12/30/06 Six geese a laying day. I migrate flying in a jam-packed van from La Jolla to Sun Valley to Pasadena, laying boxes at the latter destinations like eggs to be cracked upon our arrival home in February. Trying to remember the adaptor cord for this and that that we’ll need on the road, or the address book, or the camera (which remains missing).
12/31/06 Seven swans a swimming day. Love this Finale program playback for practicing, but there’s some sort of build up of random notes that ends up sounding like a bagpiper drone in the midst of the jazz band. Oh, maybe that’s the swan’s songs? Honk, honk. Scott arrives midday from Guadalajara after a Mexican style (meaning hours long) big band gig down there. I’m trying to track down big band charts to fill out my book.
Scott’s got a New Year’s Eve gig at Charlie-O’s with the John Heard trio featuring Don Menza and Scott. I’m playing with the Tracy Wells Big Band at the Long Beach Marriott.
1/1/07 Eight maids a-milking day…We need eight maids a-filing today. We spend the morning organizing. Tweaking and printing charts, going through mail from three locations.
Musing on the Tracy Wells gig, which was as sweet as ever. Classy black and silver balloons matched my new dress. I can lean over and read the music on Bill Journey’s stand. He plays the opening solos on Anita O’Day’s Boogie Blues and I know this is our tribute tune to her this evening. Charlie Orena, Kim Richmond, Ed Valasco, and Karen Z. filled out the sax section. She mentioned that Fred Peters wasn’t feeling well, and she was filling in for him. Hooray, another woman on the bandstand!
Scott’s big band played Charlie-O‘s the eve of New Year’s Day. We sang a couple duo songs each set. Jennifer Leitham’s solo on the main title tune of “The Fox” was especially inspired. Alisha Ard sat in for Gary Tole on 2nd bone – many members in the band mentioned how much they enjoyed hearing her solid playing. Kim Richmond and Roger Neumann, Glenn Morrissette, Bryant Byers, Bob Summers, Larry Williams, Jamie Hovorka, Kendall Kay, Jennifer Leitham, and Corey Allen played.
1/2/07 Happy Birthday Kendall Kay! Nine ladies dancing day while my dream team rehearsed at the Pasadena Jazz Institute. They’ve now got a pool table in what we called the rehearsal room.
We’re talking tours coming up…about what we’ve begun to call the “Are We Ever Going To See Dry Land Again” tour…which is the Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona cruise in late April/May. This is the Mike Vax Big Band, and there will be a fun collection of Stan Kenton band alums, including Kim Richmond, Carl Saunders, Mike Suter, Kenny Shroyer, Dale Devoe (who I met and played with years ago at Manhattan Jazz), Roy Wiegand, and Gary Hobbs.
We talk about the up the coast “Checking On The Kid” Tour, or “Are You Ever Going To Graduate” Tour....gigging reasons to go and check up on my son, the almost-got-a physics-degree-but-likes-school-too-much, actually making-money-with-his-power-trio Furlong and too-busy-to-post-changes-to-my-website-to-force-me-to-learn-how-to-be-a-web-mistress kind of son. Best kind…thanks Schell…
1/3/07 Ten Lords a Leaping on my birthday! Roger Neumann’s birthday too. My friend from Girl Scout camp, Chris Olson’s friend Lisa’s father, Richard was at the gig too, celebrating his birthday.
The birthday concert was wildly successful, and a lot of fun. We all felt so good about being there with friends and family, sharing what we do best in a really unique and, honestly, magnificent setting. Thanks Paul! What a thrill for me to be able to do the song Amazonas (for which I wrote the lyrics) with a group that’s rehearsed it towards full effect. We sang a particularly inspired version of “You Inspire Me”, after having heard that Harry and Terry Lloyd, Flip Manne, Gisele and Gilles Mongeau had heard Jackie and Roy in person. We’re looking forward to seeing Jackie Cain at “Don’t Tell Mama” in NYC.
Juliana Gondek, my long-time-since jr. high school, UCLA opera vocal dept. teacher and friend, and Marcus Hess, one of my St. Olaf friends was there. My sister Karla, her husband Larry Hughes (a clarinetist), and their daughter Elina, my mom and dad, and brother Len were there too. My son Schell and his squeeze Misty were there, and Roger’s family came out in force. Herman and Virginia Moreno were there too.
Roy McCurdy surprised us and dropped by, as well as our dear friend, Barbara Martin. Gary Tole, trombonist and bandleader of the Legends of Swing band was there and delivered the cake, which said “Happy Birthday Ginger Roger’s” to the bandstand.
We asked Jennifer to sing her tune “Stick It In Your Ear” at the last minute. When I called her late in the afternoon, she was covering for the fact that she was actually on her way to pick up the cake, and didn’t know if she’d get home in tome to get the charts for the tune too. As usual, she brought the house down singing and playing…
Special thanks again to Paul Lines and Jaz and Jenny of the PJI bunch. What a team and what a place!!
1/6/07 Twelve Drummers Drumming Day. Happy Twelfth Night! Oklahoma City is mighty pretty the morning after a 24 hour driving marathon. Scott, who now is warming up on a newly repaired beloved old horn welcomes me to the road warrior club…but I’ve done this before! Flora Purim & Airto Moreira (Brazilian jazz legends extraordinaire) April 1982, LA to NYC. Scott and I took a moment in Amarillo, TX to find a wireless connection at a Starbucks and try to accomplish a bit of office correspondence. It was a real treat to pick up an email from Flora and Airto (!) to congratulate me on my retirement. I can assure you….a wonderfully sweet retirement so far!
44 degrees F on I-44 North. Close cropped golden grassy highway corridors, reflections of bare trees in the sloughs and ponds off the side of the road – yup, this is the Midwest. 70 miles to Tulsa. Texas flats giving way to rolling hills.
Tulsa time is pretty cloudy, sleepy…”and various other dwarfs”, Scott says. The wide and flat Arkansas River is the forefront of a great view of the city as we sail over the I-44 bridge. Last time I was in Tulsa was on tour with Flora and Airto, where we had to leave our rental car in town because of a snow storm and catch a train to Buffalo, NY to make the next gig…
This is getting to be blog-zilla, Scott says…signing off for now…but, dear reader, we shall return. Keep swingin’!
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