European Tour
w/Chick Corea

Moscow 10/28/07

I left Nashville at the civilized hour of 1:15 pm on the 27th of October, on Delta thru Atlanta. I was flying business class which reduces the stress on the banjoist who is carrying a prewar mastertone Gibson banjo onto the plane. In this case the banjo fit easily into the overhead, unlike my recent overseas flight last month. On that flight to Japan it did not fit, and I was lucky enough to draw a kind stewardess who allowed me to strap the banjo behind the last seat in business class. It was a big plane and all, but they had gotten jiggy with the overhead bin's design, making it impossible to fit the banjo in its' case

I have been a worrier for a long time about carrying that banjo on planes, due to stories I have heard about them being taken away, put under the plane and then damaged. This happened several weeks ago, as a Canadian banjoist had his pre-war banjo's flange destroyed on his trip to the IBMA in Nashville last month.

Yet I cannot bear to play some other instrument, especially on a trip as musically demanding as this one, a duet tour in Russia, Latvia, Croatia, Spain, Italy, England, the Czech Republic and Turkey with jazz piano great Chick Corea. We are playing fine concert halls, and this is going to be an incredible trip.

Last week I got to visit with Sonny Osbourne, the great banjoist of the Osbourne Brothers. He has played a Gibson from the same era as mine for years, and flown with it a lot. His point of view - why aren't you buying a seat for it? Why would you take that risk with the banjo that is 'your sound'? These only come along once in a lifetime...
So I got the travel agent to do some more homework, and found the dimensions of all the overhead bins on all the flights on this tour. Then I bought tickets for the 5 flights that it won't fit on. I feel better now.

Anyway, I made it fine to Moscow. We are staying at a very nice hotel, the Hyatt. I have never seen a Hyatt this nice before!

I got to walk around Red Square for a while, then went back to the room to sleep for a bit. It is a 7 hour time change from Nashville to Moscow and it seems harder to get used to it going Eastbound.

Late that night Chick and the crew guys got in and we met to make plans in the lobby.

Next day we played the first show. The hall was the Tchaicovsky Hall and it was well attended and successful. We played well, especially for the first show of the tour, with only a quick sound check. We rarely rehearse on these tours, Chick likes to keep it fresh and we have played many times now and we know the music. But I do like how it gets after we have played a few shows. It starts to become really easy and just fun. He is full of ideas and we seem to charge each other up. All the shows are being recorded so, one day there could be a live album of our duo. Chick prefers the idea of using one great night, no edits or substitutions. I normally would go thru every performance looking for the best version of each song and compile a 'super show' out of the material, a la "Live Art".

But I like not being in charge and not doing things the way I normally would, with Chick. I am eager to try it his way, and see what I learn from it. There would be a magic to a straight thru show, that is different and special. Last tour we had a couple of shows that were amazing all the way thru. We'll see if we can beat those on this trip.

Tonight we leave for Latvia.

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Latvia.
10/30/07, 10/31/07

We left our hotel for the airport. The traffic in Moscow at 6 PM was super intense, It took us nearly 2 hours to get to the airport. The flight to Latvia was uneventful.
But when we arrived, there was an unexpected camera crew asking for an interview. They were intrusive and insistent, but we did it anyway. You have to remember when they surprise you like that, that the people who
see the interview will not know the circumstances. So if someone was a little rude to you, you'd need to button it and speak to the audience that is going to see the piece rather than react. These folks were fine, and it was a little comic to us watching them follow and run ahead of us just to get shots of us just putting our suitcases in the car and drive away. Chick suggested that in this country, the people may need to verify that we actually showed up!

In Russia, we heard that a promoter put a Chick Bela show on sale illegally! He sold it out it in a town we were never planning to go to. I can't figure out how he would come out ahead, because people would demand a refund. Unless he just faded away after he got the money...

Anyway, we played tonight in a Hockey Arena. They had closed off a large part of the venue and put the stage close to one end, and put a curtain behind us. There were about 2,000 people there, which we thought was great for Latvia. Actually that'd be real good anywhere. They seemed to really like the music, although they were more reserved than the Moscow audience. For our encore we did a blues and they started to clap along. Apparently they had not heard much jazz before and, honestly we are a pretty strange night of music even for the seasoned listener. But we had a great time and they did too.

