Gala Concert: Night 1

In my rush to post something yesterday, I neglected to mention that there would be an evening concert, which I, of course, was planning on going to.

Every night of the convention has it's capper, and each night is different. It's been awhile since I've been to a convention - I think the last one I attended was in Albuquerque, New Mexico - but I assumed the gala concert tradition would stand. 

Last night's theme was "Jazz Extravaganza," and the show started with Jim Walker. Jim Walker was (of course you know this) the principle flutist for the LA Philharmonic, but he's also had many outstanding achievements in jazz. In high school, my band teacher Mr. Nazzaretta made a tape for me of various flute music and things I needed to hear, and "Free Flight" was definitely on it.

His performance last night was Latin Jazz, and he played with his new musical partner (I don't know much about this), Jose Valentino.

(As a side note, I hope Jose Valentino turns out to be a relative. I really, really hope so.)

They also performed with a percussionist (and fine flutist himself) Giovanni Perez. 

The thing I wasn't prepared for was the recorded backing track they used, and the honest truth for me, and in my own opinion, is that I was disappointed. The flute playing was superb. The three of them were great performers. But combine the amplification of the flutes with the funky Latin disco beats, and I wasn't thrilled.

After intermission, though, things got much better, because Nestor Torres and his amazing band hit the stage.

Yep: band.

He brought a bass player, keyboard player, drummer and percussionist with him, and they were great.You know me and drummers: Anderson Quintero was fun to watch and listen to. I'm not familiar enough with his music to tell you what pieces he played EXCEPT they did a beautiful, bittersweet version of "Over the Rainbow," which I loved. There is more than one version of him playing this out there, so I won't provide a link (because it's late, and I'm tired, and you can probably find it quicker than I can, including inserting the link), but I recommend you check him out. It was great.

After the concert, my friend Julie, who had worked until 6 or 7, arrived so I went down to check her in and give her a key, make a long phone call, and then she and I talked for a while, and then I went to bed, excited about the next day, and ready for more.

Hello from the Flute Convention - Day 1

Hello from the convention!

I left Long Beach this morning, after picking up a delicious breakfast burrito and iced coffee at Lazy Acres, around 8:30. Traffic was surprisingly light, heading south, and though I regretted not following through on my original plan of taking Amtrak, it was an easy drive.

We just got home from a trip to the Santa Cruz area last week, and I did most of the driving, and not being in the car for six hours is a good thing. Long Beach to San Diego is simple.

I stopped once, at the Vista Point (I think there's only one), to look at the ocean, take a selfie, to discover there are no trash cans, and a sign asking us to not feed the birds and squirrels (everyone was). It was a short stop.

Once I arrived in San Diego, I checked in to the hotel. My friend Julie made the reservation months ago, and graciously allowed me to be her roommate for this convention. I say "graciously" because she doesn't arrive until late tonight, so here I am, hanging out in "our" room, all by myself. It feels a bit luxurious. This trip will comprise the longest time I've been away from Jules since he was born. We've been apart for a night at a time, but that's all. And... today is Patrick's birthday. I'm feeling quite lucky today.

After I checked in, I moved the car, and came up to our room. I've been to another convention here in San Diego, which was at this same hotel. That time, my room was in one of the little bungalow type rooms they have. This time we're in the "tower." It's an old hotel, it gets just a 2 star rating on Yelp, but it's fine. Normally for conventions you're not in your room much anyway.

I dropped off my bags and went downstairs to check in for the convention, and the first thing I did was head to Carolyn Nussbaum's shop in the exhibit hall. I've decided I'd like to buy a new flute this year, but in order to do that, I have to, at a minimum, sell my Goosman headjoint. They're helping me to do that. We'll see if I get a good price for it. After that, I'll look at flutes. I guess I could be doing that now but after playing a few in the exhibit hall, I started feeling a bit overwhelmed. It's noisy in there and I haven't exactly ironed out in my mind what I want.

I also took my student model flute to Yamaha to have them check it out. A technician looked at it and thinks it's in good shape, and is a nice flute (for a student). He was amazed at the old style of case it has. I discussed purchasing a new case for it (I want one that says "Yamaha" on it, otherwise I would've bought one at Carolyn Nussbaum), but it would need to be ordered, and I can do that at home.

I ran into some friends (Ronna! Kathleen! Patty! Patrick! Javier! David!), and then I went to my first concert.

So first things first: I will try my best to link to the pieces and performers I actually see at the convention, but if it's not possible or if it just takes too long to track down, I will post performances by other people, just so you know what the music sounded like. If anybody reads this and sees that I made a mistake or neglected to credit the right people, please make a note in the comments section. Thanks!

The concert was called "Flute Quartets and Trios" and there were some standout performances.

The first ensemble was called "Quarternity Flute Quartet." I arrived a little early for the concert, and so got to hear them warming up. The piccoloist got my attention right away. Her name is Cynthia Rugolo, and according to her bio in the convention book, she is a former player in the "President's Own" United States Marine Band. Her piccolo playing was superb. She writes about playing for President Obama's inauguration, here. It's really interesting. I really enjoyed a piece they played called "Celtic Spirit," by Bill Douglas. Here's a totally different group performing the first movement.

A highlight from the concert was a group called "Emissary Quartet." They performed a piece called "Levada," by a composer named Heike Beckmann, which they arranged. Here's another totally different group performing this amazing piece.

There were other great moments in the concert, but I have a feeling if I write everything down here, I'll be spending more time typing than doing anything else.

After the Quartets and Trios concert, I headed to my second concert of the day: "Music for Flute and Percussion." I really had no idea what to expect. There weren't many people in the audience, and boy, what a shame. All the performances were wonderful. I really liked hearing the flute + marimba duos. What an interesting, perfect combination.

The performers started out great (Iktus Duo, please check them out, and definitely listen to "First Concerto" by Lou Harrison; link on their site), and somehow kept getting better.

Another group I really liked was "Dauphine Street Duo." This was my first time hearing flute and marimba, and I think I fell in love. They played a beautiful piece called "Kembang Suling." This is not them, but this is the piece.

So, then Caballito Negro took the stage. They had everyone's attention because this tiny woman (her name is Tessa Brinckman) was playing an enormous contrabass flute. The first piece they played was called "This is Like Jazz," by Ivan Trevino. It was fun, and had some spoken word and a lot of great rhythm and marimba playing. I thought they played it with a lot of humor and interest. This is actually a recording of them playing the piece.

But what killed me was their next piece: That Which Colors the Soul. I have to take a second and mention the name of her partner: Terry Longshore. He played marimba, tabla, something called "handsonic" and singing bowls, and he did the spoken word portion. He was great, and I really loved his playing. Anyway, I think they wrote this piece, and I can't find a recording or video but it was really beautiful. They both played the bottles, and then Tessa played flute while Terry continued with a variety of instruments, and it was very enchanting.

After the concerts, I headed up to our room to write all this down, take a bit of a breather from all the hubbub, and hopefully connect with some friends for dinner. I'm starving. That burrito was hours and hours ago.