My First International Gig

After a big day of being a tourist and walking all over the city on Tuesday, I consciously decided to lay low at the apartment on Wednesday and just relax. I hadn't really done this since coming here, so I was due. The weather was beautiful and I hung around the terrace and worked on a song that I'm writing called Urgent Presence. The words for the title were included in a poem I wrote a few weeks ago, and so I've elaborated the theme into a full song. I'm really into it right now - we'll see where it ends up. I made myself a breakfast sandwich in the morning (eggs, cheese, onions, tomatoes), and then for lunch I made some pasta. In the afternoon I decided to watch Schindler's List. Don't ask me why, because I really don't know why, but I really wanted to watch it again. Maybe because it highlights just how lucky we all are to be alive, and maybe because it's such an emotional roller coaster. Either way, it was a great way to spend the afternoon outside on the terrace.

As you might remember, yesterday night was Guillem's band's gig at Harlem Jazz Club, and he was planning to have me sit in for a song. The song he told me to rehearse for was Red Baron, an older song made famous by the amazing drummer Billy Cobham. Here's a cool version. The song's real hook comes at 0:45 in the recording, and it's an interesting breakdown - not terribly easy to play. So I'm sitting on the terrace for over an hour listening to this song and playing along with it to get it right, and by the time I head out to Guillem's place (to head to the show) I'm feeling good about it. Guillem has made some soup which we eat quickly before heading out, and then we're on the subway with his two saxophones - on our way to the show. We get to the club around 9pm and no one is there except the band, who's setting up. I say hello to everyone and then let them get it setup. My new friend Dali comes a few minutes later with her roommate and another friend who I met on Saturday. Two more of her friends come just before the show - great people. It was such an amazing gesture for Dalia and her fiends to come support both Guillem's band and me (they knew I was going to jam). Such great vibes from new friends! I talk to Guillem and the drummer and we decide that I'm actually going to jam on a different song than Red Baron. HA. Classic. Anyway, it's more of a hip hop inspired beat, which is right in my wheelhouse, so I'm fired up about it. The band is going to play a first set and then I'm going to come in during the second set. So we have some drinks and talk and the club starts to really fill up. Guillem's band, Black Cardelli, start playing and they light the place up! Such great jazz and funk - people are having a blast. Dalia's friends are really impressed - which is always nice to see (can you imagine if they hated it? - ha). A few random saxophone players jump in and jam, and at one point there are FOUR saxophone players playing at the same time on one song (picture below). I have definitely never seen that before…loved it. They finish their first set and Guillem comes to say hi. He's just as fired up as we are - great to see. They start the second set around midnight and unfortunately Dalia's friends are getting tired so they say they have to leave - sorry they couldn't see me play. At about this same exact time, Guillem jumps on the mic and asks me to come up!! YES. I grab my drumsticks which I brought with me (of course), and jump behind the drums. There is a new bassist guy that just jumped up on stage too, and we shake hands and I settle behind the kit. It's not my own kit, but I like it and it fits right. The guys say that it's a hip hop beat, so I start with the bassist and it's nice and chill at first. We're getting out bearings and grooving for a bit, and then at one point it snapped. I felt as comfortable as playing with my own band, and I was ripping break beats and stops and crescendos and everything else I could think of. We must have played for about 10 minutes, with different saxophone players coming in and soloing, as well as each musician doing a solo as well. I must have had the biggest grin on my face - I can only imagine. We finish with Guillem coming up on stage and jamming before we end on a perfect note. SO GREAT!! Everyone was shaking my hand and thanking me for coming up. It was one of the more uplifting experiences of my musical life. One of the sax players said that I need to move to Barcelona. Not a bad idea. This city has more live music and open jam sessions than I've seen anywhere - including in the US. I could definitely get lost in the scene here. Going to keep going after the music scene hard for the next few weeks and see where it takes me :) After I came down from the stage I hugged Dalia and her friends, who left soon afterwards. I really can't express how nice it was to have people there to see me. Very kind. Very emotional. I'm going to hang with them this weekend - definitely new friends for life. Another drummer got up after me and ripped it for a song, and then the full band came back together for a few last jams. They had a DJ in the mix at one point scratching while they were playing - very cool. Also, they had a random MC come up and rip some Spanish rap. Always funny to hear rap in Spanish. Never sounds as tough/hardcore as the US rappers. The band wrapped up around 1:30am and I got home around 2am. Tucked into bed with a huge smile on my face.

Today's Thursday and my last full day in the apartment here with the terrace. Tomorrow I'm moving to my friend Guillem's apartment for the weekend, because he's gone Saturday and Sunday and said I could stay. Very cool. Then on Monday I'm moving to a new AirBnB apartment which is also in Gracia. Very cool place with another little terrace :)

VERY excited to go to the F1 race tomorrow!!!! I will definitely take a ton of pics and share.

Guillem and two other saxophones playing at once during a jam last night. What you can't see is there's another saxophone to his right playing too. Never seen a jam session with FOUR sax players. Classic.