A Performance

 I have been playing baritone saxophone in a big band for the last two or three years. We meet just once a week, and we're all amateurs, so we'll never get even near to the level of one of the run of the mill professional big bands of the swing era, let alone the great bands. We're probably not as good as a high school band with a good music program, let alone the bands of college music schools. But we have fun and gradually reach a decent level in a small repertoire of swing tunes.

Last night (May 25, 2025) we played in a community center with a pub for a large and enthusiastic audience, and the performance was a success. I practiced pretty hard over the week before the performance and was able to play without too many mistakes. I also worked on mastering the changes for the solos. I think I did all right. We paid someone to make a video of the performance, so I'll be able to hear myself soon enough. I hope I won't be disappointed.

I've been playing bari sax for more than thirty years, and I ought to be a lot better than I am at it. I bought my first instrument, from a musician in the police band who was retiring and couldn't play such a heavy instrument anymore. That was in the mid-1980s, I think. Before I bought that instrument (it was a Grassi, an Italian company), I had never even considered acquiring a baritone sax, but the price was low, and the man who sold it was very nice, so I went for it. I played it in a few ensembles. It wasn't a great instrument, and I wanted a better one. When my father died in the early 1990s, there was some cash in an account he left, so I splurged and bought an excellent Selmer saxophone and have been playing it since then. By now, both it and I are vintage!

In a way, owning a baritone saxophone is a little like being the one who owned the ball when we were choosing up sides in the park when I was a kid. If you owned the ball, you had to be included. Bands almost always need a baritone saxophone player. I played in a couple of community wind orchestras and pretty good big band for ten years, but I left when I reached the age of seventy. The rehearsals were late on Sunday nights, about a 45 minute drive from Jerusalem, and I would get home exhausted, not get enough sleep, and be off kilter for the rest of the week.

I had no intention of joining another big band, but a friend of mine invited me to a performance of a group he was playing in. They put on a good show and needed a bari player, so I joined. It's been fun. I'm the oldest guy in the band, and I always wonder how long I'll be able to keep at it. After I had a hip replacement, it was hard for me to handle the heavy instrument, and I measure my recuperation by how well I can manage it now.

Until I began playing in big bands, I prefered small jazz ensembles. But I've learned to love the music. Even our amateur band excited the audience, and when the audience is excited, the excitement flows back to the musicians. Being in the band and rehearsing the parts makes you aware of just how sophisticated the music is, more sophisticated, probably, than the audience realizes. 

I hope we get to play for an audience again soon.