Just a quick note for those of you that do not live in the LA area or that missed the show today - Jazz and Poetry - The Jazz Poets Cafe is online for the next month and can be listened to from anywhere on your computer or downloaded onto your iPod.
The link -
http://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/m3u.php?mp3fil=24225 Jazz
Poets Thanksgiving Show on KPFK - Listen to the show right now if you
missed it - Jazz and Poetry with Greg and Myrenna - 30 minute show on
KPFK's archive - and Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
Click to play or left click and save as - save target as - for your iPod. The link should be good for about a month.
Blessings to each of you this Thanksgiving Day and thru the Holiday season!!
I think gratitude is a very important attitude to practice. I have an article on Greg Vail dotcom that has many of my thoughts and articles from other people a ot smarter than me - thought we should all review a bit. I read thru it and then found an article that covered the topic really well and just updated the page with a top 10 list.
I think Thanksgiving comes before Christmas for good reason. An attitude of gratitude is important to rehearse before we move into the over commercialized Christmas season, for peace, reducing envy and our overall level of joy.
Here is the link - Christmas Thoughts is the article title, and it is top 10 GOOGLE for Christmas Thoughts! Check it out and leave me your thoughts.
A good friend of mine runs a top 10 Christmas Music site on GOOGLE and is a real awesome guy. He decided to try and use the high rank for good in the world and started a forum for sharing "Random Acts of Kindness". I loved the idea and found the page yesterday, posting and reading thru others ideas and acts. I love my buddy Randy and applaud his desire to use his high visibility for good!!
Take a look and then look for a small act of kindness you might be able to do. If you like the idea, share your act for others inspiration! The site is Xmas Fun - and here is the page link to
In Sax news - I actually had 2 weeks of real work with 5 nights of work for 2 weeks! Had a new Jam Session start Sunday that was amazing. We had great musicians come down, an amazing turn out and the music was crazy good. Even had Bunny Burnel in the audience, just hanging! Bunny is a world class bass player and has worked with Brecker, Chick, you name it... Very cool hang!!!
Christmas Sales have started to really scream! I have free tracks on the Smooth Jazz Christmas site - DOWNLOADS 3 free tracks - Penny Whistles and Flute/Pic track. VERY COOL......
Been very busy and I have lots to try and cover in a few minutes!
Was in Santa Barbara this weekend and Atlanta earlier in the week. Had ALL the computers acting up and have not been online nearly enough due to that - dang PCS!!!
The new Smooth Jazz Christmas site has free downloads you can have. I recorded a couple of Penny Whistle tracks and they are really fun! Check them out and download them when you have a minute for Christmas Music!!
No news on the Gospel Jazz Radio Show. The sponsor has not responded and it is an open ticket right now.
There are tracks to listen too all over the web and traffic is already starting to create problems! Good problems, but problems none the less. Hoping a few of you might actually buy a track or 2! CDs make great gifts and spending is very smart over time rather than waiting to buy all your gifts in 2-3 days right before Christmas.... HAHA - Like I do....
Gotta get back to work. Been updating sound clips online, updated the Sax Video Site and shipping more CDs to the new distributor!! Hoping this is a sign of things to come!!
Blessings thru a great November of Thanksgiving!!! Greg
I am amazed how fast 2009 is passing and that the first decade of the new
Century is within sight. How could we survive Y2K and be living 10 years into
the new millennium? I am stunned to be here and to be struggling to survive with
the totally destroyed California economy thanks to irresponsible physical
spending and management. <but I digress>
Oh well - Not where any of us thought we might be at this point in history,
but we are survivors and moving forward the best we can!!
So the big news is not really great news because I think there has been a
record amount of lost and last minute canceled gigs this month. I had at least 2
thousand dollars walk off my calendar for November, so far, and at least half
that amount last month. As I talk with musicians around the country, it is all
the same news - cut backs and layoffs - canceled gigs and tours - sessions
pulling budgets and releases way back - pay going down and the greedy feeling
good about it - calling it recouping recent losses. Some places have seen
upswings and it will be a longtime for a musician to see any share of that. If a
recovery is coming, it will be the next year or 2 after it "Arrives" that any of
my world will experience it.
So, lots of playing and recording with friends as none of us make any money
- the music is still amazing! The players are still killing! I am just noticing
it is all happening more underground these days where the public will never see.
