Sunday, May 21, 2023

Jazz Banjo

 I have been having so much fun with my friends on monday nights at the Rex this month. These three musicians are so skilled and so open to trying new things it is a real treat. 

Aline Homzy on violin surprises me every week. I have had to stop playing a couple times I was so excited by what she was playing. If you don't know bassist Andrew Downing you may live under a rock. He is a multiple Juno winner, incredible bassist and fantastic composer, arranger, bandleader (and teacher!) Kelsley Grant might be the least obvious person to have in a string-band since he plays trombone however he is so good on that instrument and so fun to play music with he is certainly one of the great things about this group. 

Finding five mondays in a row where we were all available is quite something. I have not taken any of it for granted and I keep bringing new tunes every week and tweaking the arrangements of others. tommmorw, May 22 will be no exception as I am bringing a new chart inspired by Irish traditional music that I have written as well as a re-write of an old tune called Gamesroom and a slight variation on the Zappa riffs we improvised on last week. 

5-string banjo is not the.  banjo that was around when banjo was big at the beginning of jazz with the Louis Armstrong Hot Five, Fletcher Henderson, Jelly Roll Morton etc. but it is basically the same. Interestingly, Johnny St. Cyr played a 6 string banjo with Louis Armstrong. Did you know that he died the same year I was born. (kinda cool right!?)

I am considering naming this group Bonestrung! I think it is a better name than Jazz Banjo. Especially since a lot of what we play might be a stretch to call jazz. Some of it is most certainly jazz. Shout out to Tom Tytel at the Rex for booking us. I am a believer in an eclectic calendar at a jazz club or festival and eclectic we are! Go Jazz! Go Rex! Go Canada!

Saturday, April 29, 2023

lost my banjo thumb pick

Every since I started playing the banjo seriously I have been obsessed with all the details of how the machine actually works and what it takes to make a great banjo tone.

 A bit of an explanation for non-banjo players is that being an acoustic instrument, a lot the banjo's tone (or quality of sound) is created by all the elements that are required to make the actual sound. An example would be the tension of the banjo head (mine is tuned to G#) or the tightness of the screws and making sure there are no gaps where one part of the instrument joins the other.

 When I started playing I knew much less about this and would often get some of the local banjo gurus to guide me. The excellent bluegrass banjoist Chris Quinn was helpful and I continue to visit Grant at the 12th fret ocassionally. These guys know banjo.

 However, after close to 20 years of working on my banjo playing as one of my main musical focuses I have come to give less blame or credit to the instrument. That is not to say that it isn't important but a lot of things are as or more important and those can only be gained by hours of practise every day. For example, left hand technique is important on any stringed instrument but on the banjo, one's right hand technique is paramount to having good tone. This is also true on acoustic guitar. I remember hearing one of my favourite Toronto electric guitarists play the acoustic and sound so much less beautiful than their fine electric playing. (it is common for electric players to dabble in acoustic playing and I can usually tell after about ten seconds if they have worked on their acoustic playing)

 Anyways, one of the things I have always found somewhat mystical about five-string bluegrass banjo style playing is the picks. It was the closeups of Bela Fleck's picks on a concert DVD of him playin duo with Edgar Myer that opened the door for this joyous path for me decades ago. Since walking almost in a trance up to Long and McQuade that day and buying my first picks I have changed my picks a few times here and there. Generally the finger picks have stayed the same and are just the standard metal Dunlop banjo picks. However, the plastic thumb pick has been an ongoing experiment. (not everyone uses plastic thumb picks) Early on I read the the great Earl Scruggs filed down his thumb pick so I did that too. I liked the results and have had probably four or five main picks over the last ten years or so.

 It seems important to talk about tone again here. If you play a flat plastic pick against a string (banjo, mandolin or guitar) in a perpendiculr angle to the string it sounds quite thin and and you lose the low and low mid frequencies in your playing. There is a certain angle that needs to be achieved which is hard to describe in words. I don't think about this too much any more as I have spent many years working on it and have many other things in my playing that need work. However, I was forced to think about it too much this week as I lost my favourite (and only good) banjo pick. Of course it happened the day before I was to play a duo concert with my pal; bassist Andrew Downing. I was a mess.

