infrogmation | Riverbend Radio Ramblers on WWOZ

The broadcast debut of the "Riverbend Radio Ramblers" went well.

We had 2 trumpets, trombone, soprano sax, alto sax, 2 tenor sax, guitar, banjo, piano, sousaphone, and drums. One of the tenor saxes was a neighborhood friend who's a real pro (has gold records on his walls and such) who showed up to play with us as a ringer, so we gave him solos on most of the numbers.

The guitar player had a bit of stage fright on the first number, and one of the trumpets was having some problems that morning (he should have given the opening fanfare on one number to someone else), but on the whole it went well.

While we have the rough edges of not having played together much, we certainly played well enough for the occasion and folks seemed to enjoy us.

We listened to a cassette partial aircheck afterwards. Not too bad for getting 12 pieces in a small irregularly shaped space with 3 set-in-place mikes. The saxes sometimes overpowered the rest a bit. The piano and banjo were often inaudible, but as we had the good guitar player close to one of the mikes it generally sounded good none the less. Some of the vocals were a bit overmodulated, which of course is very preventable after the first note by turning down the pot but that wasn't done. Someone else was enineering, as I was playing trombone. I often use the old technique of waving people closer or further from the mikes when I engineer a live band with a couple mikes, but too few people seem to know how or bother to do that now.

I had requested we practice with a vocal mike at the rehersal last Thursday, but no one else thought it was important enough to do so (we had one mike and a little speaker used by the guitarist). This lack of preparation led to our one bit of band personality drama-- it turns out that trumpet guy and sax gal had both thought they were singing the lead and the other was singing backup on a duet number. At practice they had both just belted it out across the room from eachother. Fortunately I think it sounded fine on the air none the less, and the argument didn't happen until out of the studio afterwards.

I sang for part of one number and was the singer on another. I don't think I have much of a voice. I've been getting more requests to do guest vocals with other bands and a fellow musician told me I was the best singer with this group, which puzzles me. That might make me think I could actually sing, but I listen to recordings to confirm that's not so. I still think I shouldn't try anything more than the occasional novelty vocal. However my whistling solo chorus on "All of Me" I thought sounded even better than I thought-- I knew I can whistle the notes, but I seem to have a decent tone as well, so I might wish to try doing that on more than one number on a gig as a novelty when we have a microphone.

The numbers were old standards, but except for our last number (encore) we had something unusual and interesting in our head arrangements for them:

Bill Bailey, with my 3 chorus vocal arrangement, with a version of seldom heard alternative lyrics in the second chorus and then a counterpoint vocal trio on the last.

All of Me, with a beautiful tuba, guitar, and drums introduction, and later whisting chorus

Bei Mir Bis Du Shoen, guitar player takes a great vocal, and we had a nice section solos-- one for the trumpets and trombone, one for the sax section.

KMFA, also known as "Mama's Baby Boy", "Do What Ory Say", and dozens of other titles as the original New Orleans traditional title is a bit rude (The first two letters stand for "Kiss" and "My"). I was a bit reluctant to do it on the air, but some of the band thought it perhaps our best number. We did some just moderately risque lyrics. Performed live this is a great tune for a long jam, everyone takes a break on it, but that would be a bit too long for the radio.

Bourbon Street Parade, encore, nothing remarkable (and the tune is just a variation on Bill Bailey in another key anyway, but some like it).

We plan to play together more in this configuration. The "Riverbend Radio Ramblers" name was for the show; we may change it to something else, though it may stick if we can't agree on anything better. It's interesting playing with such a big indoor band, we plan to play together more. Another trombonist and a clarinetist who couldn't make it Monday may play with us as well.

While I'm jabbering on about playing with my trombone and such, local friends can catch my next schedualed public appearance this comming Monday night at 10pm at the Neutral Ground with the Genial Orleanians. I'll throw in a whistling solo if they'll let me get away with it.