[Dixielandjazz] Pro Rehearsing was 6th Flat in Gb

[Steve Barbone]

on 10/4/06 11:49 AM, Russ Guarino at russg at redshift.com wrote:

> I think,
> 
> because we play so much in -0-,1&2 sharps or flats, being hit with sight
> reading
> and jamming in 5 or 6 flats or sharps is darn difficult.
> 
> Such tunes would need some warm up if not out right rehearsal, which, as you
> know, is never done by the pros. At least from my experience.
> 
> Russ -Clarinet maven up to about four sharps/flats.  After that, some warm up
> is
> needed- Guarino

Careful Russ about "never". E.G. Many pros rehearse extensively before, say,
cutting a record. Especially big bands, and/or recently formed groups that
did not play with each other regularly.

My hero, Thelonious Monk sometimes did this. He was a bug about the sidemen
learning his tunes by ear and would not give them the music until they
learned it by ear. Relatively easy to do on his more simple tunes, and on
some of his "live" records of club dates or concerts, you can hear that
there was no rehearsal, however:

Once, when contracted to make a record, the contract included payment for
rehearsal time. So Monk rehearsed the band without the music. Went on for 2
days before the company said enough is enough. It seems some of the sidemen
still did not have the tune down and kept asking for the music.

So when the plug on rehearsal payments was pulled, Monk whipped out the
music and they went ahead and recorded.

If I remember correctly (most always problematical), one of the tunes they
were having trouble with was the A section of "Four In One".

Cheers,
Steve Barbone