Cream, Blues, Jack Bruce

I have been, to use the vernacular, bingeing on the blues, Cream, Clapton, Bruce, Baker, Guy, Terry, gawd the list goes on for about an hour.

Mississippi Fred McDowell was my introduction, circa the summer of 1969.

How this led me to Steve Miller, God only knows.

Actually I do. My mother's teachings...I saw a sampler album from Capitol for a whopping ninety nine cents.

Besides the universal message the blues can help us convey, the beat in a good boogie woogie makes me mental. That was gift from my father. At six he taught me to play the boogie on the piano. I could only handle one hands worth at the time but I felt it in my bones.

Which is my main point.
Rhythm is the key to music. There are only 12 or so notes, so every combination has already been played, when it comes to melodic stuff.

But the rhythms we can make are infinite.
It was rhythm that first reached me musically.
That walking bass makes me squirm...I am dancing. I cannot help myself.

Is it mom's heartbeat in the womb that begins this?
Was she dancing when I was in there? Was dad playing Fats Waller...loudly?

I am giggling now that I see my own musical genesis laid out so.
My hands are too small to play the bass. At least that is what I told myself since I think there are no limitations, just mental barriers. If Jimi could play with those huge paws what is stopping me and my teeny ones?

Al DiMeola started playing the drums at age eight.
This makes a lot of sense to me.

Man, I Love To Play

Playing any gig is a night well spent.
Even an old tired standard.

We're at The TreeHouse.

Playing Sweet Home Alabama, a song I really, really dislike.

It is a two guitar tune. And the band I am playing with has only one guitar at the moment.
I understand their desire to try out tunes that were formerly beyond their sound's depth. But I would have thought of several other tunes first - Layla, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Brown Sugar, Can't You Hear Me Knocking, Black Market...I could go on for an hour.

And it went really, really well. The audience liked it and we enjoyed playing it.

The weather was not as cold as it could have been, but it was clear and clean. Invigorating.

The front man plays lead and sings; up until this point he has had no support when he 'wanders off' to play solos or flourishes.
I was there to plug that hole. And plug away I did.
Even when it is such a trite and true tune.

I did one song and made a few bucks. A couple slaps on the back and a few compliments. It was a good night.