New Orleans Jazz Ramblers

[sloan]

All you performance majors out there. Joe is a repairman...

For most of my life as a "grown-up", I've viewed "music performance" degrees in approximately the same light I would view a "biking" or a "fishing" degree.

Yes, there are a FEW people who make their livings biking and fishing, but...

You mean, they are just like History degrees?

(yes, there are a FEW people who make their livings doing History)

[bloke]

sidebar reply: I'd probably rather study fishing or biking with a world-renowned fisherman or a biker, rather than asking an advisor in the "College of Individual Sports & Recreation" which courses I should take...in the same way (if I was serious about it) I might purchase a bike from a bike shop, rather than from an "everything" store like WAL*MART.

B3 Emulator, etc:

I dunno if the keyboard making the Leslie sounds belongs to a band member or the studio...

If the keyboard (or that sound) belongs to the studio, you can ask J.T. about it:

http://www.jtstudios.net

I found these pics on his website, btw:

our quartz-accurate drummer, James Sexton


Brian "Breeze" Cayolle, saxophonist and circular-breathe-ist ad infinium

[bloke]

so...

...Do we sound a lot better with our new HATS ??

[JTJ]

Joe, many thanks for those links! The music is mighty fine, sets the toes to tapping and puts a smile on your face.

[markaustinhowle]

It sounds really Good Joe-- in every way. great recording of your playing too.

[bloke]

Tonight, we played a wedding reception down in Clarksdale, Mississippi (right smack on the table-flat Mississippi delta) - a town that claims to be the birthplace of "Rhythm-and-Blues". Morgan Freeman owns a restaurant in Clarksdale and spends a lot of time hanging out there. Tonight, we played in this re-created juke-joint:





which is immediately next door to this antebellum hotel



Actually, the reception was held in BOTH buildings...along with a heated tent. Barbeque, vinegar-marinated prawns, beer, wine, bourbon, gin, and mint juleps all flowed freely.

It was really fun to experience our New Orleans-style brass band perform (off-the-cuff) '70's/'80's top-40 requests, along with "wedding tunes". (You REALLY should hear that tired-old tune, Chameleon, played with this instrumentation...It rocks!...and isn't "tired", btw.)

Our original trombonist, Robert Harris, who moved back home to New Orleans several months ago, came up for this gig and for our New Year's gig at the Grand Casino...so our new trombonist (who is actually a red-hot sax player), Jim Mahannah, (since Breeze Cayolle is enroute somewhere with Elvis Costello again) moved over to play his "main" instrument...much to everyone's delight. (Jim is the guy who played the tasty/understated background tenor licks on that "Ghost of a Chance" recording)...No "understating" occurred tonight. The bandleader (another sax player) had never heard Jim play sax, and was absolutely floored. (I had told him, but I tend to "under-represent"...I could only come up with the inadequate adjective, "god-like".)

Robert is staying out here in the country with me while he's up for these gigs, and we're having a lot of fun catching up (considerable car rides to/from Memphis train station and to/from gigs). I also put his horn back in good shape. These days, Robert is mostly working at Preservation Hall and outdoor brass band gigs back home in New Orleans - both being pretty hard on trombone slide alignment.

Here's an old picture of Robert Harris (far right) playing with us:



This is a great way to finish out 2007.

[scottw]

Must be my tired old eyes, but can anyone tell me what that "thing" is in the picture above, between the jukebox and the picture of the Beatles? I swear it looks like a bass on MLB-quality steroids!

[bloke]

Must be my tired old eyes, but can anyone tell me what that "thing" is in the picture above, between the jukebox and the picture of the Beatles? I swear it looks like a bass on MLB-quality steroids!

Yes. It's either a homemade or decorator-made bass-looking object. (I didn't look at it up close...)

[scottw]

Must be my tired old eyes, but can anyone tell me what that "thing" is in the picture above, between the jukebox and the picture of the Beatles? I swear it looks like a bass on MLB-quality steroids!

Yes. It's either a homemade or decorator-made bass-looking object. (I didn't look at it up close...)

If ever anything deserved a look!

[bloke]

Last night, between 10 & 1, we strolled all over the Grand Casino with a couple of these...



We hit it from approx. 10:00 - 10:50, 11:40 - 12:10, and from 12:35 - 12:50...I guess each of us were paid nearly $5 for each minute of playing. While we were playing Auld Lang Syne, we were throwing out full-color postcard-size business cards to the crowd.

bloke "no rehearsals and a lot mo' fun - imo - that those New Year's symphony-pops champagne gigs"



Past the employee parking lot (rear) and a thicket of trees is the Mississippi River.

[Greg]

Last night, between 10 & 1, we strolled all over the Grand Casino with a couple of these...



We hit it from approx. 10:00 - 10:50, 11:40 - 12:10, and from 12:35 - 12:50...I guess each of us were paid nearly $5 for each minute of playing. While we were playing Auld Lang Syne, we were throwing out full-color postcard-size business cards to the crowd.

bloke "no rehearsals and a lot mo' fun - imo - that those New Year's symphony-pops champagne gigs"



Past the employee parking lot (rear) and a thicket of trees is the Mississippi River.

Wow! Sounds like a good gig.

[KarlMarx]

Jim Mahannah (the only other "paleface" in the Ramblers)

Wouldn't all face pale, when bestowed the eternal honour of playing together with the one and only bloke?

Carolus Inquestionarius