Yesterday I had a nice wedding event on the bund with the gypsy jazz guys. It was in an old European building overlooking the river. This was the view from the stage:
We took a while with the sound check. Had a few ear piercing screeches, some problems with the accordion feeding back, but when it came time to play it sounded nice. From my position I thought the bass was a little soft, but after checking the recording I think it came through quite nicely.
I’m still using the realist pickups on the bass. And at the moment I’m still thinking maybe it's a good idea to keep the realist attached for this gypsy jazz stuff. It's quite dark and boomy, but it fills out the bottom end quite nicely since the guitars and acordeon are quite bright. It feels like the guitars kinda make up for the snare with those short, sharp stabs on the 2 & 4.
As I play more and more with different people, I start to notice more what works and what doesn’t. And I think for the gypsy jazz stuff, the bass needs to be pretty simple and each note as even as possible. If I start doing triplet fills, or deviate too long, it doesn’t seem to work. Probably cause the guitars are hitting every quarter note, there’s not much room for over playing.
I was really impressed with Shengji’s accordion sound. We have played before in some other projects, mainly with Asaph. But I think this project lets her shine much brighter. It just fits this style of music so well. Closing my eyes, I could have been in a 1930’s Europe. Struggling under a depressed economy and happy just to have a loaf of bread…..
Wake up….
It’s actually on the other side of the spectrum in Shanghai. And an affluent married couple enjoying a classy wedding right in its epicenter. I think they have great taste though…. Some weddings they hire these huge function rooms in 5 star hotels, but are just tacky and over the top.
I put the camera on top of the upright bass again last night. I still need to get the angle right though….. I think it would be cool if there was a little bit of the fingerboard at the bottom of the screen, and the rest of the view looking down on the band and part of the audience……
I’ll try again next time…..
Thanks
Shengji - accordion
Marc - guitar
Etienne - guitar
Zovi - vocals
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