, and then headed back to the bus stop for my simple ride home. <br><br>A new-ish feature at each Chicago bus stop is a nifty little texting service. You just enter in some numbers on your phone and some machine (or maybe a magical elf somewhere!) texts you back when the next bus will arrive at that stop. Pretty cool. <br><br>Unless...<br><br> ..you get this message in reply:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/54ccaac9e32b50d78e32be2619857c28d3f1ea71/medium/photo-4.png?1412640801" class="size_m justify_center border_" />Did you catch that? Deep within that text are the words, "No arrival times." <br><br>WHAT?! Like, no arrival times...EVER?! <br><br>Ah yes. So I guess I forgot the fact that not every bus in Chicago runs all night. So I start walking, as at least this bar is not on the far side of Chicago. But it is 11pm and I am carrying a fairly heavy case. And then I remember, <em>Wait. I have my own personal taxi: my wife.</em> Not to say she is at my every beck and call. But she is pretty great, and we do have a car here in the city. <br><br>So if you readers were hoping for more drama to my story, there is none. I called my wife, she picked me up, we went home to sleep. <br><br>Sometimes I guess it can be worth it to go through awkward situations or struggles, for the sake of the story. And sometimes it's nicer to have someone just pick me up.<br><br><br><br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32180832014-10-04T23:39:03-05:002024-02-28T08:13:17-06:00New and Improved Rehearsal Room!!!As a working musician, you've definitely got to be okay with your practice room. When spending 3-5 hours (or more for some) each day with your instrument, this space ideally should be inviting, comfortable, and inspiring.<br><br>However, for those of us living in a small apartment in a city, we may have to settle for a little less. Especially those of us with loud instruments that can't simply be unplugged or turned down (No fair, guitarists!). I'm talking about drummers, brass players, and you guessed it: sax players like me. <br><br>And actually, yes, drummers maybe could practice on electronic drum sets. Trumpet players can use a practice mute. But have you ever seen a real mute for a saxophone that really works? I didn't think so. The problem is that on a sax, the sound doesn't just come out of the end of the horn, but through all of the open keys. Therefore, there actually are true sax mutes on the market, but unfortunately they look like this:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/9aa4cb27e069ec9184d08fcb8909d9942ff2d55a/original/sax-mute.jpg?1412481845" class="size_l justify_center border_" height="158" style="width: 179px;" />Yep. That's a saxophone in a bag. And unfortunately, I've heard it only softens the sound a little bit. So, that leaves it up to us to find a way to insulate our sound as best as possible so our neighbors above and below us don't kill us.<br><br>This spring, my wife and I operated a study abroad session for college students in Leipzig, Germany. Those few months were absolutely amazing, except for the fact that we lived in an apartment with very thin walls. And as a performer, no musical breaks allowed. Here was my solution:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/cc5e6d3451697f1aa0696f710a9cfcfef4c69df7/medium/img-5304.jpg?1412482141" class="size_m justify_center border_" />A closet. Though really it's less than a closet. Maybe a wardrobe. And notice the blankets for further sound dampening, as well as the all-important fan to keep me from sweating to death in there. And don't even think that I left the doors open. Nope. It was pitch black in that tiny space, for 3 hours each day. Kind of makes the "world-traveling musician" thing a little less glamorous, doesn't it?<br><br>Oh, and here's one more of our 10 day stay in an apartment in Florence, Italy (although, I know, I can't complain <em>too</em> much about doing anything in Italy!):<br><br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/dbb4386dbb19107d596a55eb3329165e46843861/medium/img-5952.jpg?1412482594" class="size_m justify_center border_" height="268" style="width: 213px;" />This one's a little harder to see, but those are my legs in the bottom, standing in another wardrobe.<br><br>But I have great news to report! Here in Chicago, I'm getting a practice room upgrade! Yes, I'm still in a closet. But it's a small <em>walk-in</em> closet (Ooooh! Fancy-Pantsy!). I have room for a computer! And best of all, I have a light! (Although come to think of it, with all of the late-night jam sessions here, maybe I <em>should</em> get more used to the dark.)<br><br> So here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for. Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Derek Brown's new deluxe practice room:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/78a6d685fc5a1ccf5226a9ea8ccb946321c22448/medium/chicago-practice-room.jpg?1412483448" class="size_m justify_center border_" />So those of you out there working in small cubicles everyday at work, while I envy your air conditioning and elbow room, I'm right there with you. Don't forget about us city musicians, and I won't forget about you. Solidarity, man.<br><br>Until next time...