I have been working my butt off. Lots of work which is good. You know I've made a transition over the last few years. I used to do tons of corporate stuff $$$$, but that has died. There are a bunch of good lookin' guys (like Behn) around who are hustling. Not just vibe players but also piano players and guitar players.

That's cool with me, I do think there's enough work to go around for all who are actively seeking it and all that know how to play their instruments. That's way it should be and I think that's the way it is.

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY DICTIONARY for the Music Biz

24\7: The time signature of the national anthem of India.
AGENT: A character who resents performers getting 90% of his salary.
ARRANGER: A guy who writes to support a drinking habit.
BALLET: An art form for people with eating disorders.
BANDSTAND: The area farthest away from an electrical outlet.
BIG BAND: Nowadays, an aggregation consisting of two musicians.
BROADWAY PIT JOB: A prison sentence disguised as a gig.
CABARET: A venue where singers do songs from shows that closed out of town.

I was practicing something and it made me think of the tune, Tenderly. I found the chords on the web (http://www.myrealbook.com/listTune.htn?tuneSelector=T), transposed to C (which fits nicely on the vibes). I didn't have the melody, so I did it by memory (I am sure it is not right).

I am posting this to demonstrate the effect that I was after. Melody in octaves, and some double stop melody in the right hand.

Thomas Mackay (vib) Dereck Trost (dr) Doug Heydon (bs) 2000 Eugene Oregon.

This is the first trax on a recording i recently found and have started to pre mix the tracks .. its amazing in my mind to here wat was coming out of my head in 2000. This version is inspired by Ed Saindons Version on swingin on the sunnyside ..

whew .. ok this is the one we are gonna mix .. drums need some eq and bass a bit .. ...let me know wat ya think ...

i´ve had a rehearsel with my friend and we tried this song. although it´s only a practice session i liked the slide guitar on it a lot. this one is in the key of E-flat

Excellent exemple blend of time, feel and...joy !!!

Been learning how to use Final Cut Pro in my spare time this summer, so here is a short sample. Video with iPhone 4, audio via Logic/Mics and Final Cut to merge them together. A happy summer tune.
Rusty

This forum is more of a question .. in relation to the qwest i am on currently to find a set of mallets that fit my hands ... ive noticed that the majority of the vibe players out there that have there own signature mallets have larger hands that i do. so here is question .. i like the sound that the joe locke series has and also the dave samuels/ fried man medhard mallets produce, but then here lies the problem .. but then i have a set of old good vibe david friedman mallets from 1985 that have the size of rattans, but do not produce the sound i am looking for ..