Six Degrees with Steve Washington

Posted on August 12, 2014 by randyjmueller

We met Steve Washington for the first time at the Mandarin Oriental here in DC singing with a jazz quartet. We were invited by our friends Anna and Augie who met him through their interior designer, sparking a round of “six degrees of separation” that continues to this day. I ran into him again at Augie’s famous Men and Meat barbeque where we manly types get together to chaw down on huge hunks of…TUNA (just kidding – everyone else brought meat, I brought the tuna).

This time we joined him at the Postscript Lounge in the Madison Hotel with piano and bass, singing up a storm of classic jazz tunes like Girl from Ipanema, Fly me to the Moon and Take the A Train. He has a smooth and sonorous voice with great range. Besides that, he’s a nice guy and can really work a crowd.

Steve Washington at the Lowes Madison

Steve Washington at the Lowes Madison

In another six degrees moment we ran into Zohar, a connection from Yolanda’s screen-writing class a few years back. Anna was also in the class, and that’s how we all come to know each other. Of course it doesn’t end there, because Zohar spots a guy at the bar who was a screen-writing student of his!

Zohar (right) at the Bar

Zohar (right) at the Bar

I’m sure if we had stayed long enough, we would’ve found someone else who knows that person over there who’s from some other place that has nothing to do with this place. Six degrees becomes two in nothin’ flat.

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In a Jam with BB9

Posted on August 9, 2014 by randyjmueller

Music is a great way to bring people together in new and unexpected ways.

My life partner, Yolanda, studied classical music and plays the flute. I’m a jazz trumpet player, and have played and taught classical for many years. The two of us now play together in an amateur Chamber Orchestra. It’s a good way to share in something bigger than ourselves.

Our good buddies Matt and Jeff play a variety of rock and pop on keyboard, guitar and bass. They jam together weekly in their man-cave band, BB9 (more later). Jeff and Matt play by ear, so if they hear it and have a few chords to go by, they can work it out. Yo and I were taught to read, so if you put a score in front of us, we can read it. So how do we work it out together?

On a boat (obvious, you say)!

Boating with Captain Matt

Boating with Captain Matt and First Mate Jeff

Late that evening after a wonderful meal at anchor, we pulled out our instruments and gave it a whirl. It’s a good thing there was only one boat anchored nearby, but they didn’t complain. With fake book in hand, it was rough, but passable. Yolanda was not satisfied, so she had to do something about it.

Based on a tip from her musical daughter, Ava, she figured out how to use a software program called Noteflight to arrange a tune so the readers could read and the play by ear guys could find their chords and play along. She chose “Come Down in Time,” a soulful tune by Elton John and arranged the keyboard, harp, horn, oboe and guitar piece for BB9.

Of course music is best after a fine meal, this one expertly prepared by Captain Matt on dry land, composed of lobster, corn, sausages and stuffed clams – New England style. It was the grand finale of my birthday events. Afterwards, we retreated to the cave and tried out our new tune, among others. Miss Marianne cheered us on and made us feel like we were getting somewhere. More than passable…and more fun to come!

Jamming with BB9.

Jamming with BB9.

About BB9. It stands for “Bed Before 9:00.” We may have stretched it a bit that night.

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Baseball and Wedding Bands

Posted on July 3, 2014 by randyjmueller

These two things have nothing to do with each other except that they occurred within a week of whirl-wind activities. Yolanda had a trade show in Chicago, so we made a long weekend of it with our good friends, Marianne, Jeff, Matt and Cindy (who is from Chicago). This is our second year and we hope to do it again. Chicago is my kind of town, as Frank so aptly crooned.

The first thing we did on arrival was to make our way to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Wrigley is snuggled into a neighborhood where stadium seating is built on top of the buildings so people can watch from the comfort of their roofs. This was my second baseball game ever, and was it a cliff-hanger! The cubs were leading, 3-0 at the bottom of the 9th when we decided to head out to beat the crowd. By the time we crawled out of the subway, it was tied 3-3. We rushed back to our hotel and watched as they duked it out into the 13th inning. Two men on base and the Cubs hit it out of the park for a 5-3 win. Pretty exciting stuff!

Wrigley Field, Chicago

Wrigley Field, Chicago

And about that wedding band…haha!

Our friends Cal and Alex recently tied the knot in The Plains, Virginia on their amazing country estate. They were going all out and were in need of a killer band for the reception and something small for the recessional. My partner, Jeff Bonk, happens to play in a brass quintet as well as a show band called Bittersweet, so I arranged for them to hook up. The family of both grooms proceeded to Bonk’s arrangement of Sister Sledge’s “We are Family,” and they all receded to a rousing chorus of “Happy Together” by the Turtles.

Wedding Site

Wedding Site

Brass Quintet with Jeff Bonk playing bass trombone

Brass Quintet with Jeff Bonk playing bass trombone

After the ceremony, we had drinks by the pool and ate an amazing dinner for 250(!)  on the lawn, and then kicked off our shoes to dance the night away. Sorry – no photos!

