Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

Readers, it is SO all about me today and I am loving it!

First off, my 11-piece, NOLA-brass-band-inspired-yet-definitely-not-a-NOLA-brass-band powerhouse jazz sensation THE HUMMINGBIRD BRIGADE is scheduled to perform at The Jazz Cellar next month, JUNE 8/9. As always, it’s going to be a party including some classic material, some new material, some awkward-band-vocals, some blisteringly hot gong action and plenty of bourbon good times!

This show is going to be especially fantastic as the band will be getting polished and ready to record on Monday, June 11! The album will be released Canada’s newest record label: Reigning Parade.

So reserve early here and don’t miss this show!

Oh yeah, in case my description of the band wasn’t crystal clear enough, you can check some video footage of our last show here and here.

Last but not least, drinkify.org has honoured me with a drink in my name. That’s right, apparently when listening to my albums, you should also be drinking akvavit and cranberry juice.

But wait a minute! That’s not my drink! I’ve never even tried akvavit!

Drinkify, if you’re reading, and I assume you are,… I’m more of a whiskey man, rye whiskey in particular, and if I had to name my drink I might have to go with the Jay Jones created, and perfectly named cocktail,… “The Clarinet.” Well done Jay! (And thanks to front-end-web-designer and proud Hummingbird Brigade 2nd trombonist “Slappy” Mynett for the introduction!)

Well, that’s enough excitement for me. I gotta go and finish some more material for the June 8/9 shows!

Thanks for reading and have a great week everybody!

HUMMINGBIRD BRIGADE AT PAT’S PUB (403 E. HASTINGS) TONIGHT! SETS AT 9 AND 10:30.
BE THERE!

GOTTA RUN. THANK YOU ALL!!

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

This is gonna be a quick one folks! I am still hard at work on charts for the Hummingbird Brigade. So far I’m confident I’ll have at least 3 new charts, two of these are more involved and one of them will be a relatively simple tune. I have also promised to have a couple Jelly Roll Morton tunes arranged for the band,… hopefully I’ll have time to not make a liar out of me.

Why the Jelly Roll tunes? Because it’s just such a perfect tie-in with everything; my New Orleans brass band inspired Hummingbird Brigade, the jazz creator/master/legend Jelly Roll Morton who also wrote music for large ensemble (called The Red Hot Peppers), and the venue in which BOTH groups will have performed in… Pat’s Pub.

And of course,… because we can.

But besides all the work involved with new compositions and arranging music by Jelly Roll, I’ve also spent quite a bit of time tweaking/fixing my older charts.

Now over the years, I’ve received quite a bit of flack from my band members about changing my compositions from show to show. I see it as improving my charts while my band members see it as not giving them a hope in hell of ever getting familiar with the music.

And they make a good point. Whenever possible, it’s best let the band “settle in” to the piece, it’s form, it’s voicings, rhythms, etc.. But there’s one thing they might not fully appreciate: It’s not their baby.

What does this mean? It’s more than a matter of pride, more than perfectionism. It has to do with the composers almost physical connection to the song from hearing it in their head over and over and over again. It also has to do with the emotional investment in the song and what you really want it to project. The end result being that when the composer puts a song together successfully, it’s extremely rewarding, but when the composer perceives something to be wrong with their piece, well… it kinda hurts to hear it! It’s like sending a little kid off to school when they’ve forgotten to put pants on, you can’t just let that happen, you gotta fix it man! (note: I do not have kids. I very well might just let that happen for a laugh,… and to teach them an important lesson: wear pants, or be ridiculed.)

Okay, that’s all I have to say about that. I gotta get back to work here. Come check out the 11-piece extravaganza next Saturday! More info here.

Thanks for reading and have a great week everyone!

(above painting, “The Perfectionist”, by Grant Wood, 1936)

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!
Readers, what a week! I’m writing today’s smnp on my iPhone because my computer was stolen yesterday. That’s right someone is clearly jealous enough of my hot tune writing abilities that they resorted to breaking into my place and stealing my laptop!

Well joke’s on you burglar man!! The hotness ain’t on that 7-year old MacBook pro, it’s in my mind!

… it’s also on my external backup hard drive, which you forgot to nab. So nice try jackass, but you can’t stop hotness.

Moving on. Composing tunes was going slow enough BEFORE I got robbed, so this extra obstacle is making a life a bit more stressful these days as I try to complete new material for THE HUMMINGBIRD BRIGADE show at PAT’s PUB (403 E. Hastings) Saturday, April 28th. (doors at 7:30, show at 9, tix $10)

It should come as no surprise to most of you that it takes me a long time to compose music, just as it takes me a long time to make coffee, get dressed, write blogs or just generally come to a conclusion on any given subject.
 
