Banff, Week 5/6

We have had our first serious snowfall here.  A calming force in the midst of a couple of busy weeks.  After a weekend in Calgary recording a great jazz set at the Beatniq with my friend LJ for the CBC, we returned to Banff to work on a recording of a composition for Oboe and Crystal Glasses with Carmen Thierry.  I played a wine glass.  It felt like years of annoying people at restaurants with plate percussion and wine glass rubbing had finally had finally paid off.  I was meant for this!

The previous week brought many musical ideas as our guest faculty was bassist Roberto Occhipinti and pianist Hilario Duran.  Roberto produces records from the musician/arranger standpoint, which is refreshing for me.  I was able to study with him, and with Hilario who worked on Cuban bass lines with me.  The same week, we made a 5.1 surround sound recording of the indy band, Wooden Sky, with Josh Tidsbury, an engineer for CTV.

The weekend brought another great Friday evening concert in Rolston Hall, which was set up Halloween style, with a carved pumpkin, and microphones mounted on a skeleton.  There were fireworks going off in the distance as a trio for piano, viola, and clarinet was performed.  After the concert, we had the funkiest halloween party ever, with plenty of James Brown.  I was the protagonist of "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob," one of the greatest films of all time.  You can see me in my Shabbat's finest, moving a piano and nearly tripping on my payot.  

This week is quite busy as well as we have 2 audio faculty guiding us - Judith Sherman, an amazing classical producer, and Mark Willshire, who works with music for film.  On Thursday we will record the Turtle Boy Trio of Montreal.  Today I had a great lesson with Henk Guittart, who has me working hard on my bowing technique.  I am looking forward to Zeke's coffee tomorrow morning!