Banff, Week 2

After recording a Friday night concert in Rolston Hall at the Banff Centre, my colleague Keith and I were walking back to the Co-Op when we ran into three elk. Two large males were on the left side of the road, and a female was munching some grass on the right. We thought it would be wise avoid the path between them, so we took the long way around through the park. The road from recording a concert at Peabody to my apartment in Baltimore was perhaps as treacherous, but for far different reasons.

 I played a session with saxophonist Curtis MacDonald of NYC, and drummer Adam Milller of the Turtle Boy Jazz Trio from Montreal. It is a small world. As I hang more with these musicians, we realize how many people we know in common.

It was a fun session, and liberating to play with people again. We played some Monk (Evidence), Wayne Shorter (Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum), Duke Ellington (Isfahan), and a Curtis original.  I took his bass line to my studio, and it took me some practice to get it through my ears and under my fingers.

Thursday night I recorded a concert of The St. Lawrence String Quartet. Their ensemble sounded like a single organism. The addition to the classic quartet of a guest cello and viola rounded out the sound and added a nice texture to the low end. We used spaced omnis, hung above the stage, B&K 4007.

Friday night I recorded a Duo for violin and cello by Edmund Shulhoff performed by two of the members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Scott St. John, and Christopher Costanza. This was followed by a dynamic Stockhausen piece for solo piano performed by Luciane Cardassi. After intermission, the two first performers were joined by pianist Inju Oh, to perform Dvoraks' Piano trio in f minor.  Dress rehearsal was helpful for planning how to change the position of the mics between the first two pieces - it was the only change that occurred while the audience was waiting for a performance to start.  We used spaced omni's as or main mic array, Schoepps H2. The cello spot was a TLM 103, and piano spot was the Neumann stereo SM69 (which we had some trouble with as the splitter box kept farting out). The wine and pizza reception after the concert was crucial.

Saturday morning there was a Music&Sound department-wide floor hockey game. It was great to see a bunch of world class musicians get together and try to play a competitive sport. I was able to sprint for about eight minutes, and then I felt like hurling, so I decided to play goalie for the rest of the game.

I spent the rest of my day getting my energy together, and then at night I went with some musicians to the Banff Hot Springs. A natural hot-tub fed by the mountain. They have old fashioned bathing suits for rent, one of which my friend Jon decided to wear.  The night would have been complete if he had a monocle and a tobacco pipe. I will definitely return to this spot after it snows.

Now it is Sunday, and I am taking it easy. I plan to do some listening and some playing. Late last night I watched the replay of the Palin-Biden debate. Since I arrived here, I have been able to phase out politics completely from my thoughts. Watching this debate was disappointing, because neither candidate was very direct, and both had so much canned material that it didn't seem like they were in the same room together at all.