Audience of One

Surprise Employer

The gig we played at last night was good in most respects. Granted, our set was preceded by a man playing music that sounded remarkably similar to what is played when you press the “Demo” button on a keyboard, our drummer arrived late so we had to set up his drum kit for him and almost broke it, and our alto saxophonist dropped his saxophone off the bass amp, denting it. Aside from that, we played well, I tried out some interesting chords (and was surprised to discover that playing an A major triad in G minor actually works), said alto saxophonist did a lot of extended playing techniques in his solos, and we managed to spill water all over the floor.

The audience were receptive, and clapped after most pieces, even though we were supposed to be playing background music for their meal. We had some odd requests (we followed “know any Hendrix?” by a Dave Brubeck number – shortly afterwards the same guy asked if we knew any Brubeck, and was still not convinced we’d played any by the end) and some career advice (the guy playing the cheesy synth stuff tried to persuade our alto saxophonist not to persue a career in music – too late, he’s going to the Guildhall to study jazz), and didn’t get the food we were expecting. Still, we enjoyed it, and the pay wasn’t too bad.

It was in the car afterwards, shortly after the conversation on Leonard Bernstein and just before arriving home, that our driver (eponymous saxophonist’s dad) mentioned that we’d just been employed by the local Masonic Lodge. Hmm.

Matthew @ 12:15, June 4, 2005 to Diary | Comments (1)