I did a lot of practicing today to try to do better at holding my own with Chick. I am learning that doing this can backfire on me. If I show up with a lot of energy and a few new ideas, it is likestirring up a nest of hornets and he shoots up to a whole other level.Then I am sunk
But it is so much fun to see what he will do, I think I'll keep at it and see what happens next!

Tomorrow morning we head for Croatia. This is another country I have never been to.

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Croatia 11/2/07

We had a great time here. The folks treated us great. I also thought this was one of our best shows so far, musically. The house was packed and people were into it. It was hard to believe these folks had been at war so recently. Rather than a hall, the concert was in a sort of function room with the packed audience on various levels. It seemed that this kind of music is rarer here and people gave us very intent and grateful listening attention. Chick introduced the idea of us doing a simple blues as an encore, which we tried for the first time on
this evening.

Istanbul 11/3/07

The last time I had been to Istanbul was the mid 1980s with the New Grass Revival. I was looking forward to seeing the place again. I remember that Istanbul was the first airport where I had seen soldiers with machine guns standing around. It had a lot of impact at the time, and made us kind of nervous! New Grass played a concert in Taxim Square. This was notable, because there had been some demonstrators who were killed by the police a few years previously and this was the first public event in the square since then. Someone said that our concert had washed away the blood! No one told us about this until after we played!

Traffic was pretty insane from the airport. Condoleezza Rice and about 19 other country's ministers are in town having a conference about the Kurdish Turks in Iraq. This crisis has been developing in the last few days and there have been major demonstrations and people hurt in Istanbul. This shut down a lot of city streets and it took us a good 2 hours get to the hotel; as we landed at 3 PM and were performing on the same day, this made things fairly tight. We were just arriving at the hotel at 6 PM. (The next morning, heading to the airport at 8 am took us about 20 minutes.) My parents are traveling around Europe and met us at the hotel.

Everything worked out well. Luckily the show started at 9, so we did have time for a quick soundcheck. Although not so well attended, the concert went very well musically.

I remembered a Turkish tune I had learned back on the New Grass trip from a hammer dulcimer player named Hilmi Rit (the Conun, I think they called the instrument) and was able to insert it into a solo. The audience picked right up on it and clapped along in Turkish style, although I imagine they were far more interested in hearing me play some bluegrass, rather then hear me struggle thru a Turkish tune!

Warsaw and travels to Bulgaria
11/5/07

Leaving Warsaw early morning again, this is our 3rd early morning travel after a late night. There was a little minor banjo drama. When we checked in, we were told that this was not a small jet. But arriving on the tarmac after 3 rounds of security we discovered a small jet with small overhead compartments. Although they were not really wide enough, they were tall, and by wedging something under one side of the banjo, I was able to shut the overhead safely and here I sit writing away.

A less minor drama was what happened in the middle of last night. On a late night trip to the facilities, 3 AM to be exact, I not only fumbled my way into a door, but slammed it mostly shut on my pinkie finger. In all my years of hotel survival I have never managed this trick. And ithurt like hell! I ran cold water on it and checked it carefully for smashed bones. By fluke, and luck it was OK and although sore and swelled up, nothing was smashed or broken.

Ironically Chick and I had been discussing Jimmy Page having to postpone the Led Zeppelin reunion concert due to a hurt finger. We joked around that he should take the Django two fingered approach and rock on! Now karma had paid me a visit and I might have to rock on with 3 fingers on the left hand for a few days!

By the way, I was planning to attend the Zeppelin reunion, due to the generosity of John Paul Jones, who has become a friend and collaborator to the contemporary acoustic scene. Because my tour ends in London, it was looking good. Now that it has been postponed, I don't
know if I can do it...

Our concert last night was a pleasure. We played the Congress Hall, which was built by the Soviets a while back. Apparently the Polish folks were not so thrilled about inheriting this hall after the Soviets left, but it's functionality is undeniable, and concert halls do not grow on trees. Therefore it gets a lot of use.

The Flecktones played there about 10 years ago, and I remembered it well. Chick had an awesome 9 foot 6 inch Bosendorfer grand to play, which he enjoyed a lot. It had extra notes on the bottom end with dark keys, and he used them to great effect.

Chick asked if there were any banjoists in the audience and we experienced a deafening silence.

