Back at The Cornerstone:

jam session review for 2nd Feb 2025

The Cornerstone is back. There was a niggling concern amongst the troops that we should have stayed at the Bowlo - well, we might revisit that one, but back at the Cornerstone this was a fun day all round. 22 musos fronted, amongst them Martin from Germany (bass), Buddy singing smooth as ever, a rare(ish) visit from Aneta, back from the Boatshed morning gig, and the usual suspects, most of whom seemed to leave early for last minute rehearsals before Port Fairy. They don't need them...

Which also meant they missed an all round entertaining set at stumps from Ruby and Malcolm - Moon River a highlight, with Mike Powell playing some restrained guitar that really worked, and on one number, Martin Clifton (drums) playing fours with a seriously neat shuffle beat.

Lowlight of the arvo was a persistent distortion from the piano and lack of volume from the vocals. We seemed to cure it but it came back. Over heating? A PA that has done well north of six hundred gigs over 20 years? Or maybe the piano itself? Work in progress, watch this space.

So.. Chrissie, Bruce, Geoff, Phil, Roger, Malcolm, Ruby amongst others to PF - which promises to be the biggest Festival of the year - many armed with newly printed Flyers, Posters and cards promoting the Newport Jazz Festival when they all get back.

Some interesting stats from the Good Captain - we played 9 sets of 3 tunes each - which equates to 7 minutes per tune - (the Festival average we calculated at Castlemaine  was 5.5 minutes per tune). Given that we try and get a solo for everyone, this is a pretty good result - we seem to have dropped the multiple choruses which might have been great for the soloist at the time, but  were frustrating for others trying to get a turn. Or maybe we just haven't played Little Sunflower for quite a while. Damn, I think I just jinxed the next jam....

This coming Saturday promises to be a quiet one - at the Cornerstone again - which means that the B Team gets the chance to step up.

Looking forward to that,