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DC Jazz Festival

Posted on June 29, 2014 by randyjmueller

It’s been a busy summer already and I’m just getting around to documenting my latest musical adventures. Today was a perfect, sunny day for a Jazz Fest, held on the Capitol Riverfront on the Anacostia River. The concert was the finale of a week-long festival in its 10th year and was focused on the jazz of New Orleans. I’ve never been there, but those boys and girls rock!

It opened with the  Crawdaddies, a 7 piece Cajun/Zydeco/Blues band out of Baltimore, followed by Irma Thomas, “The Soul Queen of New Orleans.” She belted out a rendition of “You can take my husband but stay away from my man” that was a crowd-pleaser.

Crawdaddies at the DC Jazz Festival

Crawdaddies at the DC Jazz Festival

Irma Thomas

Irma Thomas

But the best was saved for last, the Rebirth Brass Band, a 9 piece kick-ass street band from the French Quarter. A few of them once came by Wally’s with some emergency repairs when they were playing in Portland. I worked on a couple trombones and a trumpet. It looked like the lead trumpet player now plays a smoked nickel-plated horn with Saturn water keys and an elliptical tuning slide. They were raucously soulful and left everyone smiling, including yours truly.

Rebirth Brass band

Rebirth Brass band

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Kennedy Center NSO

Posted on May 18, 2014 by randyjmueller

Last night we had a great evening of wining, dining and music. It was my first opportunity to hear the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. The program highlighted American contemporary composers, with a little dance thrown in at the end.

The concert opened with “Red Cape Tango” from the Metropolis Symphony by Michael Daugherty. It was a Tango with a symphonic twist, accompanied by a whole back row of percussion. This was followed by Sinfonia No. 4 “Strands” by George Walker, a native of DC who is still kicking at 93. My favorite of the evening was “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copland, a beautiful blend of sonorous lines traveling from winds to brass to strings and back again.

National Symphony Orchestra

National Symphony Orchestra

The program finale was a Violin Concerto by John Adams, performed by Leila Josefowicz, accompanied by the Jessica Lange Dance “Scape.” The dance was commissioned by the NSO through a grant from National Endowment for the Arts, choreographed specifically for the space. Note the random people up there in the gallery (below). They eventually made their way down to the stage where they combined and recombined into a variety of small ensembles in a continuous, flow of “massed sonorities riding on great rippling waves of energy” played ferociously by the violin; so says the program, and I would have to agree.

Violin Concerto by John Adams with Jessica Lange Dance

Violin Concerto by John Adams with Jessica Lange Dance

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Triumphant Trumpets: Faddis, Soloff & Stafford

Posted on April 19, 2014 by randyjmueller

Last night at Blues Alley we had the good fortune to hear a trio of bad-ass trumpets, accompanied by piano, bass and drums. The Triumphant Trumpeters were Jon Faddis, Lew Soloff and Terrell Stafford – each a legend in his own right.

The gig was organized by Jon Faddis, to whom I was introduced by Reynolds Schilke at the Schilke facility on Wabash in Chicago back in 1974. The first time I heard him play was a year later at Stillwater High School in Minnesota with the Thad Jones Mel Lewis Big Band. In 1980 I played with Lew Soloff in Columbus, Ohio, where he was a guest artist with the Jazz Arts Group. I never had the opportunity to meet or play with Terrell Stafford, the youngest of the bunch. Being that we were early to nab good seats, we had a chance to chat with Jon, who joined us at our table. Nice guy. Traded a few words to Lew as well.

John Faddis at Blues Alley

John Faddis at Blues Alley

Faddis has played a Schilke horn forever, with a Laskey mouthpiece, considerably lighter in weight than the one he used to play. It has a tunable bell with a sound post and he was wondering if there was anything I could suggest to help slotting above a double C. Haha!

They played tunes by Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown. It was thrilling to hear the three of them trading courses and fours, especially in such an intimate setting. They blew me away years ago and they blew me away again last night. The band was hot and the salmon was pretty good too.

Triumphant Trumpets

Triumphant Trumpets

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NAPBIRT PDX

Posted on April 12, 2014 by randyjmueller

Are you ready for it?

National Association for Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians. Just goes to show you there is an association for just about anything. This year’s NAPBIRT conference was in my old haunt, Portland Oregon (airport code PDX) where nearly all things are weird. First, let me put a bird on it.

Target puts a bird on it

Target puts a bird on it

If you’ve ever seen Portlandia then you know something about the bird episode. Even Target is in on it. But I digress. This is about adventures in instrument repair.

A few highlights from the conference:

  • Vendor displays of cool and unusual tools, including a magnahelic, used to check leaks on woodwind and brass instruments, and a super-duper ultrasonic cleaner (wish list)
  • A class called “Cool Tools:  The Common, the Uncommon the Obsolete, and the Strange” where I learned things I couldn’t possibly describe in a blog
  • A workshop called “Repairing Saxophones for Play or Overhaul” where I learned different approaches to dent removal
  • A mentorship class by Wayne Tanabe, the trumpet guru of the universe, on everything trumpet, from repair to modifications
  • Enlightening discussions in between and after the sessions with Wayne Tanabe(Yamaha New York), Mark Sorlie (Yamaha Chicago) and an old friend from college, Larry Chamberlain (Yamaha Northwest)
Yamaha heavy hitters

Yamaha heavy hitters

Besides visiting with family, and a trip to Wally’s Music, one of the most fun things we did was to return to Duff’s Garage to hear one of my old bands, the Lilly Wilde Orchestra. It was great to see my friends on the stage and in the garage. Maybe I’ll play next time….

