I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season! It is now time to move on into the doldrums of January and February… Oh well, at least I’ll be heading for a semi-warmer climate in a week.
Last week was quite an eventful one: a week full of meetings planning this summer’s concert at Hoyt Sherman Place w/ my Big Band (more on that later ; ) , a few shows at Chuck’s Restaurant, and a New Year’s Eve concert at The Civic Center and The Grand Piano Bistro… phew! A busy week, indeed… but a very good one!
The show at The Civic Center was particularly enthralling… Steve Lippia, a very talented crooner from Las Vegas, was brought in to pay tribute to Frank Sinatra on New Year’s Eve alongside Maestro Giunta’s Des Moines Symphony and The Des Moines Big Band. My quartet was hired to play in the lobby at the Civic Center before the concert started in promotion of my event coming up this summer (again, more on that later!). The day before the concert, Steve came in to rehearse with the groups. He took control of the rehearsal and clearly is very passionate about the Great American Songbook, which was neat to watch. I had the privilege of being introduced to him by Maestro Giunta, and was able to speak with him for a brief moment. We exchanged numbers and will hopefully be talking more in the future…
The actual performance was incredible! I was a bit worried that our combo would become background music, as we were performing before the actual concert and did not have a full stage or anything. However, people seemed to really enjoy what was going on, and we had a concert setting of our own! I was told by a few people working at the Civic Center that they started the concert a bit late because they couldn’t get enough people to leave the lobby in time for the first number! Whether that is true or not, I’m not sure, but I’ll take it!
We’ll be playing at Chuck’s this week on Wednesday (7:00-10:00 w/ Nick Rieser and Steve Charlson) and Friday (8:00-11:00 w/ Ron Roberts, Steve Charlson, and Dave Rezek), and I would love to see all of you before I leave town on Sunday! Thanks as always.
MW
wellman
Last Week; Big Band Concert
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season! It is now time to move on into the doldrums of January and February… Oh well, at least I’ll be heading for a semi-warmer climate in a week.
Last week was quite an eventful one: a week full of meetings planning this summer’s concert at Hoyt Sherman Place w/ my Big Band (more on that later ; ) , a few shows at Chuck’s Restaurant, and a New Year’s Eve concert at The Civic Center and The Grand Piano Bistro… phew! A busy week, indeed… but a very good one!
The show at The Civic Center was particularly enthralling… Steve Lippia, a very talented crooner from Las Vegas, was brought in to pay tribute to Frank Sinatra on New Year’s Eve alongside Maestro Giunta’s Des Moines Symphony and The Des Moines Big Band. My quartet was hired to play in the lobby at the Civic Center before the concert started in promotion of my event coming up this summer (again, more on that later!). The day before the concert, Steve came in to rehearse with the groups. He took control of the rehearsal and clearly is very passionate about the Great American Songbook, which was neat to watch. I had the privilege of being introduced to him by Maestro Giunta, and was able to speak with him for a brief moment. We exchanged numbers and will hopefully be talking more in the future…
The actual performance was incredible! I was a bit worried that our combo would become background music, as we were performing before the actual concert and did not have a full stage or anything. However, people seemed to really enjoy what was going on, and we had a concert setting of our own! I was told by a few people working at the Civic Center that they started the concert a bit late because they couldn’t get enough people to leave the lobby in time for the first number! Whether that is true or not, I’m not sure, but I’ll take it!
We’ll be playing at Chuck’s this week on Wednesday (7:00-10:00 w/ Nick Rieser and Steve Charlson) and Friday (8:00-11:00 w/ Ron Roberts, Steve Charlson, and Dave Rezek), and I would love to see all of you before I leave town on Sunday! Thanks as always.
MW