Pedal steel R&B, The National Anthem, Philly sax, Praise

David Doggett · Posted 4 Jul 2009 10:34 pm

Here’s a little R&B clip from a gig we had recently at Chris’, the main jazz club in Philly these days. They normally only have jazz. I could tell right away it wasn’t a blues club when they told us no drinks on stage, only water. But they decided to try us for some blues for the first time there (also a first time for pedal steel there). But they stuck us on Mondays at Happy Hour; and, duh, nobody comes in then, and it hasn’t worked out. The guitar players’ wife (Irish fiddler Kitty Kelly) shot this video with a little camera the size of a deck of cards, and it came out surprisingly good, both visual and audio.

Blues Messengers at Chris’ with Lisa Chavous

Here’s some Philly arts proselytizing from former Mayor Rendell, now Governor, and Mayor Nutter, followed by the Star Spangled Banner at a ‘76ers game (hey, it’s the 4th of July weekend) by Byard Lancaster, who plays sax on our CD: Byard’s Star Spangled Banner. Byard’s trying to get me to play the SSB on pedal steel, but that’s a pretty scary gig.

Here’s an interview and a little playing by Odean Pope, who also plays sax on our CD. His album “Locked and Loaded” is a top jazz album worldwide, and he recently had four sellout nights at The Blue Note in NYC: The Pope

Here’s a little jazz from the sax player in the Chris’ clip: Don Williams on sax

Here’s Byard and Rev. Joe Craddock doing some talking and praise shouting for the arts at the annual West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival. Not much music, but I was doing a little steel blues toward the end, along with Lucky Oceans, who has family in town and sits in with us when he comes to visit: Praise the Arts

Enjoy! Smile

David Doggett · Posted 6 Jul 2009 6:22 am

Any comments - good or bad? I'm open to advice on my clip. The drummer says I'm too loud. I think the singer was turned up a little too much (she's a screamer, and I love it), and I was trying to keep up with her. At the end of the guitar break I thought I was going to take a lead, and played over her vocal, but we got back on track - one of the problems with a jam band and no charts or fixed arrangements.

Edward Meisse · From: Santa Rosa, California, USA

Nice hat, David. And the girl looks great. To answer your question, I would say that you were just about right (in relation to the singer). But the group was out of balance. A little more rhythm and a little more bass (but just a little) would have balanced things out better in my view. The sound characteristics of the room seem bad enough to have effected the perception, though.
_________________
Amor vincit omnia

David Doggett · Posted 6 Jul 2009 9:23 am

Yeah, the camera (and its mike) were closer to me, and not far enough out front to pick up the PA mix well. Maybe it was more balanced in the PA mix.

Marc Friedland · From: Fort Collins, CO

Very nice David.

Yes, the girl singer has good energy, but unfortunately goes noticeably off pitch when she sings higher and louder.
You did a very good job of staying in the relative center of pitch even when she was off.
I thought you played at the correct volumes.
Exactly right during the guitar solo, providing a string/organ style bed.
(I probably would have tried playing a syncopated reggae style guitar rhythm, which would not have worked nearly as well as what you did over his staccato style approach on the guitar solo.)
And after your solo where you were filling nicely behind her vocals, that’s where the string section if there was one would have been playing, and they would have been at least as loud as that.
She should have noticed that you were going into a solo following the guitar lead and let it happen even though she probably didn’t expect it. But it all sounded quite good and probably no one in the audience noticed any glitch.
I could be wrong, but at times it sounded to me like you were playing “F” & “A” together when the chord change went from C to Am, making it sound more like a 4 chord “F” than a 6 chord Am. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, it just sort of took me by surprise, because I probably would have played “E” & “A” together at that point.
Thanks for sharing, and thanks for always being so helpful to me and so many others on this Forum.

Marc

David Doggett · Posted 6 Jul 2009 3:17 pm

Thanks for the feedback, Marc. Not sure where it sounded like I was playing an F in the Am chord. Maybe you could see where the time counter is when you hear that. That would be a minor 6th chord, or sort of a suspended minor 6th, if you leave out the 5th. I just tried that to see what it would sound like. It sounds okay of you hit the pure minor chord first, then briefly hit the 6th (F) and release it back to the 5th (E). This fits if you have just done the same thing on the I chord, using the E F E over the C chord (C Csus4 C). Or I could have accidentally caught the B pedal at some point as I was going to the A pedal for the minor, but I didn't hear that anywhere.

As for Lisa, that's part of her emotional style. I ain't gonna mess with it. Compared to the white boys in the group when we sing, she sounds like auto-tune. Laughing

Marc Friedland · From: Fort Collins, CO

David,
The culprit is most likely my hearing, or more accurately said, my lack of hearing.
When I first listened again I thought I heard the “F” over Am during your solo around 2:09, but when I tried to dissect it, I couldn’t actually find anyone who was playing an “F” note. After multiple listenings, not every time, but sometimes it feels like a 4 chord instead of a 6 chord to me. Maybe I’m being fooled because of being sensitive to some harmonic overtone being produced. I guess the answer is I don’t have an answer.
Sorry for the confusion.
Marc

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