Expectations part 2

Earlier, I'd written about expectations and how they may get in the way of results. We are now on the lunch break of our very first session with Chucho and I must say that I have mixed feelings. My anticipation was that we were going to get a load of ball-busting charts along the lines of Chucho's great group Irakere. Instead, what we have been presented with is three high school simple big band arrangements at medium to slow tempos which basically function as a solo vehicle for Chucho's amazing playing. The only uptempo tune is Mambo Influenciado, which I have played numerous times, and which we performed at a faster tempo in concert last week.

From the sounds of it, these are the only four charts of his we will be playing in concert on Saturday. There will also be a couple of solo piano pieces and then maybe a mass trombone arrangement of Manteca. That's it.

Hugh did not know until Chucho arrived what he planned to bring, so now the challenge for Hugh is to pull a concert together out of this material that will be satisfying for everyone. The pieces will be reworked and expanded to make them more concert oriented.

I had expected to be in the practice room from this point up to the time of the concert working my ass off just to cover my part, but frankly they're dead simple to play and due to the size of the band, I'll be laying out half of the time. So basically my initial reaction to the morning session was disappointment.

I don't want to sound insincere here, because it is an honour to have the opportunity just to share the stage with him. Chucho is a gifted pianist and having the chance to hear and watch him in person in something very special. But the title of today's entry is "Expectations".

So now it's time to shift gears and focus on making the material sound as good as possible. Stan Karp had a great quote from his mentor Bill Green when young Stan got overconfident with his assigned studies "If you're so bored with it, why doesn't it sound better?". So we can always improve our playing of a passage of music no matter how simple. Even if we are just a support vehicle for Chucho's soloing, the only professional thing to do is to honour the music and make it sound as great as possible.

I already told Hugh last week, that I felt like I'd gotten my money's worth up here this year, even without the Chucho experience, and I need to bear this in mind. Yesterday's recording session was an exceptional group achievement and perhaps a bit of a letdown is natural. I haven't talked about my feelings with anyone else here yet, but I'm sure many of the young trumpeters here came to Banff expecting a mega-burnout Latin workout. That's not going to happen.

The next few days will be interesting. I have to take advantage of the opportunity to spend time with one of the greatest masters of Cuban music, regardless of what music is put in front of me, and absorb as much as possible. As in all of the previous years here, my greatest learning has come from unexpected sources. I have to keep open to all eventualities.

This will also allow me to spend a couple of more nights composing, which is one of the primary reasons that I'm here.