Lingua Incognita Session #3; St. Cyprian's Church, San Francisco CA; 3/14/17

This event was advertised as a show, but it had more of the feeling of a workshop to be honest. Not that that's a bad thing at all, it's just how things felt, seeing as that it was in the basement of a church. I had fun walking around the neighborhood around St. Cyprian's before the music started. In the 1990's, I lived a few blocks away from its location. I saw places of some relevance to me: the garage that Dan Laks rented for the Birdsaw tour vehicle, a musician's house where I hung out a lot, an apartment that brought back embarrassing memories of personal trauma. That's all ancient history now, though.
Anyway, as for the Lingua Incognita Session #3, it was a fun community event. I think that I've been lucky enough to play with all of the members of the group: Mika Pontecorvo, Eli Pontecorvo, Kersti Abrams, Amanda Chaudhary, Jack Hertz, Jaroba, Josh Marshall, CJ McCaslin, Aaron Levin, and Tim Orr at least once respectively. This is the scene that I'm in now in many ways. I like that. Definitely starting to know these peoples' sounds. It was great especially to pair up with Tim and Aaron on drums. Those guys teach me a lot.
We must have done about four pieces, all based upon Mika's Miles-influenced sketches. Some seemed better realized than others. For a relatively large sized group, it seemed as though we mostly listened and interacted. I recall some really cool, swelling woodwind ensemble figures and spaced out synth solos.  Mika also got some really grungy guitar tones going. At times I felt as though the pieces stretched a bit too long: one can only take so much heaviness before needing a pause! That said, I had a nice time playing a small back line with that had a really sweet Zildjian ride cymbal. It was fun to dig in to that cymbal, especially during this kind of pseud-Latin figure that I lead off one tune with.
All told, a fun evening of community music in a nice, comfortable space. Thanks to Mika for putting it together!

Below: Mika tunes

Above: some band members run down the vibe
Below: Tim Orr sets up to break it down

Above: small back line kit with a sweet ride cymbal