Practice Log - 8/16/09 | Part I

I have realized that I've been rather naughty by not posting my practice routine in a bit. No excuses other than I've been too lazy to bring my laptop down to my practice room with me and then bring it back upstairs to my home office and internet connection.

So anyway, here's what I've done for this morning:

Warm Up:

1. harmonics on alto sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   10 min
2. long tone exercise on alto sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   5 min
3. harmonics on soprano sax with tuner + metronome @ 60 bpm
   10 min
4. long tone exercise on soprano sax with tuner + metronome @ 60bpm
   5 min

Getting Together In Style!

It may only be once a year, but when I get together with a couple of my cousins and my uncle, we do it in style!

I've mentioned several times in the past that I come from a musical family...actually, the arts in general run strong in my family. Well, above this paragraph you see a photo (courtesy of a fan named Lynda Maniscalco) of my family band known as "The Latimer Experience", which is made up of (from left to right): My cousin Andre Latimer, my uncle Isham Latimer, my other cousin Emile Latimer, my two friends Glenn Palermo and Bill Titus on bass and guitar respectively, and of course me.

Yesterday we completed the last of two performances that I had booked for us this year. It's always such a kick for me to see how the audience reacts to what we have to offer, which is essentially 2 sets of purely improvisational music based on African and Latin drum rhythms, and perhaps 1 or 2 jazz standards thrown into the mix. What a great time we had! There is only one negative thing.

We had always wanted to get a good recording done of us while we are all still around and able to play. This is particularly important to me as the youngest member of "The Latimer Experience", because my cousin Emile is approaching his mid 70's and is starting to experience problems and pain with his hands. So, I had brought my digital recorder with the hopes that we might actually be able to create a live CD. We were in top form! However, the recorder didn't catch the performance! I forgot a stand for it and had to tape it to a column. Unfortunately, I taped it too tight and accidentally press the "stop recording button", which turned the device off. Talk about disappointments! I was disgusted when I saw no data on my memory card.

At any rate, hopefully we will be able to all get together again next year. And this time, they'll be no slip ups!

Catching Lightning in a Bottle

For the past year and a half, I have had the pleasure of being a regular part of the line-up for blues and jazz performer Gail Storm. Whether it's with her heavy hitting quartet with monster blues guitarist Joe Vicino, or a more intimate setting with just the two of us performing for a smaller crowd, I have enjoyed EVERY minute of my time on stage with her.

During our time together we have noticed a few things.

1. We have become very locked in to each other's playing styles
2. People seem to really enjoy not only the music we play, but our interactions on stage
3. Every single performance that we have done, particularly when we have the full band together, has reached our audiences in a very positive way...very much like what I see happens with my own quartet!

With those things in mind, about 2 months ago, we decided to record a 6 song CD together that we would make available for fans during our performances together. Well, we have completed the CD and I have to say that I really think we caught lightning in a bottle on this one! We simply did some of the songs that were favorites of her fans, but were also very strong songs for us. There's no cover design yet, or anything like that. In fact, we might not even professionally mass produce it, but I really think that people will enjoy it...hopefully as much as we enjoyed recording it!

One for the Road

For the past 4 years, I have enjoyed an extremely talented and well aquainted line up with my jazz quartet. People know my group to consist of Kenny MacKenzie on piano, Thomson Kneeland on bass, and Kyle Struve on drums. But now all of that is going to change.

Today will be a very special performance that I have to do because it will be the last one with Kenny MacKenzie being part of the quartet. In just a few days, Kenny will be moving to Florida. This was very sad news for me as I have always thought of Kenny as an indespensible incredient in the make up of the quartet...whether it be in terms of our sound, the band's chemistry, or what have you. There's no doubt in my mind that Kenny is the most musically gifted piano player I've ever had a chance to play with. His playing really reaches listeners. Not to mention, he is an incredible composer and just simply a real nice guy!

I won't be saying goodbye to Kenny though because we will still be in touch via Facebook, email, and we have even talked about possibly doing some gigs together in Florida. And then, there is my plan to fly Kenny up to do my next CD with me and the rest of the guys.

Thomson Kneeland, the bassist for my quartet, has given me a few players that I can contact to take over the piano duties. I am familiar with almost all of them and they are all great players. But somehow I don't think it will be quite the same with Kenny not on the bandstand with us. In any case, the show must go on, and I'm feeling too much momentum lately to stop now!

So, I guess that's it for this post. I'm excited about the gig today and will be sure to enjoy every minute of it. HERE'S TO KENNY MACKENZIE and one for the road!

The African Challenge

I'm excited about a new project that I've been asked to perform in. This project consists of African music and the group will be a quartet with a guitarist (bandleader), bassist, drummer, and of course myself on saxophones.

The music, though simple in concept, has proven to be rather challenging for me because it is so different than what I'm used to playing, or even how I'm used to conceptualizing music. That having been said, I like that it is challenging me because that is how we get better at doing things. There isn't a way to rise to a challenge if we haven't had one placed before us!

