Clamnation
Every musician has a number of experiences that form who they are to become, from inspiring teachers to live concert performances that leave a lasting impression.
I was fortunate at a young age to have teachers that exposed me to great music at key points in my development. My 7th grade guidance counselor gave me a copied cassette tape of 60's-era Miles Davis, when he saw and heard that I had an inclination toward jazz music. My private lesson teacher in middle/high school and I would often spend our entire lesson trading choruses and fours along with Aebersold records - absorbing the feel and spirit of the music, not worrying about licks and patterns. One particular college professor and I would spend entire lessons playing a single tune, him accompanying beautifully and artistically on piano, with only a few words of advice... Professor: "Did you realize you were breathing every four measures?" Me: "No. No, I didn't" Prof: "Well... don't do that. Don't let your ideas be confined to just four-bar increments." All of these things were important guide posts along the way to me forming my identity as a musician.
Around 1997 or 98, I was invited to attend a rehearsal with a band that was looking to add a trumpet player. Being about 18-19 years old, and not having had worked a whole lot, it was an exciting proposition. I only knew the saxophonist and trombonist casually, having played in the University Big Band with them for about a semester. The first rehearsal was in a dingy basement in a mysterious house shrouded by overgrown bushes and odd/abstract homemade sculptures - this itself was an eye-opening experience. I entered the rehearsal space cautiously and I walked in on an incredible thing - a deeply organic, earthy, spiritual - thing. I looked around the basement and saw six musicians who cared deeply about music... upright bass, hollow body guitar, drumset, congas, baritone saxophone, and trombone. I remember timidly playing through a couple charts before launching into an Afro-Cuban arrangement of "Stolen Moments" by Oliver Nelson, which I knew well. We played through the head per usual and hit the solo section into a raging 12/8 percussion deluge. My mind and soul was instantly blown wide open. Everything I knew about music was about to change.
