0 FACEBOOK LIVE JAZZ STREAMING ON FRIDAY EVENINGS DURING QUARANTINE

Join us every Friday evening from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM PDT during the quarantine for live jazz on Facebook with Tubop!

John Noreyko, tuba & leader
Paul Navidad, saxophones
Andrew Carney, trumpet & flugelhorn
Mark Massey, Rhodes
Jimmy Ford, drums

https://www.facebook.com/TubopLive/

0 PAUL PLAYS LEAD ALTO WITH THE BUDDY RICH BIG BAND

Buddy Rich may have passed away in 1987, but his daughter, vocalist Cathy Rich has kept her father’s band active, with several BRBB alumni, and featuring drummer Gregg Potter. On Sunday, September 29th, the band returned to Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill. Making his debut with the band was saxophonist Paul Navidad, filling the lead alto chair. The band performed two sets in front of a sold-out crowd, playing such BRBB classics as Love for Sale and Groovin’ Hard. Cathy, Gregg, and the BRBB will be returning to the Los Angeles area for another show in January of 2020.

0 Doubling

In a Facebook saxophonists’ forum, the topic of “doubling” and its importance to making a living as a saxophonist was raised.  I responded by sharing a video of Eddie Daniels (below the text of this article) and adding my own comments.

Someone told me about Eddie Daniels’ philosophy on doubling many years ago, and I adopted it as my own (see video below for Daniels’ philosophy). So, I am a saxophonist. I am a clarinetist. I am a pianist/keyboardist. I am a vocalist.

I am, however, a flute owner. I consider it my only true “double.” It is the bane of my existence. But I am more proficient on the flute than many other flute “doublers” who I personally know.

My saxophone teacher in graduate school, Leo Potts, once related a story from his time at the Paris Conservatory:

Once a week, he had a masterclass with Marcel Mule (at the time, Mule only taught the masterclasses; Leo studied privately with Daniel Deffayet). On one snowy week, Leo was the only student to show to the masterclass, so it ended up being a private lesson with Mule. Mule said to Leo, “So you’re a doubler?”

Leo responded, “That’s what we have to do in Los Angeles to survive.”

Mule replied, “In France, we only chase one rabbit . . . but we always catch him.”

 

 

0 PAUL AND REVENGE OF THE SIDEMEN RETURN TO BARLEY FORGE

Join Paul Navidad and the Revenge of the Sidemen at Barley Forge Brewing Company on Thursday, June 13, 2019, at 8:00 PM for an evening of contemporary jazz.  It isn’t often that these guys get out as a unit, so don’t miss out on this rare opportunity to see them live.  Hope to see you there!

Paul Navidad, saxophones
Gary Matsumoto, keyboards
Bart Broadnax, bass
Nick Scarmack, drums

0 THE PATRICK BRADLEY BAND AT SPAGHETTINI

Join Patrick Bradley and his band for an evening of jazz fusion at Spaghettini on Friday, April 5th.  We will be welcoming two new members to the band:  guitarist Philip Gough and drummer Suzanne Morissette. Tickets are available now.  Visit the Spaghettini website to make your reservation today!

Patrick Bradley, keyboards
Paul Navidad, saxophones
Andrew Carney, trumpet
Philip Gough, guitar
Brad Cummings, electric bass
Suzanne Morissette, drums

0 SEE PAUL AT WINTER NAMM 2019

For those of you attending the 2019 Winter NAMM Show, Paul will be performing at the Sax Dakota (PJLM Music Sales & Marketing) Booth, #8933.  Drop by, listen to the tunes, and say, “Hi!”

• Thursday, January 24, 2019 at 3:30 PM with Andrew Carney (trumpet), Dave Murdy (guitar), and Sam Montooth (bass)

0 PAUL WILL NOT BE AT BARLEY FORGE ON 7/19

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Paul will be unable to perform at Barley Forge Brewing Company on Thursday, July 19th.  However, Paul’s Quartet will still be performing there that evening, fronted by trumpeter Andrew Carney.  Please come out to support their performance.

0 Transposition

The following is something I wrote in a Facebook group in response to a young player who was seeking methods to develop his transposition skills:

The ability to transpose is an essential weapon in the aresenal of any working musician. There are a number of different methods to develop this skill.  Personally, I’m a big believer in transposing functionally, meaning using the Solfege system of Moveable DO (where the tonic is DO) to understand the line from a functional standpoint (as opposed to Fixed DO, where C is always DO).  I also use a LA-based minor.  Allow me to explain:

When I practice scales on any instrument, I sing solfege in my head along with the scale so that my muscle memory relates to the function of the notes in the scale (i.e. if I’m in A major, in my head I’m thinking “DO, RE, MI, FA, etc.” rather than thinking “A, B, C#, D, etc.”).  Whenever I read a line or play a melody, I’m either sightsinging or singing it in my head by function.  Since I have practiced my scales functionally, and hear them as such, I can tell my fingers:  “Play in the key of Eb major,” or “Play in the key of B major,” and because I have done the prep work, not only do I play the right notes in the key required, but I also understand their function and am able to optimize their function for a better performance of the line (i.e. leading tone resolution to tonic, subdominant resolution to mediant, adjusting pitch on certain chord tones to tune the ensemble, etc.).

I understand that intervallic transposition is a tried-and-true method, and many of my colleagues teach that way.  However, my issue with intervallic transposition is that not only does it require that you do math on every single note, but it also negates the understanding of function.

Is it a lot of prep work to get to this point?  Sure.  But the benefits to your musicianship are immeasurable, because not only will you be playing the correct notes, you will also have a greater ability to interact with your fellow musicians on the fly.  And besides, who wants to play everything in the same key all the time?  Not only is that boring, but it doesn’t challenge you as a musician.  Why rest on your laurels if you can constantly push yourself to get better?

0 Sounding Legitimate in Multiple Styles

About a month ago, my colleague, saxophonist and educator Jeff Antoniuk had posted an educational video regarding parent rhythms and sounding legitimate when playing in multiple styles.  During our post-video discussion, I related the following story to him:

20 years ago, when I was in my last semester of graduate school, I got called for a gig with a German band. The trombone player in the band had recently relocated from Romania and was a brilliant player. At the time, I didn’t know him well (since then, we’ve become great friends), but if you’ve ever worked with European players from the old country, you know that they are “efficient,” if not brutally honest, when communicating. The second tune of the first set was a happy German march, and I thought I was reading it down great until he turned to me and yelled in this angry, Romanian accent, “STYLE! PLAY STYLE!” I about crapped my pants! From that moment forward, I opened my ears up really big in order to fit in better. When it was an opportunity to solo, I made sure to respect the music by playing things which were idiomatic to each piece.

So about 10 years ago, I was playing a jazz club date, and the kitchen forgot to make my dinner in time for the first break. In the interim, a fellow saxophonist had shown up and we had invited him to sit in during the second set. Just as we called him up, my dinner arrived, so the bandleader said that I could sit out a couple of tunes to eat. The band kicked off Back at the Chicken Shack, and my friend who was sitting in played an adventurous, extended, Bergonzi-esque solo. While he was still playing, a battle-wearied, local veteran, jazz guitarist came up to me and said, “Paul, do you know why you work all the time?” At the moment, all I was interested in was my bowl of jambalaya, so without looking up, I said, “No. Why?” He responded with, “Because when they call a shuffle blues, you PLAY a shuffle blues!”