 I had two thumb picks that were essentially identical and one of them broke right before a concert with the group So Long Seven this year. Of course I should have made sure to replace it but I did not. I keep my picks in a very specific place and rarely put them elsewhere. This time I put them in my pocket and the thumbpick went missing. I was scouring through my backup picks trying to find one that felt and sounded good with no luck. I spent much time practising, sanding, filing all to no avail. I couldn't believe how bad these picks sounded and felt. Was it all in my mind? Could these slight differences in angle, thickness etc. really make that much of a difference? I suppose it has to do with playing with only this one pick (or its near identical backup) for so many hours over the last number of years. I no longer thought about how I was attacking the string. There is a great Alan Munde quote; something like...if you your thumbpick doesn't hurt you are doing it wrong and I know what he meant for sure as my fave pick was not necessarily completely comfortable.

 Anyways, for days I looked everywhere for that pick and my mood was low. (It is bit sad that this affected me so but the Maple Leaf's playoff loss didn't help either). The duo concert with Andrew ended up being post-poned for various reasons and I kept searching for a pick that sounded good.

 Yesterday evening my wife Julie and I were going out for dinner and there it was, on our front walk up to our house. My little plastic banjo pick. Oh my god was I happy! I couldn't stop looking at it and then touching it in my pocket as we walked to a neighbourhood Korean restaurant. When I got home I played the banjo for hours with much joy. It felt and sounded so much better than any notes I had played in days.

 If you live in Toronto I will be playing every monday in May at the Rex Hotel from 530-730pm with my Jazz Banjo group featuring Andrew Downing (bass), Aline Homzy (violin) and Kelsely Grant (trombone)

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Posgate Love Letter #34

Hi folks, exciting times with all this music and hockey going on. I hope you are enjoying it too! If you are not a hockey fan; this Thursday night, April 27, simultaneously with the Leafs Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs I will be performing at my favourite venue Sellers and Newel with Andrew Downing. (banjo + bass) We have a very special list of tunes for this gig and we will be playing "double-shots" by composers including Ornette Coleman, Bela Bartok, Neil Young and more. We play two sets starting at 8pm Sharp! (If you can make it; please don't tell me the score of the game as I will be sneaking home after the show to watch it on my pvr) You can call to reserve tickets: 672 College Street 647-778-6345 (or there may be tickets at the door) If you just can't get enough Andrew Downing; he will be playing bass with my Jazz Banjo project at the Rex Hotel (Queen st. W at University) for all five Mondays in May! We are on from 530-730pm. Also featuring Aline Homzy on violin and Kelsley Grant on trombone. This is a fun band. Here is a video from the last time we played at the Rex: https://youtu.be/EHnAIQ3oIL8 Another really fun show at Sellers and Newel is May 6 (my late Mother's Birthday) with Ronley Teper and the Lipliners. Her energy is so big and the place is so small that it may just explode with joy. Can't wait! Dafydd Hughes will be opening with a solo piano set that will be really interesting. (there may be some electronics involved with the lovely piano at Sellers and Newel) Here we are from one of our visits to Berlin (pre Covid) https://youtu.be/YopdisPUiho Here is another one from the great Something Else music festival in Hamilton: https://youtu.be/ObRoWOYTpLc (his tenth annual festival is coming up in June https://somethingelsefestival.com/) Friday May 12 I have my monthly gig at the Tranzac with Collette Savard and the Savants. 7-9pm (I play only electric guitar and love to rock it up!) Hope to see you. Please add me to your mailing list too. I love hearing what people are up to. sincerely, tim p.s. this took me so long to do I have no time left to update my website. Maybe tommorrow. Ha!

Monday, April 24, 2023

synchronicity and such

Weird title for this blog...oh well. I am feeling that energy that happens to me on those synchronistic, coincidental etc. moments. I really feel like it is an energy thing. ie. if you are putting it out you sometimes get it back. I have threatened to record all of these happenings and I never do. They seem to be every few days for me. One happened just now as I went into a book store in my hood and was searching for gifts. Not really sure what I wanted, I end up seeing a lot of books I wish I could afford to buy for myself. My thoughts move into poetry and I am flipping through a few new releases which got me thinking of the late great Toronto poet Richard Sanger. Immediately someone came in and asked if they had his last book that he wrote. The bookstore worker said they only had two copies left. (it is only the two of us in the store) Of course I had to share this synchronicity with them. I could tell that the other customer appreciated my story and the staff person did not. Then, I got chatting with the clerk and told them I felt I had to buy Richard's book at my friends bookstore as he and Richard were friends and it just felt like the right thing to do. Then I mentioned I was performing at that bookstore (Sellers and Newel) on thursday with Andrew Downing. (banjo and bass!)Then the seller mentioned they were learning to play the banjo and we had a nice little chat about banjo. I guess that is all for now. I am excited about watching the Leafs against Tampa today and will fill every remaining minute with practising and teaching until puckdrop at 730pm. Go Leafs! Go Banjo. #Banjohockey