Bulgaria 11/7/07

I have wanted to go to Bulgaria for a long time, because the music from there is so fantastic. In particular, I am familiar with the Bulgarian woman's choir, Balkan singing and the odd metered dance tunes. They play in meters such as 11/16, 7/8 and 13/8 with speed and joy. In fact many of the folk dances are done in these meters, and everyone can dance to these beats. When we arrived, we had the evening off, so we were able to get a Bulgarian meal. This restaurant, obviously geared for tourists, had great food and musicians that came from table to table playing the traditional music. The food and the music were superb. We asked them to play some 11s some 7s and some 13s and it was fun and challenging to try to count with them. I asked one of our promoters, Ivan to see if he help me find some great local music to take with me.

The next day we played our concert at the National Palace of Culture. It was a very large hall, but we had a good crowd and they loved the music. Chick had done a solo concert here 10 plus years back, people were still buzzing about that performance. Before the show there were a couple of TV interviews to do. There was a very fine Bulgarian jazz piano trio that played before us named JP3. I asked them if they had ever tried incorporating the Bulgarian traditions into their jazz, but they had not. I think it would be really cool to hear!

Our concert went really well. The music seems to be getting looser and looser, and it was really fun. I have to say I have been having more fun playing in this situation than almost any I can remember, and this tour will go down as a musical/career high point for me.

And thank goodness my pinkie operated just fine, although the last digit is still completely numb.

On our way out of town the next morning, our Ivan handed me a pile of CDs of trad music, which I look forward to getting into.

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Prague 11/8/07

I always love going to Prague and this trip was no exception. In the past I have played in a club called the Lucerne and it has always gone well. This time I was elevated to a beautiful concert hall, due to my partnership with Chick. We were staying in a hotel downtown that was once a monastery.

This is a place that has always been warm to bluegrass and new grass music. Something about it clicked here a long time ago.

Folks loved the show, and we did 3 encores! Afterwards I saw some of my Czech bluegrass friends, banjoist Lubos Malina, guitarist Slavek Hanslick and banjo maker Jaroslav Prucha.

Bologna, Itay 11/9/07

We were up early to get en route to Bologna. Travel days with shows on them can be stressful and tiring. We had to get to the airport early, catch a connecting flight in Frankfort (very beautiful from the air), and leave enough time for things to go wrong.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure there is another flight that will still get you there on time to play, in case the original one is canceled or delayed. So these are long days. They involve: Checking out of the hotel, driving to the airport, checking in for the flight, taking the flight or flights, collecting the bags, getting to the hotel, checking in, traveling to sound check, doing the sound check, getting ready for the show,
and then a pile of people show up to hear you play and you need to be at your best. Chick and I have been doing 2 sets a night so that ends up being a couple plus hours of playing. Then we go back to the hotel and so on.

A day off usually means a travel day, and we like to leave as late as possible. This gives us the closest thing to some time off we will get. These are the days when I try to exercise, practice, work on records I am editing, and even shop.

At any rate, Bologna was one of those travel and play kind of days. We managed to squeeze in a great Italian meal before soundcheck. I ordered pasta Bolognese, a local dish.

The gig was fun, it was under the auspices of the jazz festival and happened in a charming hall. The crowd was way into it and so were we.

Next day I was able to walk about some. I found a battery charger for my telephone, which I had mysteriously lost. There was a square in Bologna where there were pictures up of the partisan freedom fighters who had died in World War 2 between 1943 and 1945.

That afternoon we left for Mallorca

11/11/07

Mallorca is an island in Spain. Walking along the water I could see lots of yachts parked and eventually some large cruise ships. There is a lot of shopping and restaurants here plus a late night disco scene that kept our windows rattling into the small hours.

Oddly, the promoter here was the same fellow who brought the Flecktones to Argentina this year, where we had a big success. I couldn't place him at first, he looked so familiar. But he was out of context. This is one of the strange things as a musician. You meet people in certain
towns, and when you meet them elsewhere you can't place them. Honestly, we meet so many people in the course of a year that I am kind of surprised when I do remember a name. I have gotten used to apologizing a lot, or saying something like 'I don't remember anything before 2002', that usually works pretty well. I wish I did remember, but so it goes...

This gig was great, and I was surprised at the strong turnout. Although the gigs are the highlight of each day, it is hard to think of what to tell about them. For instance; Chick played something really cool, the audience applauded in the middle of a song, my banjo was out of tune, we got a laugh, etc. All these things happen every night but telling doesn't really bring it to life. Well, you'll have to come to see one!

11/12/07
Madrid.