I believe this too will change in time, but it is very odd.
Enough ramblings from the saxboy!
I have had sessions coming in thru the net and been recording more this
last 2 weeks which is very good! I have also been taking a few more web projects
on than usual to fill in the financial gap - both design, updates and SEO. I'm
glad I have that to fall back on but always wish I was doing site stuff for me
and not others while I am there, doing it.
Yamaha was a great day of gear, music and players last Monday (see last
post). Jim's Music for Fender night was another amazing night that I found my
lust focused on electronic toys rather than brass toys! If Musicians had cash,
the economy would look fine! To bad we can't follow the example of our
leadership and just print a pile and spend,Spend,SPEND!!!
Today was the open house at the LA Yamaha Atelier with Rico
and Yamaha products out in full force! Every sax neck you could imagine, G1, G3,
F1, M1, silver plate, gold plate, un-lacquered, cryo, gold lacquer! The full
lines of saxophones and clarinets! Specialty options to see and try like
cryogenic saxes, metal thumb hooks and thumb posts, wireless pack clip plates,
and a laundry list of Frankenstein experiments that must go unmentioned at this
time.
I love Yamaha saxes and Yamaha staff! Always trying stuff!
Listening to players – then trying stuff. Yamaha has many of the best players
around to work with and the ideas were flying again today! Love that energy!!!
Full line of Saxes included 475 and 875 Soprano’s (silver
plate, black lac. gold lac), Z and 875EX Alto’s in all finishes. Same with
Tenors, and a great 62 Bari! What a
treat to see, hear and play. I had the guys pull one of the Cryo Altos I helped
demonstrate last month for video and the response was great on it with all the
players!
I was pretty metro too when I had them dig out a form fit,
leather Alto gig bag to show off too (The Cryo Alto’s come with these bags and
they are really pretty.)
I was bad and ignored the clarinets since we had a cool guy
out from the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and I was not going to play in
front of him! His name was Ben Freimuth and he looked too young to have a
symphony gig, but really kicked butt!
I really enjoyed the
hang with sax players today. A guy I had not met yet, from Australia
(but an Englishman living in Australia)
was Gary Honor. He was a great player and really awesome guy. I spent a good
deal of time getting to know Gary and he had quite a story. Gary
had Bell Palsy caused by shingles in his ear, creating a horrible impossibility
for playing a sax and some serious tough times in his life.
Saxophone Players Gary Honor, Greg Vail and Mindi Abair
Gary stuck with
it, finding creative ways to try and play. First thing I noticed today was a weird
piece sticking out of the side of his mouthpiece. Gary
explained it served as a support and guide to keep it in place while the
feeling and muscles were still weak. He even told of an odd contraption he
made out of wetsuit material that went around the back of his head and around
his chin with a hole in it for the mouthpiece to play. He was attempting to create the
support his facial muscles refused him, and refused to stop trying.
I was inspired by his passion and love of music. He went
thru some stuff that any sax player would freak out about, and he was playing
GREAT and a very happy and humbled man from this experience. Inspired is the
word! Thanks Gary Honor for sharing!
I love Shiltz! He is one dang funny English guy, all the
time! You NEVER get a straight word out of him, but some pretty aggressive sax
playing can light up the room when he blows! I didn’t get a lot of time with
him since he was busy getting the latest set of dents removed from his Tenor –
AGAIN!
Robert Kyle is an LA regular and I love his playing. Great
guy and great player! He snuck in a little later and was in the Frankenstein
world for a bit trying little options out, but did hang in the big room and we hung.
One person I don’t get to see very often and really enjoyed
was Mindi Abair! When Mindi first mover to LA, I met her and worked with her
thru the Kilauea organization. Mindi was pretty dang
gutsy! She loaded up a little car and drove out here with what she could fit in her Honda. She made the transition from survival waitress gigs thru music related jobs
like marketing and tour manager with BrainChild, to playing with me in Kilauea
and taking better playing gigs as they came.
Mindi really sounds like the American Dream girl with a
tenacious approach and determination that has obviously paid off! So funny –
Mindi said when she first met me I was doing all the gigs she wished she could
do. I laughed because I see her on gigs I wish I could do as 'the' artist in
2009! Funny how things can flip around.