Monday, January 30, 2023

Banjo Hockey revisited (John Hartford)

Hi there blog friends! I am listening to some great John Hartford vinyl as I type into my laptop. I am in the John Hartford state of mind after watching a nice long interview with him on Youtube. (was there really life before youtube?) His interest in Steamboats is fascinating for me. I loved hearing him talk about them and the things he knew he loved about them and trying to understand the intangibles and why he loved them so much. It made me realize (boy it took a while!) that hockey for me is kind of like his love of steamboats. Not only did he love them but he was a steamboat pilot. Does it sound familiar? Yup, I play hockey a few times a week. But, I love watching it almost as much as I do playing it. Sometimes I try to figure out why I am drawn to it so much. I certainly have theories that involve the art of the game, the improvisation and the overall beauty of floating an inch above the earth as a steel blade glides through the frozen water. I love it as much as I love playing music. I used to think that was impossible but now I know it is true. One great thing about having two passions that are central to my life is that I am almost always happy. If I am not performing or recording I am always working on music by composing or practisting. I find three hockey games a week to be the perfect amount as my body can rest for a day in between and I am rarely one day away from my next skate! The Maple Leafs have kept me extra entertained this year. They are so good! Sure, I would love for them to have playoff success and win the Stanley Cup but I enjoy every regular season game regardless. Music is the same. I would love to know that more people were listening to the music I made and that we were winning awards all the time but in the meantime; I just love making music. I am heading off to Kansas City on Thursday for a few days at the Folk Alliance Conference with So Long Seven. I might have to fake a little interest in American football while I am there as their team has advanced to the Superbowl. Remember the Kansas City Chiefs? Yup, they were an NHL team. That was a while ago. I was still collecting hockey sticker books when my Mom and Dad filled up at the gas station. It has been really fun to develop friendships with people who also love hockey and music. Maybe there will be some of those weirdos in KC. I will keep my sensors on.

Friday, October 21, 2022

Podcast interview

Hello! I think I forgot to share the interview I did on Nate Hiltz's Body Electric Podcast. The timing is good though as there are three big shows this week in the Ottawa/Gatineau region. Please check out the poster below and let your friends know who live in those areas! Here is the podcast. (thanks Nate!)

Saturday, October 01, 2022

Newsletter (new So Long Seven CD!!!)

Here is my latest newsletter that I sent out to my email list (thanks for reading!) Hello, person reading email on a computer. I hope I am not taking up space that could be filled by more entertaining or important communications. However, I have much to tell you that is important to me. For example, the third So Long Seven recording has been released into the universe! "only elephants know her name” is now available on Bandcamp (where you can actually purchase a digital copy of your own) as well as all the other music platforms. Here is the Bandcamp link: https://solongseven.bandcamp.com/releases Here is the Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/4O9QXQ0gok7dwHMd92HiIl?si=fktK8WNnT02ujWHnYghgag This record is quite different than our others but still features the same fab four of Neil, Ravi, William and little Timmy p. (Playing banjo) William did a great job producing this record as well as composing string quartet parts for many of the tunes and playing in the string quartet. We will be performing with that string quartet as well as our guest vocalist on the album; Samidha Joglekar at our CD release concert in Toronto on Saturday November 12 at 7pm. Tickets will be available at the door. The concert is at Revival Bar, 783 College St. (At Shaw St.) You will be able to purchase a CD there too! We are also doing a quick tour in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. (Please let your friends know!) October 27 - Maison de la musique, Sorel-Tracy, QC October 28 - La Grange de la Gatineau, Cantley, QC October 29 - Burritts Rapids Community Hall, Burritts Rapids, ON November 12 - Revival Bar, Toronto, ON —————————————————————————— In other news, I am performing at my favourite Toronto venue; Sellers and Newel Bookstore, 672 College St., on Tuesday October 4 at 8pm with bassist Andrew Downing. Banjo+Bass, mmmmmm……. You should reserve your tickets here: http://www.sellersandnewel.com/literary-society.html Or, To book your spot at a Literary Society show, simply contact us by email at sellers@sellersandnewel.com or by phone at 647-778-6345 On October 14 I will be playing guitar with Collette Savard and the Savants at the Tranzac, 292 Brunswick Ave., at 730pm. This is our monthly time slot now (second Friday of Every month)…Cheers!!! -Tim


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