Tim Price Bloggin' For Rico Reeds- Practical Application Experience.

~ With all the graduating, and jumping into the world. I want to say a few things. This music needs more play time, and less talk. Less yak on the Pro-Casta-Net aka-Facebook & all it's related time wasting spawns. Pro-Casta-Net = procrastinator net. I see all this talk, not enough music, hustling gigs gigs, playing for the sheer sake of playing music.

See that picture up there! That eliminates a huge set of discussions on the net'. Yeh- you can fly with a baritone saxophone. I use a BAM case and it fits up top. I never have a problem in the 8 plus years I use it- it's been to hell and back with me. Pre-boarding helps, as does please and thank you.I fly with a baritone sax for all kinds of things-school, university clinics, workshops, jazz festivals, horn sections at times for Lynyrd Skynyrd but it always flys overhead. THERE YOU GO- PRACTICAL APPLICATION. Done deal. Deal done.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION 1. of, involving, or concerned with experience or actual use; not theoretical 2. of or concerned with ordinary affairs, work, etc. 3. adapted or adaptable for use 4. of, involving, or trained by practice 5. being such for all useful or general purposes; virtual TRAINED BY PRACTICE. Get out there, and make the music stronger. I've been saying this. Sure. Thing is the guys that are my age when we went to Berklee in 1969, could already play a wedding, or bar gig. We were not Coltrane or Stanley Turrentine nor Stan Getz but we realized this music was- HANDS ON.

Michael Brecker, god bless him, was a great friend of mine. He knew tunes without a Real Book in front of him. Like my blog said last week- I hope people are taking heed and looking at that reality. Everything ain't Wayne Shorter tunes and " Inner Urge". Nor is it one chord funk jams- though we all love to play them. It's about a new reality and NOT trying to be like some guy you hear or read about. ~Beyond-the-classroom opportunities.ok? Search inside you for the the inner sources of spontaneous creation,where art in the widest sense comes from. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art,is about yourself.All the things in life you love to do, regardless of how well you or others think you do them. Whoever you are, and whatever you do, discover what creativity is, where it comes from,and how we can make it sizzle and on your own terms.Ypu do that with otheres on the bandstand, in the loft, practice room, garage, backroom bar and rehearsal room. But do it!Jamming becomes a shared manifestation of a single impulse at least an attempt at it – and when you all lock in together, there’s nothing like that feeling. If I had to choose between jamming and gigging, I’d choose jamming – just for the excitement of finding that groove with a different bunch of people. At its core jamming is all about collaboration, instinct and innovation. One musician may start things off but it is the obligation of every other musician to build on that, take it further, push the envelope and ultimately take it to a new place. To get jamming to work each player must pick up on other players thoughts, translate them, add to them and then pass it back to them for the process to perpetuate itself. Done well it creates a powerful chain reaction of energised collaboration and creativity that produces something new and wonderful.It also allows you to tap into a deeper, more diverse brains trust that can lead to ground-breaking new ideas for your organisation.

Charlie Mariano used to tell me- " YOU GOTTA PLAY".' With that, I'll close this blog- go play. Get off pro-crasta-net and play, shed, work in a new reed and DO IT. ~ Till next week- Tim Price PS- That picture at the top; ROSELAND BALL ROOM NYC. I played there! I took that picture when I was walking in the " hood" and knew that it might soon begone. I played there with no name dance bands, Cab Calloway, Latin Bands all kinds of bands including Harry James. It's gone now, but it once was! HISTORY. I first met saxophone player Harold Ashby there. He was with a NYC big band for a short period, after Duke Ellington, we become fast friends. I could go on and on. Practical application...real world. Get it? I hope so.....it's life!!!!