I really love this girl and am so proud of her
accomplishments. She is a new Yamaha Artist and was sounding great on her new
Yamaha's! We talked for a good long time and as always – I totally enjoyed that
‘catch up time’ – again!
Kurt Witt, Jeff Peterson and the guys did a great job
today! I hope they do it again, or at least try and find an annual time to do
it year to year. Most saxophone players will never get to play all the saxes
and options. I see the full line of necks every decade or so. But today, we got
them all at one time and in one place with friends. What more could you ask
for?? If you hear about an event like this and can make it in - Do it!
Pumped me up! I’m already way too excited (see the length of
this post) and want ting to write and record the minute I am done here.
Get out and play new saxes! Do it! I can’t buy any of them
either, but love the life they breath and the passion they kindle. They can make you dream of a change or send you home happy with the sax you've got!!!!
Every musician knows the REAL tax deadline is October 15th. I got back from the raod trips last month and have been in lock down to do 2008's bookkeeping so I can get taxes filed for 2008. I am barely making it this year and still have last minute stuff to finish. I am sorry that posting on these things comes and goes, with weeks getting lost when things get crazy - but I would be lieing if I said it will ever really change.
If I ever get a fulltime employee it might, but that will probably happen right after the next ice age or after I move to Mars.
So - a little more tax junk to finish - then:
Pictures from South Dakota and Nashville A few new videos finishing the Soprano Sax Site finishing the Smooth Jazz Christmas site 2 sessions to record some last minute Christmas stuff??
Back work on label issues and career options and planning!
Blessings and joy for a weather change that actually made it cold for a minute on So Cal!!
Back from a great weekend in South Dakota at CelebrateCommunityChurch in Sioux Falls. It was a huge 10th anniversary celebration with a band from Saddleback Church Gospel playing, along with Petra and the worship team in Sioux Falls.
We had an amazing time and I loved Pastor Keith, Chris,Terra and all the awesome folks we got to know this past weekend! Hanging with Petra was an added treat since I did a session a long time ago on a praise CD – Petra– The Rocks Cry Out, and had not seen these guys in ages! What an amazing time of celebration and praise!
In the meantime – I got a message from Yamaha and the video is out on the Cryogenic tests we performed on 2 Yamaha Custom Z altos over the past 2 weeks. I was eager to get a listen to the audio and see if the tone did track as different as the saxes felt. We recorded pre-cryo and post-cryo. It seemed to be a huge difference when playing them, but I wanted to hear the difference, or even see how much of it fell on the player’s experience, and how much was going to be evident in the audio.
The video is posted on the Yamaha Winds page on Face Book and I am going to include the link here. I’m not sure if the link will let you hear the clip if you are not signed into FaceBook, but guess we’ll find out soon enough!
I heard a noticeable difference and have had comments that agree. Now, a disclaimer is probably needed here, because I am not nearly as comfortable talking on tape as I am writing or hanging with people in less formal settings. This was a little rough around the edges, but, my talking is probably of less interest than the instrument clips!
Try the link and tell me – Do you hear a difference? What and where? Love to hear your thoughts! There is a post a few days back that I kind of explained what we did here on the BLOG.
Here is the link. For more information on the 20 saxes treated, check out the Yamaha Winds page on Face Book and the Yamaha Winds Blog. Cool things going on these days!!
Hey BLOG Peeps! Working hard on a short week between travel dates! Was in Nashville all week last week and have M-TH to get as much as I can done before leaving for South Dakota Friday morning!
Lots has been going on, but that is not that unusual. I have been working on CD stuff with a new label, moving forward on releases and catalog releases this week. Innervision Records is my new label home and I am very excited about working with Adam Leibovitz and my new family of amazingly talented label mates! Feeling very blessed these days!
The label just signed a new distribution deal and Smooth Jazz Classics shipped today! Pretty cool! I also found another problem with no stock for my Emotion CD, I am working on a short run to stock the distribution and have them around for holiday sales. I guess that's a good problem to have!
With Christmas marketing busy with activity going into the Christmas season, I have also been working on a new Christmas Website which is now live. SmoothJazzChristmas.com will be home primarily to my one Smooth Jazz Christmas release and future Smooth Jazz Christmas recordings. Check it out and let me know what you think. It is not totally done yet, but is coming together nicely.