I love Madrid, and coming with Chick was a big deal for me. We played in a place that was unusual, it was nearly in the round and the audience seating went way up in the air. There is normally a circus in this place, must be a cirque du-soleil type of thing, cause there were lots of props around. In fact, the stage looked like a large ship with lit masts and sails. This was another excellent show. Chick liked the piano a lot and that seems to always bring out the best in his performance.

Back stage we very visited by Rubem Dantas, an innovative percussionist who has played for a long time with Paco De Lucia, the god of modern flamenco guitar. Recently Rubem was in Chick's Touchstone group, which I had a couple of chances to sit in with last year.

Rubem also played with the Flecktones when we played in Madrid, two summers back.

In the morning, before we left I went on trek to find a new hard drive for my current pro tools editing project. This project with Abby Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet was recorded at my home studio. We did tons of takes, and I was to pick the best elements from these. I like to bring these types of jobs with me on tour. For the last 2 years my main project has been my Africa movie and album. I was able to use a lot of my audio editing techniques with film. This was a new thing for me, and I got pretty good at it. The only confusing part is going back and forth between audio and video editing, as the keyboard commands are different, and you can end up doing something you did not intend!

Anyway, the mini drive I had with me was just not quick enough and I had to go looking for a fast drive that I could run with my lap top.

Luckily I found this within a couple of stops, and got back to the hotel with time to go for a quick run in the park. I got lost, unfortunately and barely made it back in time to leave for the airport. But I did make it and we were on to Cartejena.

Cartejena
11/14/07

This is a town I have actually played many times with the Flecktones. I always enjoy walking the ancient streets. The venue is right next door to the hotel, which makes things simple. This theater feels like an old local small town vaudeville place. It is not fancy but somehow, very cool. Good show.

Next morning we head for Barcelona.

11/15/07

In Barcelona we played an amazing venue to a sold out crowd. This was the place Chick shot his recent Touchstone video, and one of his favorites. Certain venues bring out the best in the musicians and the audience and this is one of them. The back drop walls of the stage had busts of musicians coming out of them and it had a surreal yet classic vibe. The sound was amazing and we chewed that gig up. My parents were at this one as well, the 3rd tour date they had been able to catch while on their vacation in Europe. We also met our promoter for all 5 Spanish dates, Julio. He did a great job and all the shows were well attended.

We traveled on the 16th to Logrono.

I didn't know much about this place but as the gig got closer, people began to tell me that this is where Rioja wine is made. I became a fan of this wine many years ago, and a good Rioja can stand with the finest wines around. So on the evening of the 16th our local promoter took us to a fine meal with great wine.

The concert on the 17th was in a modern facility. We were amazed at how great the place sounded. Chick's piano had been shipped from Madrid to Cartejena, to Barcelona and now here to Logono. Interestingly it sounded different in each room. The local piano tuner apparently has a lot to do with this. Also you learn a lot about the differences between the actual rooms you are playing in when you cart a piano around. It was almost like a different instrument from night to night. It sure sounded good in Logrono. It was an exceptional night. Now we are nearing the end of this tour, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have this experience with Chick, one of my foremost influences and a musical hero. He does not disappoint, as he is so spontaneous and his technique so good that virtually everything he tries works. I could study his playing on these shows and have things to practice for the rest of my life. I think I will!

On to our final date in London.

11/19/07

We finished our tour at the Barbicon in London. The gig went great. And we had some very special guests in the audience, John McLaughlin, and John Paul Jones (who used to play together in the old days) and all of Uncle Earl, among other friends and associates. I had the great honor and pleasure of spending some time with John M and Chick after the show, which was a blast. Hearing all the stories and being in the presence of two guys who have had such a major impact on me was surreal!

This tour as a whole was one of my life highlights. The music, the touring group and the incredible halls made it an amazing experience. Many thanks to Chris and Bernie for making everything go and being great to be around.
I am looking forward to the next installment.

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w/Edgar Meyer & Zakir

We left Nashville for the Arab Emirates on the 28th of January. Things were very last minute in terms of flight reservations, in fact the flight was moved back a day at the last minute. This trip was complicated by the fact that Edgar Meyer always travels with his contrabass in a seat next to him on the airplane. Small commuter flights were out for Edgar and he had to fly separately from the rest of our group til we met up in New York. From there we flew together from Kennedy to Dubai. The trip was about 12 hours and actually went by quickly. I have been so busy lately that sitting on airplane for 12 hours did not feel like a hardship!