These last couple of weeks have seen me spending a lot of time sitting in a dimly lit room staring at a pad of manuscript paper full of music scribbles, crossed out directions, crossed out titles and a few hot licks.  Occasionally, I’ll walk around the house in a stupor, or wash dishes in a stupor or take a little stupor-ous walk around the block all the while trying to “hear” a new composition in my head, trying to imagine the shape of the piece.  Should the first melody be 10 bars or 12?… How long should the intro be?… It’s too empty, what kind of counter-melody could I put in there?… etc., etc.  It’s not just thinking, it’s extreme  thinking, and it’s kind of exhausting.  Even for an extreme thinker such as myself.

But I’ve learned that the trick is to do this before I sit down with the laptop and toy around with ideas in music notation programs.  Not that the toying part isn’t fun, actually it’s too fun, and I can easily get sucked into countless hours of toying because it’s sort of entertaining to let the computer play ideas back to you and continue trying out different directions.  There’s nothing wrong with this way of composing of course, it’s just that I want to feel like the true “Author” of my songs, not the guy who put a bunch of building blocks together until it just kinda happened to work out. That, and I thought it would help me write faster; which,… it doesn’t at first, but in the long run it helps to avoid quite so many revisions. Maybe.

In the words of Jan Jarczyk, “Composing music is a game of imagination. You have to trust your inner ear.”

And with that, I’m going to tap out of this long-winded SMNP.

Thanks for reading (lock your freakin’ doors at night) and have a great week everyone!

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

Readers, I just keep cranking out the events like there’s no tomorrow. But assuming there are at least another 28 ‘tomorrows’ you’re gonna want to be at Pat’s Pub on April 28 to witness the force that is THE HUMMINGBIRD BRIGADE (show starts at 9pm, $10 cover).

For those of you not familiar with the band, I often describe it as such…

“Mix the exciting New Orleans brass band sound with some soulful B3 organ, hard-groovin original songs, a band of merry men and just a few sazeracs, top it off with a clarinet and you’ve got THE HUMMINGBIRD BRIGADE!”

… excited yet?

And that’s not all! The cover is only $10. 11 guys on stage,… that’s less than a dollar per guy people!

As for Pat’s Pub, it’s a terrific venue for this music; it’s got soul, it’s got tasty food, and it’s got cheap drinks (and I mean “cheap” as in affordable, they don’t taste cheap). Pat’s Pub even has an in-house microbrewed lager. I mean come on!

What’s that?… you also want to hear some new original Danderfer tunes?

Fine! There will be a slew of new songs and covers presented as well. That’s right, world premieres people! The new songs aren’t anywhere near finished yet, but they will be, and with any luck (and many MANY hours of racking my brain)… they’ll be smokin’ HOT!

The bigger and badder the audience is, the more exciting this night will be, so tell your friends, tell your enemies and come join the party!

And with that, I gotta get cracking on these new tunes. So far, influences include Jay Z, Youngblood Brass Band, Rebirth, Whitney Houston, BB King, and Art Blakey. Ya know, that old chestnut.

Thanks for reading and have a great week everyone!

(above photo by csummers)

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

Readers, my creativity clearly knows no bounds, it doesn’t even know the meaning of “bounds.”

This is why I feel free to take time away from the clarinet to go ahead and make a short film. Because I can.

So without further ado, go ahead and pop some popcorn, crack a beer, sit back and click here to enjoy Reigning Parade’s first short film to accompany its first release.

Then, when you’re done, feel free to shower me with adoration or criticism, whichever comes first.

I can take it.

If you’d like to follow Reigning Parade on twitter, click here. Or follow us on facebook here.

Enjoy! And let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading/watching and have a great week!

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

Readers, I am an inconsiderate bastard… and yet so giving!

First, the giving part. I know many of you “couldn’t come” to my CD release and I get it, who wants to feel pressured into buying a CD which for all you know might not be worth the plastic it’s printed on. I get it! And that’s why I’ve made the 1st half of my album available for streaming at reigningparade.com, my record label. Check it out here.

And now the other part. I might just be an inconsiderate bastard, or at least downright absent-minded.

How else can you explain the fact that on my label’s debut record, “Swingin’ at the Patricia” (available EVERYWHERE now!), I forgot to mention in the liner notes where much of it was recorded: The Jazz Cellar. A bit thoughtless under normal circumstances, but you see, the club and it’s owner (Cory Weeds) have been extremely helpful and supportive towards me starting my own label, Reigning Parade. And so it is doubly troubling that I omitted them/him in the liner note credits.