As a sad aside - Tax season is way up in my face and somehow, I need to get a few weeks of shabby accounting done in a few days while being out of town way too much this month. I have grand hopes of breaking every record and having taxes in by Oct 15th! They are grand and hopes though....
On a personal note - been reading a great book (by the suggestion of a business mentor of mine, John Maxwell) and I am loving it. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin is an amazing, engaging and hard to put down book on the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. If you don't include the over 150 pages of notes in the back, the book is only 750 pages long. With everything going on, I have been picking it up in every break to get a little more. I have to admit I seldom read books this fat and it will be a while before I am done with it.
Interesting things I have learned thus far - Death and sadness was a way of life in the mid 1800's. Women and children seemed to be dieing all the time of illness or in childbirth. Salmon Chase (ran against Lincoln) lost 3 wives and 2 children in 11 years and was deeply effected by such personal loss. Grief and illness followed Americans on short leashes while the hardships of life battered the fledgling new nation. That was an eye opener.
One other observation was the political parties of that day. They were in constant upheaval. The politicians of the day seemed to move around thru party affiliations like a kit in the sky. Chase, for instance, was a member of 5 different parties in his political career. It seems, people would start a party with a specialty concern, and then guys would change there party. Pretty crazy.
Odd thoughts - The old party that became know as the Republican party was called the Whig party. Wonder if that is where the term "big Whig" came from? Other funny note is some of the party names. There was actually a party called the Know Nothing Party. How lame is that. I am wondering if we can just rename both of our genius political parties Know Nothings and forget about them?? hahaha!
Greg Vail here and excited about a new set of saxophone tests we just completed today at Yamaha! I was asked to help with a little experiment at Yamaha with the Cryogenic machine they have been playing with. I love being involved with equipment experiments and love sax gear and development.
I have gone thru periods of time that I bought a dozen different ligatures or mouthpieces just to see what I might get in tone or range. I have even taken a few projects on myself like silver and gold plating Bari Sax necks to see if a neck could change a Bari's sound. I have also tested hundreds of saxophones over the past 15+ years and regularly talk to manufacturers with ideas I would love to see explored. This stuff gets me excited.
All this said, I loved being the guy that got to play these saxes and experience the change caused by the Cryo process.
We spent a day testing 2 Yamaha Alto Saxophones, Custom Z standard lacquer, before they hit the Cryogenic machine last Monday. Both saxes played great out of the box. I am a Yamaha guy and have been for many years, so Yamaha's always feel great to me. They are very familiar and my preferred saxophone, so of course I generally love them. These Custom Z's were no exception.
Jeff Peterson and Greg Vail in the Saxophone Shop at Yamaha Los Angeles, CA.
We did Video and Audio recording for sax players to see and hear, and compare for themselves any audible differences in tone. Since there was no way to be truly scientific about this, I did the few things I could to make the tests as beneficial as I could. We made notes as I played the saxophones. Many of these comments are on tape, some were made for my own comparison. I took the reed I used and set it aside for the next test since a reed change can really color a compare and contrast experience. We even made notes as to the differences between the 2 saxes and marked them by serial number.
The saxes were then torn apart and put thru the Yamaha Cryogenic treatment, reassembled and made ready for my play test today.
Yamaha would not let me play them today off camera because they wanted the reactions to be real and fresh. I was pleasantly surprised that the sound did seem bigger and rounder. The low range and mid range showed the most dramatic improvement. The saxes seemed to sing with greater depth all the way to the bottom Bb, and the middle D, E, F had a noticeably rounder sound. I think I said on the video, "It is like taking a great sounding stereo mix and then hitting the wide button, and the sound seems to go even further out and fuller than you would have thought possible."
Another interesting thing that I thought could be the case, but really had no idea - the differences between the 2 saxes tested seemed to be less obvious. I had liked the second one better than the first on day 1, pre-cryo. Today, I found them to be almost identical in sound and feel. I have always felt that Yamaha is the most consistent saxophone manufacturer on the planet! But this Cryogenic process seemed to take that a step further than I thought possible.