<br><br>Derek<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32099232014-09-30T16:15:23-05:002021-06-27T20:00:52-05:00THE jam in town (if you're in to that kind of thing)So I've been feeling a bit under the weather as of late (one of Derek Brown's famous semi-annual colds!). However, as it's not too severe I'm trying hard not to let it slow me down. Last night I still made it to the Underground Wonderbar for their fusion jam despite my sore throat (although trying to talk to people during all the amped music probably didn't do wonders for my throat). <br><br>A few nights ago I tried out a different jam session, which I've heard is THE jam in town. My verdict: yeah, it kinda is THE jam in town, if you're in to a specific type of jam. What I mean by "THE jam," is that it's where most of the hard-core straight-ahead beboppers hang (sorry for all the jazz jargon there). <br><br>For a little Jam Session 101, all gigging jazz musicians are expected to know a bunch of tunes, called standards. For very low key jams, often in smaller towns, jazz musicians might have a fake book that has many of these tunes in them. At most of the jams I've been to here in Chicago, no music is used, so it's expected that you have them mostly memorized. However, often they have music stands out in case you need to use a book occasionally. However, at this particular club, when it was time for the later jam, they specifically take down the stands. This lets you know, you better know your stuff!<br><br>On this specific day of the week, there are two jams. I played at the first one, no problem. I called a few tunes, we played them, it was great. But when 9:30 rolled around, I'll admit I definitely hesitated to add my name to the list (yeah, at some clubs, there are so many musicians, you have to sign up in advance, like at an open mic). I knew all these musicians would be the cream of the crop.<br><br>However, after thinking about how I was letting myself (and you, my fellow blog readers) down, I thought to myself, <em>Hey, if I make myself look bad, it'll just make a better blog, right?</em> So I signed up. <br><br>I got called up with a bunch of trumpet players (seriously, there were at least ten there that night!) and we agreed on a tune. It went fine. Trying to find a second tune we could all play, I suggested the classic "Take the A-Trane." I've done this tune a lot in my previous town and I like soloing over it. However, one of the more veteran players started grimacing and said, <em>We are NOT playing Take the A-Trane. </em> Well, I guess my suggestion was a little to elementary. But heck, I still love playing other elementary tunes like "Blue Bossa" or "Girl From Ipanema." I mean, this is jazz; we can stretch out or change up any tune we like, right?<br><br>But this holier-than-thou attitude definitely exists in jazz circles. There are certain tunes that are hip to play, and there are others that aren't. And it doesn't matter if you play the same hip tunes every single night, just don't touch the unhip ones. <br><br>Maybe, however, this is one of the reasons why jazz has lost most of its popular appeal. Back in the 1930's and 40's jazz was actually the pop music of the day. Yes, it was definitely more commercial than today's jazz, and maybe the solos weren't as long or groundbreaking. But then ultra-complex and virtuosic bebop came along in the mid 40's, and jazz was forever split between the hip modern musicians and the "moldy figs" who preferred the music the way it used to be. It also marked the beginning of the decline of jazz's popularity.<br><br>Now I don't want to say which kind of jazz is better (I actually lean more towards jazz-rock fusion myself), but maybe in order to keep jazz alive we need to be more open-minded about our music and what tunes other jazz musicians might like. Maybe it's okay to like simple, popular tunes. (Ask me later about my ipod playlist. Hardcore jazz guys would GAG if they knew what I listened to for fun. But that's another story...)<br><br>I've been very impressed with how nice most of the Chicago musicians are. There hasn't been nearly as much of the competitive attitude I thought I would find in a city like this. And there were other musicians in this particular session that I know would have liked to have played "Take the A-Trane." It's just that usually the more negative attitude overpowers others.<br><br>So, if you want to hear absolute burnin' players, doing lots of modern bebop with very extended solos, yes, this jam was THE place to be. And I'll definitely be back there from time to time. After all, don't get me wrong, there is definitely a place for this style of music. And I am in absolute awe of the ability of some of these musicians. That being said, if you're maybe looking for a little more variety in your jazz styles (maybe some latin, a little bit of funk, or even some old fashioned, singable show-tunes), you might keep looking elsewhere.<br><br>And don't worry, I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open...Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32063952014-09-27T00:59:03-05:002024-03-21T01:00:08-05:00"God's Garage"I've made a personal goal here in Chicago (at least during these first few months) to play my sax somewhere in public at least every other day. As I've mentioned before, the number one piece of advice I've been given is to keep showing up to things, especially places you want to play. Therefore, I'll be hitting every jam session, open mic, or street performing spot that I can; some new, some old.