So there you have it. All cards are on the table, and it looks like that’s just the kinda guy I am. In the words of Weeds… “What a jack-pipe!”

So mea culpa Cory, and thanks.

Speaking of Weeds, I’ve recently interviewed him regarding the future of the recording industry and it will be posted on the blog of Reigning Parade on Monday. So if you’d like to find out what the future holds, check it out here on Monday.

That’s all for now as I have to get ready to make the epic voyage to the house of Chops GRANDE (pictured above right) and Mrs. Chops GRANDE, ie. Oak Bay, Victoria.

Thanks for reading and have a great week everybody!

(above photo by Steve Mynett)

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

This is gonna be a quick one folks! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came down last night for the CD release party at Pat’s Pub. The crowd was a pleasure to play for, the staff made us feel right at home and Miles Black and Joe Poole were swingin their asses off. Sooo fun!

Last night was also Danderfer’s debut as a short film producer. Thanks to Andrew Lavigne‘s videography and my “film-making” courses at Arts Umbrella 20 years ago (remember that Grande?), “Swingin’ at the Patricia: Jelly Roll in Vancouver” was premiered at last night’s event. I need to tweak it a bit yet, but it will be available for viewing right here next week.

Last but not least, a sincere thanks to jazz impressario Cory Weeds who held my hand through the entire process of setting up my own label and putting out my 1st album. Paving the way for others to follow, always supportive, always informative,… he’s like my big brother in the world of music business. Thanks Weeds!

So on your marks, get set, GO listen to (1/2) the album streaming here on the Reigning Parade website (that’s my new record label), download it off iTunes, or buy a copy at CD baby. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading and have a great week everybody!

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

Readers, these last few weeks have been a very busy and exciting time for this ol’clarinetist.

Let’s see, the first album of my new record label, Reigning Parade, is finally in my hot little hands, and given how many bumps there were along the road and how many more there could have been, well, let’s just say I was relieved to finally have it. I was so happy I even took a photo of the DHL guy who delivered them.

What else?… I did an interview for CBC’s music blog (see here) about the story behind the new album, Swingin’ at the Patricia, and the CD release show (which, btw is this FRIDAY, MARCH 9 @ PAT’S PUB!). I also updated my ‘artiste profile‘ on CBC Radio 3′s website, including a few tracks from the new album. Check it out here.

And then of course, there’s my website. Knowing that radio play of the new album will bring on a ‘Dander-frenzy‘ of visitors to my website, it was up to me to update it a little. And when I say “me“, I mean “Steve Mynett.” Steve changed the home page to a rotating image thing (with a new photo by Adam Bullied), added a “video” page, and updated the “photos” page. Thanks Steve!

What’s next? More promo work to let people know about the March 9 show, and a “Swingin’ at the Patricia: Behind the songs” video and what else,… oh yeah,… I gotta start practicing again for this CD release show!

Hope to see you this Friday. Thanks for reading and have a great week everybody!
(above top photo by Adam Bullied)

Hello, good morning, and welcome to the Saturday Morning News Post!

Readers, as you may recall, a few months ago I had the distinct feeling that there was just not enough Danderfer on the internet. Sure, you could visit my website, listen to my music, view my YouTube videos, befriend me on Facebook, and read my weekly blog, but I knew in my heart that Dander-fans were not fully satisfied!

Always ready to give and give some more, I hopped aboard the Twitter train. Only problem was, once aboard, I didn’t really have a sense of what to do. And so I consulted my go-to web-master/photographer/trombonist and all-around social media slut Steve “Slappy” Mynett for guidance. He then came up with a list of things to try out (which you can read here); 4 months later, drinking some extremely strong coffee at 49th Parallel, Mynett let the gavel drop and handed down some judgement, Slappy style…

JD: Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks, what’s my grade?

SM: Here’s your assignment. First of all, stay true to authenticity. Be a bit more active, more conversations with the people you know. Step 2, establish lists such as ‘local musician’ ‘international musicians’ ‘comedians’ or whatever, then make up a list of the people you want to read updates from on a regular basis so as not to get overwhelmed with too much info. Step 3, find two other communities online that you’re interested in, follow some of those people and try to be a bit more active within those communities. It could be anything; cooking, politics, sports, whatever! Just try getting into the discovery aspect of this thing and see what happens.

And so this ol’ jazz clarinetist’s journey into the information age continues…

Thanks to Mr. Mynett for the social media coaching and thanks to you all for reading. Have a great week!