I did took a sax lesson for the first time in 8 years tonight, and it was pretty awesome. It seems like such a mundane thing, but for something that I did pretty much weekly from 1999-2004ish, I had forgotten why its such a good idea (and yes, I do teach lessons. Every week. Email for details.)
I started down this (potentially self-imolating) road when I found myself working on social media networks and realized I didn't have any product/content that was worth promoting. I immediately fired up Garage Band and started putting something together to post to everything and tweet and email about. I then realized that not even I was excited about a half-assed recording of myself and robots, and could think of literally no reason that I should do that. Again.
I blame Downbeat.
On a whim, I subscribed to the digital version of the classic magazine, and started to remember things I forgot. Then I saw an add for Greg Fishman's sax lessons via Skype and thought "yeah, that's probably the next step". So, I payed my dollar and placed my bets.
It was awesome. Although this crap ain't free (seriously, you don't really think about it when its part of your tuition), I know what I need to work on and how I need to work on it. All of the dudes I play with will be glad to hear it, I'm sure. Www.gregfishmanjazzstudio.com for more info.
So, I guess this is a non-album release statement. I'm not going to put anything out until its worth hearing (or at least interesting), its funny how perspective shifts. My new job is great, but teaching both a 7-9 and a 10-12 big band everyday made me realize that shortcuts in approach to improvised music end up taking you the long way around. Hard.
I also got new glasses. That I'm supposed to wear all,the time.
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