Red Raspus Music

Home of Musician and Educator David Marriott, Jr.

4701 47th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98105 United States of America

(206) 923-8271

David Marriott, Jr. is a jazz trombonist, composer/arranger, educator, and blogger. A two-time Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award recipient and winner of the 1999 National Jazz Trombone Competition, David is active in a variety of Seattle jazz groups, including the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Zubatto Syndicate and his own critically-acclaimed groups Septology and Triskaidekaband.

Usual Suspects Big Band at Tula's / The Owl and Thistle

August 02, 2005  /  David Marriott, Jr.

More playing on Tuesday night with Jay Thomas and the Usual Suspects Big Band -- although he's threatening to change it to the Circular Firing Squad Big Band. As always, this band is a ton of fun to play with and listen to on Tuesday nights. I thought for tonight I'd give our set lists:

First Set:

  • And That's That, comp/arr Dennis Mackrel
  • Blues in Hoss' Flat - Basie classic
  • Pensativa - beautiful flute feature
  • I'm Getting Sentimental Over You - Greg Schroeder does the Dorsey thing
  • Ahunk Ahunk, comp/arr Thad Jones - Stuart MacDonald's alto solo was beyond words (you had to be there)
  • Duke's Choice, arr Bob Hammer - a Mingus gem in all its glory
  • A Night in Tunisia, arr. Mike Mossman - had fun blowing on this one; as Jay says, "I love this arrangement because it sounds just like Machito!"
Second Set:
  • Summer Serenade, arr Milt Kleeb - flugelhorn feature for Jay, but I think Jim Sisko played it
  • Star Eyes, arr Shuhei Mizuno - from the library of the Continued in the Ungerground Orchestra
  • It's Only a Paper Moon - lifted by Jon Wikan from a live recording of a Bill Ramsay arrangement for Count Basie
  • Moten Swing - another Basie classic
  • Elvin's Mambo, comp/arr Bob Mintzer
  • I Thought About You, arr Vern Seilert
  • Perceptive Hindsight, comp/arr Herb Phillips
  • Miss Fine, comp/arr Oliver Nelson
As usual, many of the band members made their way to The Owl and Thistle for the Bebop and Destruction jam session, including myself and Stuart MacDonald. We arrived to hear the classic jam session faux pas: a trumpet player playing WAY too long on a tune he obviously didn't know, and wasn't sounding better with each passing chorus. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even tell if he knew anything about harmony or theory... or anything! I felt bad for the other trumpet player playing with him -- Aham -- who sounded great. Fendel and I jumped up and played Solar and This I Dig of You to try and get things back on track, but as I said to Fendel: this is one of those times where you invoke the "two tune" rule, where you just politely ask the cat after he's played his two tunes to take a seat and let some other people play.

 

All in all, a fun night of music and socializing -- I'll probably have a repeat performance next week with the ECJO...

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