1. Case of the Blues

    Posted in: Videos on Saturday, January 26th, 2013

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    The band had just finished making up a song out of nothing, out of thin air.  Where there had been total silence suddenly there was music, good music, a tune than engaged you, had you feeling the beat and moving your body.  It sounded like a song that had been crafted and perfected over time, and yet it had been created on the spot in one take, even though when it began no one had any idea where it would go or how it would end.

    Bill Maxwell the drummer said to Abraham Laboriel the bass player, who had shown up only minutes earlier in time for this last song of the session, “Let’s do a slow blues number.  Abe you start us off.”  With those words as his only guide Abe began a little improv riff on the base.  A few bars later, Greg Mathieson added some organ, then Bill started laying down the rhythm and Hadley Hockensmith began layering in a very soulful guitar.  Finally, right on cue, Phil Driscoll began to sing, mashing up lyrics from two or three songs and making up a few of his own.  Later in the song Phil would add more texture to the music with his trumpet.

    I call this number, “Case of the Blues”, based on some of the lyrics, but as Greg said when they finished, “It’s called the blues, but when you play like this it leaves you smiling and happy and feeling great.  Case of the Blues does all that and more; it also left me feeling amazed at the talent of my friends and what they can instantly create from nothing.

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