Both of these instruments were great playing, out of the box. But, to quote a favorite movie - these saxes go to 11! I was very impressed and not real happy to leave them sitting at the office. They even come with a great new case that I hope Yamaha will make available. It was a beautiful hard case shell, form fitting should bag, with 2 tone brown leather attached to the case shell. I just got back from Nashville yesterday and had to use an old trashed Selmer hard bag to fly. I soooooo wish I had this new bag! It's worth the price of admission! I always loved the old Reunion Blues bags, but knew any sax was destined to be destroyed in them due to the design - visually awesome, structurally retarded. I don't know how Yamaha did it, but this case has the class of the old RB cases but a sturdy shell to keep the sax safe as well.
Sorry for going on so long, but I do wish I had that dang case....
What is Yamaha doing with this footage?
A video will be going online at FaceBook and the Cryo debate can continue to rage. Sax Players will be able to see and hear the before and after tests, learn about the process of Cryogenics and get my reaction to the Players Experience playing them.
The Yamaha Winds Blog will have the information on this limited, numbered series of saxes. They are making 20 of them. The dealers they ship them to will be listed so you can go play a Yamaha Cryo Sax. I hope many will go blow one just to check it out. You don't have to be in the market to buy one this second, but it is really cool to play and hear!
Yamaha has a few different things they are working on right now. I was included in the Cryo tests and the other project is a Artist Select Saxophone. I'm not going to say anything about it because I don't know if it has been announced at all yet. But I will say, it is a great idea and there are going to be some really excited sax players out there!
The dates and link for the Cryo video release will be posted on my blog and my Face Book Pages since, that was the place Yamaha said the Cryo Video will be posted for y'all to see. (Bad case of the Nashville!
It might be a few months before everything is done and shipping, but it is pretty exciting news and, as always, some really great sax stuff from my fave!
Been in Nashville all week and just got home tonight. I played with my dear friend Charles Billingsley and a band of guys I really enjoy playing with and hanging with too! The conference was the AACC which stands for American Association of Christian Counselors. It was held at the Gaylord Hotel in Nashville and was an awesome week spent with some truly amazing people. My friends from New Life, both Henry Cloud and John Townsend spoke along with a cast of inspirational hero's from the Christian world.
I love Chuck Colson! He is always amazing. Joni E Tada was deep! John Piper, Gary Smalley... It was an amazing week! Music came from Charles but included Amy Grant, Michael Omartian, Star Field and lots of others! It was a really cool hang and I was blessed to be around so many great leaders.
Hanging in Nashville is always a treat. About half the band I was with lives in Nashville now so we had the inside scoop on good eats and it was great. I did a night on the town too - heading off by myself to the city and had quite the adventure.
It all started with Face Book posts and a new friend on FB writing me to say she was in Nashville too. I found out she was working at the TPAC theater doing Wicked and checked on tickets for the night. It had been sold out forever, BUT, they had information on a limited number of tickets to be released the day of at a really great price and I headed to the performing arts center to try this raffle process and try and see the show.
I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going, but, what the heck? I had the night off and now had a plan. The only problem was, this EVENT was advertised and, by the time they actually did he drawing for the tickets, 100's of excited people crowded the performing arts center with cameras rolling and 20 seats going up to the draw.
Well, I did get close.... Kinda! One of the names drawn started with Greg and the last name was close; something like Valaso. I was a little disappointed after 18 bucks to get there, 10 bucks for an umbrella because no one from So Cal would have thought it would be raining the whole time, and I knew someone so I would have got a tour of the pit and back stage area.
Well, I ended up downtown on a Friday night in Music City! Not a problem. I found a great place to eat and hung listening to great music, all country of course! It ended up being an awesome night and I had a ball.
That was Friday. Tonight is Sunday and I am home. I left Tuesday and just got back. It was a long week.
In Yamaha news, I did day 1 of video taping for a Cryogenic sax test last Monday; before the cryo process, and then I am scheduled to play the same saxes post cryo tomorrow on video for everyone to hear. I was totally excited to be apart of this experiment and I am probably most excited about getting a chance to hear the video before and after.
So, off to Yamaha to play these saxophones tomorrow and it will all be recorded so sax players can hear the before and after. I am loving September so far. Very exciting stuff!
The only other piece of news would be the Gospel Jazz Radio Show is still on hold. I was gone and not able to be very involved in the process, but this next week will be spent working on that area of the business. Then off to South Dakota for the weekend to do a church Gospel gig.
I'll post the outcome of the sax test tomorrow. Hope fall begins to feel like fall soon. Blessings until next post.