<br><br>So, since I didn't make it out to a club last night, I knew I needed to play somewhere tonight. Plus, it's a Friday (well, now technically early Saturday morning) and it's sometimes depressing as a musician NOT to have someplace to play on the weekend. And really, how hard should it be to find at least an open mic in this vast musical city.<br><br>Well, turns out it's a bit harder than I thought.<br><br>Looking back, I guess it makes sense. There are tons of open mics and jams on early nights of the week (especially Wednesday for some reason). And I guess it seems logical that clubs would want to have more tried-and-true bands play on the weekends, their busiest nights. And while open mics can be decent draws, at least for musicians, most of the general public would probably rather listen to a professional band, rather than risking the sometimes awkward surprises that open mics can bring. And I've seen some weird (AKA: bad) stuff at open mics myself.<br><br>However, after doing quite a lot of Googling and a phone call, I did find one place that has open mics on Friday. This place:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/273451503ef94297ce5a9dfd5698209f3b7f25fd/original/photo-1.jpg?1411796029" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Ok... I'll admit, not your typical looking Chicago club. And the free Bibles and soda advertised on their webpage confirms this. But hey, this whole Chicago-living thing is a big adventure so I'll try anything. <br><br>So I take the Red Line and the 74 bus and arrive a little before 8. And...great. I'm the only one, along with owner Rocky and his friendly (maybe too friendly) dog.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/5bae4ab5dafcfbb94aff1a0586ca70c9e0cecc58/original/photo-4.jpg?1411796011" class="size_l justify_center border_" />And yeah, that's a LOT of crosses! (Pretty impressive, actually.) <br><br>So I start chatting with Rocky, and pretty soon the whole evening goes by in a flash. It turns out he's like the nicest guy ever. Not only does he give me a full tour of his church/club/house (including a trip on top of his roof), but also records my playing and gives me a labeled CD with case! And no charge for anything! So of course, it turns out, like so many of the other things I've done here, that I'm so glad I came. <br><br>The world needs more people like Rocky. And I don't necessarily mean more hard-core Jesus freaks. The world needs more people that are willing to take a risk and try things, like starting a club in your own house. The world needs more people who do things, not because of a specific end result, but because they love it. <br><br>In the eyes of the business world, Rocky is not going to "make it." No way. After all, he doesn't charge anything for anything. But really, he's not even trying to "make it." I think he just likes people and music, and so this is what he's going to do. If you're not a fan of his style or religion, your not a fan of his style or religion. Big deal.<br><br>And even if only one person stopped by this week at his Friday open mic, that's still one guy who went away happy.Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32034112014-09-25T11:37:53-05:002024-03-21T00:59:20-05:00Just print the dang business cards already!Ok, so this post is looking at the less glamorous side of being a freelance musician: the business side of things. And I don't mean dealing with managers and set up crews and what not. I mean the do-it-yourself grunt work of things like sending dozens of emails every day, checking Craigslist ads, calling clubs, etc. And don't get me wrong. I knew this was all a part of being a full-time musician (especially if your name is not Taylor Swift). <br><br>However, what I did not know was how hard it would be to print off some simple-ish business cards. And its probably not for most people, just musicians like me who don't know what DPI stands for. So without making you relive all the steps I went through over the last 3 days, here are all of the steps I went through (wait, what did I just do there?). Please skim, if you'd like.<br><br>1. Tried using a website to create and edit my own, but it was really hard to add a decent photo.<br>2. Created my own using Powerpoint, as I don't have any specific publishing program.<br>3. Emailed it to a local printing store.<br>4. Was told that although the ratio was roughly correct, it needed to be 3.5x2 inches with bleed.<br>5. Remade the cards now with a 3.5x2 inch page setup.<br>6. Emailed to store.<br>7. Reminded that it needed bleed. Technically needs to be 3.625x2.125 inches.<br>8. Remade cards 3.625x2.125 inches.<br>9. Emailed to store, though for some reason I emailed the original incorrect file.<br>10. Told I sent the wrong file.<br>11. Emailed the correct file.<br>12. Filled out form to have 200 printed. Hooray! Are we almost done!<br>13. Told the DPI was too small for printing. Can't use Powerpoint (!!!)<br>14. Go to Microsoft Office website to try and download Publisher. End up setting up a full account just for the 1 month free trial.<br>15. My own laptop doesn't have enough hard drive space for huge download, so I switch to Rachel's computer and transfer files over.<br>16. Office downloads but can't find Publisher.<br>17. After much searching, find that Publisher only downloads with PC Office version (!!!)