Jazz
solos with some damn fine musicians, a round robin, from bass player to bass
player, drummer to drummer, swapping smoothly with an ease and skill that was
particularly impressive considering the sizzling tempo. A long, long line of
sax and trumpet players...my fantasy of a Stevie Wonder horn orchestra growing
in potential ;)
To
complete the picture, imagine a shaking nervous Aussie girl by the door. I finally
got up the balls to walk over and grab the mic...sung out some
improvisation... don't ask me what it was...but my voice worked and I'm happy
about that! I got myself a spot in the Latin/Jazz ensemble, these are some of
my class mates, it was a 9 piece band…3 horns, 1 bassist, 1 guitarist, 4 drummer/percussionists and 1 singer...yup that’s me!
This
beginning set the high standard that followed over the next semester of Jazz
studies at the University of New Orleans (UNO). The course was very practical
based and I found most of my days filled with vocal exercises, scales,
improvisation, sight reading to learn both Jazz standards, Blues and Latin/Jazz
songs. When I wasn’t singing, I was training with rhythms, writing music
charts, memorizing the relationships between notes, scales and
chords…or…listening to music!!!
In
New Orleans music bubbles up through the cracks in the
concrete and keeps the city moving. From festival to festival, venue to venue,
this place oozes musical abundance and jazz is still the main dish.
These swampy
flat lands in Southern America first birthed Blues and Jazz. I had the
opportunity to do a class in Jazz History, which made me feel so grateful to be
living there, a deeper appreciation for the musical talent I saw around me, and
an understanding of how it had grown.
Another
unique experience was Mardi Gras.
Paper-mache
floats representing Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Ether, moon and sun…amazing
paintings and sculptures filled with beauty and magic…honoring the elements,
gods and goddesses, and magical beings. I really loved it!
A
ridiculous amount of marching bands, seemly infinite and never ending, bringing
vibrant music to flood the streets and dancing groups showing off their funky
moves, shaking hips, twirling batons, wearing far to little on those cold,
wintery nights…brrrr!
Representing
abundance, the people in costumes shower the crowds with necklace after
necklace, arms thrown in the air, cheering following each float like a wave of
energy moving up the street.
Yet I
also saw mountains of plastic, the waste as uncaught items line the street,
broken and discarded. All that energy to make those beads, earth resources, the
very beauty being honored in the floats, bulldozed into the garbage trucks that
follow the parades, cleaning up. How much cost our fun has on the earth!
Congo
Square has been a gathering place for African Americans since first being
shipped over for the slave trade. Sundays were the only day off where they
could dance, sing and drum together. I happened upon this regular drum circle
within the first few weeks of arriving in New Orleans and it became one of my
favorite activities. A beautiful community of people drumming and dancing Congo
rhythms…so blessed to have been part of that!
Another
musical experience I was deeply grateful for was collaborating with a guitarist
and friend Lewis. Exploring creativity as a singer, Lewis helped me find the
courage to improvise; we would sit in the sun and jam every week. Doing a few
casual gigs at parties, where it was a new experience for me to get up in front
of people, with no idea of what we’d be playing, trusting and allowing whatever
melodies flowed. This is a video we did in City Park, one of the "songs" that had a little more structure to it, hope you enjoy...as you'll see we had lots of giggles and mishaps that were all part of the fun :) http://youtu.be/1lzZYml5IpQ
This was the live performance with my Jazz/Latin ensemble at a venue called
The Sandbar. A video link, for those who'd like to hear a taste too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZEK2MizA0A
Another
event called ‘International Night’ celebrating the cultural diversity at UNO.
My
vocal recital was a showcase of songs I’d been working on in my private classes
with Leah Chase…amazing teacher and Jazz singer! A video link too for the live sound: http://youtu.be/ZHz-Oo6GH7k
A wonderful gift I was given, was a video called 'Whispers of You' created by Rohan. It's a visual blog of the last 8 months which I'd also love to share with you all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcc2PvXUjt8
Being the nature girl I am it seems appropriate to finish with some photos of the Lake and Biyou, where Rohan and I spent a lot of our time cycling along the bike trails, climbing trees (as you saw before Lewis got roped into doing that with me too, tee,hee,hee!) and enjoying the swampy wilderness of ‘City Park’.
Being the nature girl I am it seems appropriate to finish with some photos of the Lake and Biyou, where Rohan and I spent a lot of our time cycling along the bike trails, climbing trees (as you saw before Lewis got roped into doing that with me too, tee,hee,hee!) and enjoying the swampy wilderness of ‘City Park’.
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