Pete Zimmer Band at Blues Alley
On February 26.
I played at Blues Alley in Washington DC
as a pianist for Pete Zimmer band.
Pete Zimmer-drums
Joel Frahm-ten sax
Marco Panascia-bass
Myself -piano
Pete is a guy I've been learning from
as to what the band leader should be
in the world where tons of independent artist
are around in NYC.
He set up his own record label about 4 years ago.
He made 3 CDs so far.
He self promotes them.
He gets gigs by himself.
If a gig is in out of town, he drives by himself.
He sets up his own drums, plays, talks to the audience,
sells CDs at the venue, pack up his drums, pays musicians,
treats musician's dinner, gives each member of his bands a ride back.
It was around 4 in the morning when he arrived my apartment in Bronx
after he unloaded Joel in Washington hight.
He headed for Brooklyn where Marco lives.
Probably, he'd go home by 5:30 am in his Queens home.
Thank you, Pete!
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I saw a piano master
Even though I'm doing TORU DODO music most of times,
I am still interested in Classical music.
I found that there was Jacques Rouvier's piano master class at
Yamaha salon at midtown last Saturday afternoon so
I went there. (It was free.This is one of the greatest things in NY,
Lots of free event.)
Mr.Rouvier is a professor at Paris conservatoire.
A 60 -year-old French piano master is busy traveling all over the world
and performing and doing clinics like this one.
I was totally knocked out by his sound when he demonstrated.
Relaxed.deep, silky. perfect finger control&dynamics.
Sensitive pedal skill.
There were 5 students at the class and some of them were
prize winners in some international piano competitions.
However, Mr. Rouvier's sound stood out.
His advice really affected those students and made them play better.
I felt like I knew nothing about a piano after I heard him playing.
I am so ashamed that I am living as a pianist in the world
masters like Mr. Rouvier are around.
Only thing that consoled me was I made a good decision at
my high school era that I gave up becoming a classical pianist.
(Somehow, I've been surviving as a pianist who only can play good on TORU DODO music.)
VIVA! Jacque Rouvier!0 Comments | Link to This | Back to top
V's day at Smoke
5 years ago,
Wayne Escoffery (Tenor Sax)& Carolyn Leonhart(Vocal)met atthe Smoke, a jazz club in NYC, for the first time.
They fell in love and got married.
5 years later,they performed at the Smoke to
celebrate Valentine's day.
I'm thankful for being part of their love story
as a pianist on the stage.
It was a delightful night.
In the audience, there was a somebody who
proposed to his girlfriend.(Yes!). There was a
somebody who bought my CD(Thank you!) though it was not my gig.
Even Sue Mingus showed up so
a Japanese pianist somehow couldn't help but
playing his ass off.
A Happy Valentine's Day!
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Interview
Interview is not a easy thing to do.
Sure it's hard for a Japanese musician
to deal with it in English.
But more than that , it's hard for me
to reply it logically.
I may have to blame it to Japanese education I have taken.
In Japanese class, since there is a harsh competition just to enter
a good university, how much information you can remember
is always priority. Kids who can remember things like
who did this and when he did have more chance to go to good
universities than kids who take time to think about how he did
and why he did.
I was one of those kids who can remenber things.
But I have not trained to think things logically.
On the interview, they asked me about how I compose
and what my concept is.
I do have some concept when I compose.
But it's hard to explain on the phone.
If I have a piano near me or If an interviewer is
my friend who knows me and my music well,
I might be able to do it.
But that was not the case.
I gave up. I told a interviewer "I'll explain later."
I sweated so bad.
I said to myself, "I need to write out my concept of composing
on my note and REMEMBER it."
(My interview will be on JAZZ IMPROV NY magazine March issue.
It's free!)
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A Happy Musician
I used to love reading famous classical composers' biographies
when I was a kid. I remember I didn't like about they didn't have a happy life.
That scared me ,too.
Beethoven---------lost his hearing.
Chopin------------dumped by his long time lover
Schubert-----------all time poor life
Even, newer musicians have a same deal.
Either they are junkie or die young. Ex.Parker, Bob Marley..........
Is there any musicians who made thousands of money,had a tons of children and lived long?
I was able to be as a musician till now by luck.
Now I'm thinking about Mozart after I became 35 years old today.
He died at age 35.
Oh well.
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You Can Buy DODO 3(USA Version) from my website.
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3 Drummers
On the night of Feb 2 2007, 3 drummers I've recorded with were at the Blue Note NY.
John Lamkin (for DODO, 116 West 238St.)was with Donald Harrison group.
Rodney Green(for DODO 3) was with Mulgrew Miller trio.
And Pete Zimmer (I'm in his band)was on the late night groove live where I also played on the show.
The secret code for the Blue Note on the night of February 2 was "TORU DODO".
The only person who knew that secret might be Toru Dodo But, hey,
I had a fun time seeing my friends and also performing at the Blue Note.
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Reviews
I'm now doing a little of my media campaign in the USA Jazz media.
In order to sell my CD,DODO 3.
I thought good reviews will do good on selling my music so I'm collecting reviews as many as possible.So far, I got 2. And the both look good.
check them out!
http://torudodo.com/reviews.html
I hope more good one's coming so thatI can retrieve my space where I used to be able to sleep with my legs stretching out in my room.
(God! Right now, my CD boxes pile up like a mountain in my apartment.)
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