<br>18. Cancel subscription to Microsoft Office<br>19. Do research to find open source publishing software.<br>20. Find out about and download Scribus.<br>21. Learn how to use Scribus (not very easy!)<br>22. Recreate business card on business card template with Scribus.<br>23. Email to store.<br>24. Told again to include bleed.<br>25. Remade card with bleed.<br>26. Email to store. Pray hard.<br>27. Success!!!!!<br><br>Congratulations (or Sorry!) if you made it this far in the post. Maybe I should make a manual on "How to make simple business cards in only 27 steps!" Well anyways, they should be printing as we speak, though at the rate things were going there, don't be surprised if there's a part 2 to this blog. (Please no!!).<br><br>So without further ado, I present to you my finished business card:<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/47591ce0794f2b15ca39d7ec5279b95104c9e66e/original/derek-brown-business-card-final-page001.jpeg?1411663002" class="size_l justify_center border_" /><br><span class="font_regular">Wait! Is the top of my head cut off! No!!!!</span>!!!!!!!!!<br> Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/32009132014-09-23T21:49:03-05:002024-03-21T00:57:47-05:00Pfew! Long (but great) day!So I was just at it from 6am yesterday to 4:45am of today. And yes, that was a weeknight! <br><br>My day consisted of things like doing a photo shoot at Lake Michigan for my website, visiting a grad school friend who also now lives in Chicago, repairing a broken spring in my saxophone, and playing in (count 'em) three jam sessions. <br><br>From 8-10pm I went to the nearby Uncommon Grounds coffee place for their weekly open mic night. As you may know, I have my own "beatbox" saxophone style that I've been developing over the last few years. This was received really well, so I definitely plan to return in a week or so. Riding back on my bike to the apartment at 10:30pm, I was REALLY tempted to call it a night and hop into my warm bed (like most normal working people at that hour). However, a few days ago I had decided I was going to go back to the Underground Wonderbar and try out their two different jams on Monday night. And therefore, since I said I'd be extra adventurous for at least this first year in Chicago, I said goodnight to Rachel and hopped on the Red Line to the Chicago downtown.<br><br>Although their website stated 9:30-midnight, the first jam was actually 10-2am (I'm sensing a theme with jazz events running a little behind schedule...). I of course was originally thinking I'd hit the tail end of the first jam, stay just for the beginning of the second, and then make it home maybe by 1:30 or 2am. No way. But actually, I'm really glad things went much longer. I actually had some great conversations with the other musicians, had fun sitting in, and had a BLAST listening. Wow, there are some amazing musicians here, that no one has heard of! <br><br>First was a fusion (jazz/rock/funk) jam and it was non-stop energy from beginning to end. The second was a complete shift to very introspective acoustic jazz, made even more contrasting as the drummer forgot to show up! But the most amazing thing was that once I got to the club, I didn't once think about how late it was. Maybe I really CAN do this whole night owl-thing! <br><br>I also received a bit more encouragement/advice from some of the other musicians. A theme I keep hearing repeated is: if you want to get some gigs and survive as a full-time musician, keep showing up to the same jams and hanging out. It doesn't matter if you're the best musician in town. The other musicians have to know and like you. <br><br>What that means for me is, those of you with my cell number, don't hesitate to call me at 3am on any Monday night. If I miss your call, it's because I'm in the middle of a solo at the Undergound Wonderbar.Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/31977182014-09-21T09:35:00-05:002024-03-21T00:50:26-05:00Good Ol' Fashioned Street Buskin'So today my new friend Kay and I did some street performing at Lincoln Square yesterday. And what great luck! There was actually a street festival happening, which meant more people to listen to us. While we're currently looking into getting a street performance license (I promise!), I was wondering if maybe we should play somewhere away from the more "official" booths and performers. <br><br>But what I love about Kay is his extreme boldness (see earlier post). He just finds a spot right in the middle of the action and starts setting up his congas. I said something like, "Shouldn't we maybe ask these vendors around us if this is okay?" He replied, "Nah, the more questions you ask, the more complicated things get." Ok then. Not my normal philosophy, but whatever.<br><br>Some highlights of our time were lots of dancing kids and a particular young man who was VERY interested in my saxophone, for an entire two songs (see pic below). May we all be as inquisitive in life as this guy!<br><br>We played a couple of hours until it started to rain. Then we split up and said, "Until next time." Who knows when that will be, but I hope pretty soon.