I haven't had much to say here about Mainstay Mondays for some time. But that doesn't mean Mainstay Mondays haven't had much to say to me. On the contrary. Over the last 4 years, this project has evolved from a somewhat fuzzy untried concept, to a complex weaving of providential threads. And every time I've tried something new, the boundaries of possibility expanded; benefiting the individual guest artists, our audience, the Mainstay as an organization, and myself. One benefit to me has been the ability to create paths to objectives or ideas or personal goals that would be difficult to accomplish otherwise. In other words, I can force myself to work on something by scheduling myself to have to perform it. The most serious challenge I've self imposed so far was learning the second piano (orchestra) part to Rhapsody in Blue to accompany Woobin Park (who is the real deal classical pianist. I'm not. Pulling music off the page and keeping it straight is the long and winding road for me) last year. I whittled away at that for the better part of a year to finally get it passable. Usually I'm less ridiculous. The last 4 Mondays I've covered Kurt Weill (essentially classical), Floyd Kramer (essentially country), Oscar Peterson (with significantly fewer notes, but still intimidating) and a stride piano laden trad jazz show. Okay, maybe I take that back. One doesn't stay in the business as a gigging musician for over 40 years without being ridiculous, or at least having a high tolerance for it. And let's see, next month I'm accompanying a poet for one show and a comedian for another. There's no hope for me. Grateful for that.    

A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a Chick Corea solo piano concert, when his tour brought him to the area. At one point in the show he invited pianists from the audience to join him on stage to play a short duet (on one piano). My son was with me, and of course, he wondered if I would volunteer. I knew there were others in the theater who would have also expected to see me go up. But I understood immediately that it would be a misstep for me. Chick would accompany each pianist underneath while they improvised with their right hand. Nothing unusual here, as jazz improvisation is generally conceived as melodic "lines" with harmonic underpinning. For me, however, improvisation is a two-handed exercise. When I have to cattle-shoot the musical expression into a single line, it tends to short circuit my non-linear brain (or mind, or approach to everything). Back when I actively played trumpet (as my "double" instrument), I could never even come close to the improvisational freedom I would feel from the piano. I suspect it's not unrelated to my often feeling stuck, or stymied when using words. Sure, I can get unstuck, and sometimes feel freedom in expressing things that make sense. But it's never a given. Verbal communication often feels to me like a cattle-shoot as well. And sometimes I have no more success lining up my cattle than I do getting my ducks in a row   ;)
This blog is a good illustration of what I'm talking about. Though you'd never know it, unless I told you. In order to find an inspiration that matches the given moment, I keep at least half a dozen (and often many more) ongoing blog entries in my drafts and flit between them, looking for the matchbox that isn't soggy in that moment, to get the fire going. Playing piano with 2 hands (10 fingers) and a polyphonic temperament creates the opportunity for the cattle to stand along side each other, or the ducks to swim in circles, while forward motion can continue. Another thing that (often) happens here is that, as thoughts develop, other thoughts will drop off, leaving phrases and sentences behind as I pick a lane (which just brought to mind the image of the all too familiar empty Wal Mart building, abandoned for the newer, bigger one up the road). Which is exactly what happened in this entry. So I'll cut and paste the "leftovers" into another entry and see what develops over time.
Welcome to my world. Now, what was I talking about?   ;)