Snowy Night

Hi Fred,

Thanks for the kind words--way to kind, but thanks. I'm sure the piece will change if these refugees from the snow decide to play it again, but the neat thing is that these guys can be trapped in this snow storm for as long as I want. Who knows, back at the main terminal, there might be a guitar player, another trombonist, etc. who hears about the group in the lounge and joins them. (Though for some odd reason, I really like the sound of the ensemble as it is, though I can't recall a violin in such a group.)

Odd you should mention brushes. I looked, several times. I couldn't find in the standard drum kit anything that sounded like brushes on a snare drum, so I used the one that came closest, I thought, to brushes on a cymbal. The drums are what I'm least satisfied with and will look at more closely. For now, that drummer looked pretty red and glassy eyed, so I didn't make him think too much and gave him just one basic measure for each theme.

The double bass was what was part of small jazz groups during the years when I frequently visited clubs and lounges, so there just happened to be one with a cancelled flight in the airport. I guess that nowadays he'd play an electric bass. So maybe these guys are trapped not only in a storm but in a time warp.

Glad you liked the harmonies. One reason for doing this was that, since it's supposed to be improvised, maybe I could get myself to stop analyzing so much before putting anything down, and if I thought it would sound good, to at least give it a try.

I hope Patsy is doing well. I look forward to the announcement that you've put a new painting on your web site.

all best,
mgj

PS. I'm going to make a recording of Snowy Night and put it on Soundclick tomorrow.