Lilly Wilde Orchestra at Duff's Garage

Lilly Wilde Orchestra at Duff’s Garage

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Oh! for Ophicleide

Posted on March 8, 2014 by randyjmueller

As Promised:  The O-phi-cleide

I have to look it up every time I write it down – which in my many years of working on the unusual as well as the mundane, has happened all of 3 times. What exactly is it, you ask? It’s a brass instrument similar to a euphonium, stretched out and curled around – with keys like a saxophone. Its name literally means, “serpent with keys.” It was invented in the early 19th century for the Paris Opera and there are still people around who play these things.

So Barry Boccaner, a software engineer and musical polyglot, comes into my shop with this 1902 Couesnon ophicleide that has seen better days. It had broken solder joints, the keys were bent, and it had a huge split in the bottom bow. It needed to be entirely re-built.

Ophicleide

Ophicleide

Split in bottom bow

Split in bottom bow

After removing the keys and the bow guard, I realized I had to disassemble the instrument. This gave me access to both sides of the bow. Because of the age of the metal, I had to be careful not to crack the brass while removing the dent.

Parts and pieces

Parts and pieces

After pulling and de-denting the bow and guard, I thought I should add reinforcement, so I fabricated a new diamond and shaped it to match the original bow.

Original bow and guard with new guard diamond

Original bow and guard with new guard diamond

Here is the finished bow with new guard moldings installed.

Completed bow

Completed bow

The next step was to install the first branch and proceed like a saxophone rebuild. This involved leveling tone holes, aligning posts, straightening hinge rods, fitting the keys, installing new pads, etc.

One of my challenges on this project was to improve the action and feel of the key mechanisms. To do this, the original springs, which consisted of large diameter tapered steel rods, had to be replaced with a contemporary substitute. I drilled out the existing spring cradles and soldered a center-drilled 1/8″ piece of brass rod stock into the cradle. This allowed me to install new stainless steel springs.

All in all the project was rewarding, although it took longer than I originally planned. With these vintage instruments, there are always surprises.

Another happy customer

Another happy customer!

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Bonkers

Posted on February 9, 2014 by randyjmueller

I thought I would take a moment to introduce you to my partner in repair crime. Not long after I arrived in DC, we were at a gig of the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra, a 17-piece big band that plays every Monday night, and being that I was looking to set up shop, I shamelessly approached everyone in the band at the break to chat about…well, the wonders of ME. That’s when I met Jeff Bonk. Yes, that’s right – BONK. “Like bonking your head,” he said.

Turns out he was sitting in for the regular bass bone player that night, and turns out, he had a shop in Virginia where he worked on brass. And he needed…..ME! He didn’t know that at the time, but within another couple of weeks, I was setting up my shop at Music Repair Works in Lorton. And here he is…

The Bonk

The Bonk

We call him “The Bonk,” who is clearly bonkers, based on the evidence above. Now you might wonder why he found himself in such a precarious position. Some gigs are just dangerous. This one was an Indian wedding, complete with costumes for the band. I swear, he doesn’t always look like this.

We do have some fun around the shop and Jeff has a way with words, lots of them, that stream out along a continuous, winding path that eventually lead back to the matter at hand. He is also a great trombone player and has played with the likes of the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Club Big Band, the Fresno Symphony Orchestra and a bunch of bands around town, that include members of the Airmen of Note, the Navy Commodores and Army Blues. His connections bring a lot of great players into the shop.

And speaking of the shop, we’re about ready to embark on an “infrastructure makeover.” Stay tuned…

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Christian Scott Quintet at BoCav

Posted on January 27, 2014 by randyjmueller

We have the great fortune to live down the street from one of the oldest jazz clubs in the country. At the ripe old age of 88, Bohemian Caverns has hosted many of the GREAT greats of jazz, and suffered through numerous shut downs and openings in its original location. On top of it all, it really IS a cavern (of the made-up kind)!

Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra

Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra

Last night we went to hear the Christian Scott Quintet. Christian is a two-time Edison Award winning jazz trumpeter, composer and producer (so says Wikipedia), as well as a fan of fashion (by observation). I was very taken by the artful incarnations of his trumpet, cornet and flugel. He told me they were built by Adams Brass Instruments out of the Netherlands based on his personal sketches.

Christian Scott's Horns

Christian played hard and with a level of intensity that was maintained by his red-hot band throughout the entire show. I was impressed by his improvisation as well as his command of the instrument. He wrote or arranged most of the compositions, including a tribute to his lovely wife who sang a sultry version of “Summertime” and the finale, a tune by Herbie Hancock. Sharp kid with a whole career ahead of him.

Christian Scott

Christian Scott

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