Arriving in the Arab Emirates, we were struck by the skyline. It is filled with high rise buildings and construction projects, and I mean lots of construction projects! This country is fascinating and they have worked hard to modernize and grow into a major  business and tourist destination. They have even built islands to add to their waterfront property.

We stayed in a big hotel on the beach. This place was filled with tourists from many lands. At breakfast it was odd to see the diversity, from completely covered up women in burkas, to Europeans wearing as little as possible and displaying bounteous cleavage when possible. Often they were sitting at the next table from each other. It's a crazy world.

We had a couple of days to recover from the huge time difference, while we practiced with Zakir. We wanted to create some new repertoire, as we have been discussing plans to record.

The gig was to happen in the tennis stadium, a 2500 seat venue outdoors.

The weather was quite cold for Dubai and on the morning of our concert we awoke to rain and tremendous winds.
It looked like it would be an interesting day!

We headed over around 4 for soundcheck. Things were moving slow, and the whipping wind and cold weather wasn't helping.

Zakir had put together an ambitious program, mixing top Indian musicians with some drummers from Rajistan, jazz drummer Antonio Sanchez, along with Edgar and myself.
Eventually we struggled and shivered thru soundcheck and went backstage to recover and prepare for the show.

At this point I was wondering how it would all work out, people were describing the weather as a sandstorm.

Somehow the whole thing came off though, and really well. A sizable crowd turned up wrapped in their warmest clothes, and even provided a lot of energy and enthusiasm. And Zakir's program worked out well.

Starting with the Rajistan drummers, he moved quickly into Indian classical music with a great sitar player and some equally fantastic percussionists. Then Antonio was added, and they segued into an amazing drum solo.
Then it was time for Edgar and Zakir and I to play some of our new trio music. It went well. We were playing to a largely Indian audience, apparently there are over a million Indians living in Dubai. They responded well to our complex stuff. We played for 45 minutes and then left the stage while another Indian piece was played. Then we came back for a big jam with the whole cast.

After the show, we hung around backstage, while the promoters brought in some Indian food and wine.

Next morning we headed for India.

In India we were performing at a yearly event that is dedicated to the memory of Zakir's father and his sister, both who had passed at nearly the same time, about 9 years ago. Zakir's father, Alla Rahka, was the world famous tabla master who played with Ravi Shankar for many years. Zakir and his brothers run a school that taught  Alla Rahka''s style.

The concert starts at 6:30 am and continues on til about 11 PM. Edgar performed on the morning session. Z had asked him to play some of his solo Bach, and Edgar did the G major cello suite. Also on the morning session were Zakir's brother and his students, and a group that had set the Koran to music and dance, which seemed like a surprising off shoot. After Edgar's Bach, Zakir accompanied two brothers who are amazing vocalists. They played one piece, and it lasted for about and hour and a half. It was quite subtle, deep and incredible. No one lost interest.

I missed the afternoon session, but by all accounts it was amazing. This session was all percussionists playing solo, one of them being Antonio, the rest being Indian players.

The evening was our trio, with Antonio added for a song, and with a bunch of jams with Indian players at the end.
It was much fun.

We made plans to get together with some of these musicians the following night, to hear them play some Indian stuff and maybe jam a little.

We wandered around Mumbai, and it was amazing to see how different it was since my last visit in the mid 80's.
That time had been when I was still in New Grass Revival, and it was one of my favorite memories. Things seemed a lot more under control this time, with less people living the streets then I remembered. Perhaps they were just in a different area then what we saw.

In the evening we went to the Blue Frog where we were expecting a quiet gathering. But the word had gotten out and the place was packed to the gills, with 700 or more inside and another 3 hundred people or so lined up outside to get in. (They never did!)

So we plugged in our instruments and had a rocking jam.

Zakir is such a huge star in India, it was amazing to see. Not only is he one of the most famous musicians, but he is in an ongoing TV commercial for Taj Tea. So people recognize him constantly. Sometimes they even bow and touch his feet!

He is very gracious and wears his fame with humility.

When we left for our 4: AM flight home, he accompanied us to the airport, where 'the face' made things go much more smoothly at check in.

One 2 and a half hour flight to Dubai, a 2 hour layover, a 14 and a half hour flight to New York, a six hour layover and a 2 and half hour flight to Nashville later, we were home, safe and sound once again.

 

 

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