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This past Friday (9/25) was the opening performance of “Ragtime” at Portland Center Stage.  Although the actors have been rehearsing for over a month and the orchestra has now had a couple of full weeks, the public hadn’t had a chance to see the show until this weekend, so (as is always true) the show suddenly became a lot more real feeling as soon as there were paying audience members in the seats.

For both Grey Gardens and Ragtime, the orchestra has had a rather non-traditional placement in the theater.  Instead of being in the orchestra pit in front of the stage, the orchestra lives on what’s called the “slab,” which is behind the stage.  So, as an audience member, if you had X-ray vision and could see through the back wall of the set, you would be able to see into our space.  The instrumentalists’ backs would be towards you and Rick Lewis (our conductor) would be facing you.

Rick watches what is going on onstage from a small closed-circuit television in front of him.  The actors can see Rick’s conducting on a large monitor facing the stage mounted in the back of the theater (if you were watching the performance, you could turn around and see it from most seats in the house).  The instrumentalists also get to see what is going on onstage via a large monitor behind Rick.

Of course, there’s also sound to deal with.  The singers are miked and played to the orchestra through monitor speakers in front of the instrumentalists, and vice versa.  The audience hears a mix of the two (singers and instrumentalists) through the house speakers (no, not Nancy Pelosi).  All of this is controlled by the wonderful sound crew at PCS.

These complicated logistics are really just to allow everything else (the playing, singing, acting, dancing, etc) to be presented to the audience in the best sounding and looking way.  This is important, because PCS cast some great onstage talent for the show.

The orchestra has some great talent as well.  It’s a challenging score for everyone involved, whether that means Clark Rust powering through the unrelenting high notes in the trumpet book or me having to deal with playing flute and piccolo without ever getting a break to play some saxophone!  But, according to the audience, we sound good doing it, and I think we’re getting better at it each night.

Ragtime runs through November 1st.  We perform eight shows a week (Tuesday through Sunday, matinees on Thursdays and alternating weekend days).  Hope to see you there.

Today, KMHD mentioned Duo Chronicles (my new project with Clay Giberson) on their blog.  I’m obviously greatful for their mention, but I think the more important story here is that KMHD has a blog!  It’s great to see the changes that the station is implementing since their merge with OPB and the addition of Matt Fleeger.  It looks like the station is finally moving into the future with the rest of us.

I’m a huge podcast fan.  I have a fairly length commute into town during which I’m always listening to something on my iPhone.  Around the apartment, if I’m doing chores, I’ve got earbuds in digesting as many podcasts as I can.

Recently, I’ve been checking out some of the CD Baby podcast, which seems to have some great ideas for musicians.  I’d encourage anyone (sideman or a leader) to check it out.  I’m getting more and more ideas for things to do with an upcoming project I’ll be doing with Clay Giberson.  Keep an eye on this space…

This weekend I had the pleasure of playing two gigs at the 2009 Mt. Hood Jazz Festival.  On Friday night, I played with Art Abram’s Swing Machine big band with special guest Bobby Shew.

(Check out more pictures from the gig on the Past Gigs page)

I was absolutely blown away by Bobby Shew’s playing.  The guy still has tons of technique, range, and amazing musicality; especially apparent in his ballads and cadenzas.  The band itself sounded pretty swinging as well.  Since I joined the band a year ago, there have been a few personnel changes and the group now has four strong sections.  It was especially a pleasure to hear Greg Garrett playing with the trumpet section.

On Saturday night, I played with Gary Hobbs and his Stan Kenton tribute band.  The band was put together especially for the event and was a great combination of players.  One of the best things about the gig was that it was my first chance to play a gig with Jeff Uusitalo who is somewhat of a Portland icon.  He doesn’t play around town often, but when he does, he always sounds great.  It was also a pleasure to play with such an interesting combination of players in the saxophone section (Kirt Peterson – lead alto, Clark Bondy – second alto/bari, Tim Jensen – bari, Steve Owen – second tenor, and myself on first tenor).

The Mt. Hood Jazz Festival is certainly not what it was in it’s heyday with tens of thousands of visitors to the college stadium to see full days of national and international acts, but it is still a great event.  I hope it grows in the coming years.