Sunday Rolls Around: A Survey of Musicians

This was, I think, in around 2015, when the saxophonists habitually dominated proceedings. How different now!

The Gold Street Gossip Shop. Due to something or other, I forget which, Bob and I turned up early for a change. The first bout on the programme was a notable tussle between the Captain’s new charts, and well, almost everyone, really. Including the Captain. Young Clark rightly took a dim view of this, and despite suffering from a bad back incurred during a strenuous session of pulling something (on the farm, if you wish to believe his version of events) got up to establish some sort of order, if not a tenuous relationship to music, for a while.

Fortunately this did not last, and we were back to ballad mangling in no time. As there were four saxes in attendance (young Justin?, the Captain, Noel and said RC) it was not actually possible to hear any noises that anyone else might have been making, so all in all, not such a bad afternoon.

There has been a distinct paucity of singers of late, so I have checked with all the saxophonists who all assure me that singers like the saxes playing all over the singer’s solos as well as their own. Just to make doubly sure, I asked the guitarists, and they are all quite confident that singers benefit from guitar chords being played to a rhythm somewhat independent of the rest of the rhythm section, and that in fact, the said guitarists are doing every one a favour by playing as many chords as often as possible, because it drowns out mistakes. Although they would prefer it if the saxophonists could back off a bit.

By this stage, I was getting quite misty eyed at all the goodness in the room – I hadn’t realised the sacrifices that all these fine musicians are prepared to make. So I asked the drummers, and they all said “What? I can’t hear you” as drummers do, and explained that they like to speed up in the course of a tune because they can get to the end earlier, which leaves more time for everyone else.

All of which, leaves the bass players speechless.

TW