The Mating Game

Two weeks ago, I composed music for the romantic comedy "The Mating Game", the Phoenix Independent Film Makers Group's entry in the IFP-Phoenix 48-hr film challenge. Friday at 7:00 PM we were given a prop (a spatula), a line ("How did that get in there?"), and a genre (we got comedy). Our completed 3-minute film was due Sunday evening at 7:00 PM. There were 30 or so teams that participated- the screening this Thursday involved more spatula-related homicides than most of my evenings out.

I didn't get to score to picture, just to the script, because of the time contraint, but I think the music ended up working fairly well anyway, and it was fun to do. Here's the 5-minute "director's cut":

Sextet Concert Last Month

A month ago, I got to present a concert of original music as part of the Jazz in the Hills series, in Fountain Hills, AZ. The musicians were Mike Krill on saxophones, Denny Monce on trumpet, myself on trombone, Dave Henning on piano, Tim Paree on bass, and Andy Ziker on drums, who all learned a lot of my tunes in a very short time. I've posted a few of them here, on the left, just below my gig calendar. I really want to record cleaner, tighter versions, but for now, enjoy! The first four are originals- Mo' Better Blues is the theme from the movie of the same name, composed by Bill Lee.

Why did it take me a month to get these up here? Well, I've had a long month. If you're a friend of mine (and I doubt many other people ever read this), then you probably already know what's been going on for me- if you don't, just ask. If you're an enemy, I'm not telling.

Corporate Affair

Last Sunday, I was accepted into Corporate Affair, a very special function band here in Phoenix. It's run by Michael Pollack, who, aside from being a drummer, is a successful businessman and local philanthropist. (I'm also in his debt for starting my favorite (and the only) local discount movie theater.) The band is dedicated to helping raise funds for local causes and non-profits, and keeps very busy playing benefits, charity events, and city functions. It's a full-out show band, with background singers, a dedicated percussionist, and now a full horn section ('cause it ain't full unless there's a bone in there!) I'll be adding their dates to my calendar- we're basically off for the summer after a July 4th gig, but then have a regular schedule all winter long. Anyway, I'm psyched, for the music, the new folks to know, and (as my friend Tyrone of K2 always said) the cha-ching.

Not accepted to Richard Bellis program

Yup- got word from ASCAP a few days ago that I wasn't one of the lucky few accepted into their July film scoring workshop in L.A. Oh well- I'll just have to find some other fun way to get out of Phoenix at some point. Cruise ship job maybe?

Concert June 27

I've been writing up a book of a lot of jazz tunes I've written, and I've been thinking about finding a way to play them, putting a group together or something. My friend Dave Henning and the guys in his band have been super-supportive of this, and they called me last week to offer me some space for my music on a concert they'd been asked to do. So on June 27, the Jazz in the Hills series will present the Dave Henning Quartet, plus me and trumpeter Denny Monce, playing a whole concert of mostly my music. It's really generous of them and I'm totally psyched. Hoping to get all the arrangements for them done during the next week...

The gig is in the Fountain Hills Community Theatre, which- maybe takes place in a restaurant called the Appian Way? I'm not quite sure, but here's the listing on their schedule.

More Practicing

Last week I tried to coordinate a session to record a few of my jazz tunes that have been sitting around forever. The session ended up not happening- the people I called couldn't find common time, at least not yet- but in the five days before I found out it wasn't going to happen, I started practicing a lot- first by being more consistent about playing at the community college in the morning before work, and then for the last two days, after work as well, usually about 40 minutes each. I guess when I imagined recording myself, I immediately heard things I wanted to change in my playing- plus I had to learn all these tunes I had written so long ago. Anyway, it's been a heavy schedule sometimes, and if I want to keep it going I'll probably have to lessen my other commitments- but it's felt really good too. The disheartening feeling of having to relearn the horn every time I pick it up is finally disappearing. My a.m. routine is the Schlossberg daily drills book, sight-reading, and etudes for technique, and my p.m. routine is Caruso excercises, learning jazz tunes, and working on improvising.

More Musicals!

Since we finished the Little Mermaid at work, I've been working steadily on South Pacific for local theater Desert Stages, and also for Stage Stars. It's been all my work so far, but since it's Friday evening now, the show is due on Sunday night, and I still have three main numbers to go plus reprises and stuff, my boss and I will both be at work tomorrow morning, and he'll do one or two of these last numbers.

I wish I knew how long it took me, but I haven't been keeping track. I've been working on it for either 2 or 3 weeks, but I'm not sure which.

Sorry I can't post samples of the music, but it's not really my property- I'm just hired to create it for other people who actually own it. When the CD hits Amazon, I'll link to samples there.

PS Never mind- Stage Stars doesn't seem to have samples to listen to on their Amazon page. This is the Amazon page for the Stage Stars album of Damn Yankees that I worked on nine months ago- no samples.