Hi Pandemic Partners!
It’s still an edgy setup out in the real world. We’re staying safe, staying creative, and staying hopeful that at one point we’ll be able to hug friends and neighbors again. Until then, the masked musos continue their ride.
Speaking of riding again, we had a hoot and a half playing Pat Metheny’s music on last week’s Livestream concert. Pat’s new tune was a hit and just this morning I passed along our rendition to him. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.
And thanks a mil for the generous beautiful Leucadian green energy flowing our way via Venmo and PayPal. Life is good and it’s so cool when it works out on multiple levels.
The Tribute Rebels — Songs From the Virus Vacuum
Currently there exists a movement all over the country for bands to put on “themed” concerts focusing on the music of some famous artist. Many wonderful things come from this—you learn the fine details of the artist’s music at a level that’s much deeper than you would from just listening to it, plus it’s a cool ride playing a tune you’ve only heard on record and then taking it live. For the audience there’s an added attraction and interest, “how are they going to pull off bringing Stevie Wonder’s songs into the jazz realm?” A lot of us do it for both the musical enrichment and the hope of getting a good turnout at the box office.
The downsides of this movement is that it’s a lot of work getting the program together to be played for one show. Think Chick Corea complicated music, multiple rehearsals for all of the musos plus loads of personal prep time, get to the gig and play that badass phrase one time. You only get one chance and then it’s over. The next day you’re on to another rehearsal prepping for another tribute concert.
For us composers, what about furthering our own songwriting abilities and shaping our band’s creative direction?
To address this current state of affairs we’re bringing together the band for a night of our own music that has its own “themed framework” at play. The idea is for the composers within the band to write new music for the concert. Guiding the direction of those compositions will be Songs From the Virus Vacuum —songs floating to the surface during life in the thick of it with the pandemic.
The band includes some of the best with Danny Green on piano, Tripp Sprague on sax and flute, Mack Leighton on bass, Duncan Moore on drums, and me on guitar. We’ll also have a guest appearance from a true shredmeister Dave Curtis flying in a bass solo from Ireland. (Tune in to see if we can pull this off).
Here’s the link for the show: https://youtu.be/-QacgkLm5HM
Price of admission? Actually the concert is free but we will have a “virtual tip jar” complete with PayPal and Venmo info for you to donate whatever you feel good about. We’d love for this to work out too.
Paypal: tripp@trippsprague.com
Venmo: @Tripp-Sprague
Also trad snail mail works:
Peter Sprague
311 E. Glaucus St.
Encinitas, CA 92024
Fill the world with new music!
Every gig is a world premier!
The Tribute Rebels!
See you in the great algorithm of the sky!
best, Peter