Hear this: Fresno State Jazz Studies, 'The COVID sessions'
Plus, some holiday cheer from The Gospel Whiskey Runners and something to do Christmas eve, eve.
Richard Giddens didn’t set out to make a quarantine album.
But it’s hard to run a jazz studies program without being able to rehearse, or even meet outside, with students.
Some instructors went to online music programs during that first semester, Giddens learned GarageBand and commissioned a piece of from trombonist-composer-arranger Alan Ferber and had his students start recording and layering tracks for what would become “The COVID Sessions.”
“I just thought about myself in their position,” says Giddens, who directs the Fresno State’s jazz orchestra and ensembles.
“I was just trying to make the experience cool,” he says.
Giddens created a bass track to a metronome, which was used to start building pieces for the songs, drums first, one instrument at time. The students rehearsed to practice tracks and shared video of themselves to get notes from Gidden and the bandmates.
The result isn’t a studio recording, obviously.
The final tracks — recorded over several semesters — were done where ever the students could find space, on whatever tools were available. For some, that meant at-home workstations and Pro Tools. Others recorded on their phones, in their cars — the only place they could find to perform at full volume, Gidden says.
The six songs, which include guest spots from Ferber, along with saxophonists Walter Smith III and Ivan Renta and jazz composer George Stone, are presented with very limited after-the-fact production and capture the organic nature and the humanity baked into the project.
“Basically what you hear is what they played,” Giddens says.
“There are mistakes and that is OK,” he says.
“This is better.”
“The COVID Sessions” was released on Bandcamp earlier this month to coincide with the Fresno State Jazz Festival. The album is available for free, but donations can (and really, should) be made through a QR code on the site.
The Gospel Whiskey Runners, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
So, I had a pretty good run at Whamageddon this year (dumb Christmas party playlists).
For those putting together playlists of their own just looking for new Christmas tunes, the Gospel Whiskey Runners released a version of “All I Want for Christmas is You,” this year.
It’s what you’d expect; a rockin’ little American roots take on the Mariah Carey classic. While it lacks some of the orchestral oomph of the original, it makes up for it with an intimate coziness.
Last year, the band released a seriously rockin’ cover of the Tom Petty tune “Christmas All Over Again.” In 2013, the band released a full Christmas album “A Very Very Whiskey Christmas.”
For other Fresno-related Christmas tunes check out the last two episodes of The Local Show on KFSR.
Events list Dec. 19-25 (Merry Christmas)
Christmas doesn’t have quite the pre-festivity hang out vibe of the night before Thanksgiving, but if you’re looking Fulton 55 is hosting a Night of Soul, Funk and Holiday Spirit with Hope Garcia and Danielle Rondero.
Garcia is a killer singer (sometimes rapper) who might be recognized for her work with The Box.
Rondero has fronted a few bands around town including the Amy Winehouse tribute Back in Black. She’s recently taken to playing solo as the Danielle Rondero Band. Here she will be playing with The Nitty Gritty.
The show 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 23. Tickets are $10.
Other shows around town:
MKC, Scoundrel, Mindless Society, Rock On and The Service Call, 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18, Strummer’s. $8-$10.
One Step Closer, Modern Color, Spy and Dare, 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 20, Full Circle Brewery District. $15-$18.
One Hot Minute, 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 23, Full Circle Brewery District. Free, all ages.
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com