<br><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/d3351dc0f9a280b06d1be5172c844117889dd6af/original/img-8798.jpg?1411396229" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/31977092014-09-20T09:50:00-05:002024-03-21T00:49:21-05:00The Green MillWho knew it could be so hard to wake up at 9:30am? Well, I guess if you go to bed at 4am, it's a little more understandable, right? (please agree) So the Green Mill jam session was a lot of fun (see last post). I sat in on a few tunes, heard some other great musicians, and soaked in the amazing Prohibition era vibe that is the Green Mill. Turns out, this was actually one of Al Capone's favorite hangouts in Chicago. <br><br>Well, gotta run. The reason I'm getting up so unbelievably early on a Saturday (yikes! I'm already starting to talk like a typical working musician!) is that I'm doing some more street performing with the guy I met last week. See ya!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/147046/390128912a3c37e951ca8202560fd0e9fef1db86/original/img-8774.jpg?1411396216" class="size_l justify_center border_" />Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/31957102014-09-19T22:40:00-05:002024-03-21T00:47:42-05:00Is it bedtime yet?So here I am on a Friday night... Just got back with with my wife from a great play that a friend wrote (called <em>Miracles in the Fall</em>. Check it out if you're in Chicago!), and I look at the clock: 10:30pm. Almost bedtime, right? <br><br>Wrong! Not for this musician. Earlier in the week I had told my family that I'd try out the jam session at the world famous Green Mill club (which happens to be <em>one whole block</em> away from our apartment! How cool is that!). <br><br>And guess what time said jam session is?<br><br>9-11pm? 10:30-midnight?<br><br>Not even close. How about 1:30-4am. Did you get that? A.M. As in "Ante Meridiem," which is Latin for "before NOON"!<br><br>Well, like I've mentioned before, this freelance musician thing in Chicago is going to be a different life. So in the meantime, I'm chugging back some A&W Cream Sodas (and man, have they put more sugar into these since I was a kid?) and trying to keep from napping.<br><br>I'll let you all know how this goes on the other side...Derek Browntag:derekbrownsax.com,2005:Post/31957272014-09-18T23:00:00-05:002024-03-21T00:44:57-05:00A little musical adventure tonight...I left the apartment this evening on my way to a folk jam session, and came back with $10.65. Tell me more, you might ask...<br><br>So much of my time in these early days (maybe weeks, months, or years) of my time trying to make it as a professional musician in Chicago has been spent perusing online lists of music venues and more specifically: when the jam sessions are. For those of you not as into the whole jazz or music culture, most jazz clubs and many music venues have a specific time or two during the week or month when musicians are encouraged to bring their instruments and jam with strangers. Sometimes this is with a house band where people come up one at a time, and sometimes it's just a loose jam with everyone and anyone playing all together (less common). <br><br>The jam I was headed to tonight was at the Old Town School of Folk Music, a well-known institution that offers lots of classes on folk music, dancing, and you name it. I noticed on their website that on Thursdays they have a "Folk, Rock, and Roots Jam." This sounded intriguing to me, as I love to break out of the typical jazz mold whenever I can, and maybe I could meet some cool electric guitarists, bass players, drummers, etc. After all, it does have the word "Rock" in the name of the jam. I knew a saxophone player might not be the most common person to show up, but I could fit in. Hmmm... Famous last words...<br><br>So I bike about a mile to one of the campus buildings and ask someone where the jam is and ask if it's cool for a sax player to show up. They point me in a direction and add, "I've never seen a sax player at the jam, but that's cool." Uh-oh. That's code for me that this is probably not an actual "Rock" jam, but a bunch of acoustic guitars and fiddles.<br><br>But I was wrong. It was ALL acoustic guitars (plus one fiddle and one auto-harp). Hmmm, again....<br><br>Now if I was living my normal life, I definitely would have turned right around and biked back home, but I'm in Chicago, the "City of Dreams" (ok, I just made up that name). I've decided from the get-go, that I'm going to take risks and try new things! I can't back down yet! Yes We Can!!!<br><br>So I quietly sit in the corner and listen until...<br><br>Two African-American guys with congas show up... at a folk guitar jam... Hooray! It's not just me that was confused about this jam!<br><br>So after a minute or two, one of the guys sees my sax case, sits by me, leans over and says, "Forget this stuff. Let's get the heck out of here and play out on the street." (Note: I've slightly edited some of the original vocabulary)<br><br>My thought process: <em>Uh, I don't know you. Where would we play? We don't have busking licenses. </em><em>What would we play?</em> <em>Wait, hold on Derek. You said you were going to take chances.</em><br><br>"Ok, let's do it. Why not?" So we head outside, set up our congas and sax, and proceed to do our own jam on the sidewalk for the next hour and a half. It was actually a lot of fun, and I'm really glad we did it. In fact we're going to meet up again on Saturday to do it again, maybe at a busier street. <br><br>So I barely know the guy (and his brother), but maybe we've got a little thing happening here. Or maybe not. But hey, I'll try anything at least once...Derek Brown