Gig Recap: Melanie E

Phew. That was a relief.

I just had a gig Friday night with MelanieE. Melanie got my number through a "friend-of-a-friend" of mine and wanted a bass player that could sight read music. I agreed and this past Friday, I basically got up in front of an audience and performed music that I had only seen a half-hour before show time with a group of people I had never met before. I was a little tentative with some of the music but everything turned out really well. Style-wise, the music was straight-ahead Jazz which is right up my bass playing alley. On top of some of the Jazz "standards", were originals that were sung in French; Melanie's mother tongue. In addition, Melanie's husband, Keith, played tuba, taking many of the heads and solos. I've never head tuba in that way and I have to say that I was greatly impressed with Keith's skill in bringing tuba to the forefront. In fact, we were supposed to play Donna Lee (touch Charlie Parker tune) with the tuba playing the head, but Keith felt it would be a little much. I, on the other hand, would have loved to have seen "Donna Lee" played on tuba, just so I could have said that I saw "Donna Lee" played on the tuba.

I have to admit, I was very tentative early on in the gig, but started to warm up as the evening progressed. It's sometimes very hard to come out of your shell when your thrown into a different environment, but it was a great time nonetheless. I had a wonderful time playing with MelanieE and I hope to play with them all again.

Visit www.MelanieE.com to learn more.