Right now we are in rehearsals, but the band leader plans on having us do several "small" performances as a tune-up for a big concert performance at the Boulton Center for the Performing Arts in Bay Shore, New York. That will be followed up by a master class and performance at Amherst College in Massachusetts sometime in February of 2010.

The chemistry within the group is very good...no egos, which is always a good thing! I really think that this will prove to be both an interesting and rewarding experience. And, at the very least, it should help me be able to better perform with my cousin Emile Latimer (percussionist), who's playing style is that of West Africa.

Just one question remains in my mind though. What is the bandleader going to call the band?

My Next CD

I've been starting to get questions from people asking me when I plan to put out my next CD effort.

Good question!

I've been thinking that myself, actually. In the back of my mind I had the idea of hitting the studio this Fall and trying to put out the release by next Summer. That is still a possibility, but what is more likely is getting into the studio during the early part of 2010 for a Fall release.

There are several factors that have held me from releasing a new album over the past couple of years. One thing has been my schedule. I have had such a dense schedule the past couple of years (thank goodness) that I simply haven't had the proper time to plan anything out, or to write new music for that matter. The second factor, and perhaps the most significant, is that I became a father last Summer. Anybody who is a parent knows that you can't get a whole lot of work done when you have a baby around.

All that in mind, there are a few reasons present as to why I can't start on the album right away (this Fall). Probably the biggest reason is MONEY.

Even though I'm signed to a record label (Tierra Records of Dortmund, Germany), I still have costs to have to cover from out of my own pocket. Simply put, the label I'm signed to is a small independent label and their budget isn't such that they can simply throw me 15 or 20 thousand dollars to do an album and properly promote it. Most of their help comes on the distribution end and in helping me with sales overseas.

Another hurdle, which is somewhat related to money, is the fact that I need to write some more songs. How does this relate to money? Well, on my first album I have several cover tunes (jazz standards) that I recorded to help give listeners some tunes that they may be familiar with so that purchasing my album wouldn't be such a risk for them.

What many listeners don't realize is that by doing so I had to pay a good amount of money in licensing to be allowed to record and sell those cover songs...nearly $2,000 extra on top of the other costs involved with recording and manufacturing the CD. Bare in mind, that I was discovered by Tierra Records AFTER I had already completed the album. So, all of the expenses were completely out of my own pocket.

My next album will be all original compositions to both help me get MY voice out, and to help me cut costs.

I have been stirring some song ideas around, but I'm taking my time. I really want this to be put together right and for the songs to be right for what I think my next move should be musically. At the same time, I realize that it's been awhile since I put out my debut album and I don't want it to be too much longer before the next one is released.

So, with that I think I will end this post. But, one thing is certain. I would definitely like to have a new album out by sometime in 2010.

Online Communities

I've been keeping pretty busy lately and haven't been able to get away to leave a post in a spell. My initial, unspoken goal of putting up a blog post at least 3 or 4 times a week has evaporated! The fact of the matter is that there are just so many lines of communication that I have open, it's getting tough to keep track of all of them.

As of this moment, in addition to trying to keep this blog up to date, I'm also trying to keep my website current, I have a monthly email blast to construct on an ongoing basis, and I'm on all of the "big 3" social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. Not to mention I have a Youtube account that is painfully neglected. Most of my attempts to stay on top of all of these different sights are thwarted by my normal, day to day activities of being a dad, trying to keep our house from falling on top of us (or just plain trying keep the house at all!), so on and so on.

One thing I have to say about all these social networking sites is that they have been great in getting me in contact with friends and relatives who I have not seen in a very long time. In fact, an old childhood friend of mine recently contacted me who I don't believe I've seen since perhaps 2nd or 3rd grade! I also get to talk to a few of my close friends that I don't get to see in person very much because of my performance schedule, or our respective family lives.

My venturing into the social networking scene was somewhat calculated. I first joined Myspace a couple of years ago as a marketing experiment. I learned a few things from that experience, but mostly that it is an over saturated media to try and get your voice heard as a musician. It seems that everybody and their grandmother is trying to promote their band on Myspace, making the whole experience a little overbearing.

Facebook was my next move. Oddly enough, I didn't join because I wanted to market myself. My first objective was to find a lost family member that I had evidence showing that he may be a Facebook member. My second objective, and less important to me at the time, was to try and find a booking agent that I had been told about.

The result was that the person who I thought was a long lost family member wasn't who I thought he was (the search continues), and the booking agent turned out to not actually be a member of Facebook. However, the booking agent's name was very similar to the name of an old friend and former girlfriend of mine and caused her name to come up in the search results. It lead me to the discovery of someone I had not seen in something like 15 years or so. In fact, my wife and I just recently had dinner with her and her husband. We all had a great time and she and my wife really hit it off!

So anyway, I guess online communities are cool and all because you can keep in touch with people that you may not be able to keep in touch with through other more "traditional" means, but it sure is a handful juggling your attention between them!