Wednesday Jam, February 27

We had a nice, friendly crowd last night at the Tin Star Saloon.

Click any picture to enlarge.







People always seem to enjoy the Wednesday night jam.








We were happy that our good friend Daniel Talache (second from right) could join us. He led us off on a Stevie Ray version of Mary Had a Little Lamb.

There's more: A Tisket, a Tasket. Click to listen to the music.

Don, on Daniel's left came up from Albuquerque to join us for a set.








"Coast to Coast" Frank was there.















Pete (left), from the Santa Fe Band Controlled Burn and owner Ray Dera took us on a blues tour.

Pete then led this sweet little number.













Next, Ben took off on another blues jam. You can hear my little 1923 C Melody sax in there somewhere just before Frank went nuts on the trumpet.




The C Melody is a fun horn to take to a jam. It is the only saxophone that plays in the key of C. This one is a 1923 Conn nickel-plate. I have a modern Beechler hard rubber mouthpiece on it that lets it breathe a bit freer than the original.

They stopped making C Melody saxes in 1933, so they are a bit hard to come by. I was lucky to find this mint condition Conn a couple of years ago and have been occasionally taking it to jams since.




That's it for this one. See you at the next one.

--Doug

Wednesday, 2-20 Jam

We had a good turn out at last night's jam. Lots of musicians, and lots of people who showed up to listen.

Ben opened the jam with Ray on the right, our friend Mike Montiel next to him, Jim in the back on drums, Ben on bass, Frank on trumpet, and me with the silver tenor. Click on any picture to enlarge.





Frank grabbed a nice solo right away. Click for a sound bite.














Ray got a piece of the action too. Click for Ray's solo.













Linda came up and did a few numbers.



















Laura took good care of us all evening.







Later on, Tom Kendrot did one of his originals with the group. Take a listen.

It turned out to be a nice piece of music; here's another bit.



Mike and Ben. It was good having Mike come out and join us for a while.

At some point in the evening Ben led us off on a nice little blues jam.



Until next time,

--Doug

The next Blog Entry

The next post will be devoted to the Tin Star open jam, hosted by Ben Lucero this and every Wednesday evening.

I invited one of Santa Fe's pro musicians whom I sometimes get to play with to join us at the jam this week: Mike Montiel. Mike has a new album out named Lucky 13.

Check out the Lucky 13 page.

--Doug

Saturday, 2-16: Y.Que

We arrived at the Tin Star at about 9:00, and the place was already almost full -- just a couple of tables were free.

Ben Lucero and the rest of the Y.Que band were tuning up as folks mingled.



Click on any picture for a larger image.









A guy at the table next to ours was, shall we say, somewhat interested in one member of our table's party.













Once the music started (click for a sound bite), the dance floor was packed. A wedding party seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially the new bride.












Some of the usual suspects were spotted.

That's Sam on guitar in the background.










Ben introduced himself musically (click).



Then the evening's music started. Here's Anton on the keyboard.

















Johnny was a green flash on the drums.















We left relatively early while the bar was still packed, but it showed all the usual signs of going strong until well after midnight.

Longer versions of the recordings that I made that evening are available on request. Shoot me an email and I will send you the download links.

--Doug

Wednesday Jam, February 13

This is the opening post for the Tin Star music blog. Unfortunately, I didn't realize last Wednesday that I would be starting this blog, so there are no photos or sound bites from this week's jam.

Still, there is a bit to write about:

This week's jam at the Tin Star rocked. We had a number of pros show up, which is always appreciated. Alex Maryol (http://www.alexmaryol.com/) was there; it's always fun when Alex comes to the jam. It's pretty cool that an established musician comes out to Ben Lucero's jam just for the fun of playing with us "unwashed" regulars.

A couple of other pros at the jam included Ben & Pete from the Santa Fe Band "Controlled Burn". We're always happy to see them.

Also, "Freaky" Freddy Lopez of the "Santa Fakers" joined us this week on mouth harp. Freddy rips on harp.

"Coast to Coast" Frank, a wild-ass trumpet player was there as well, so with my tenor sax, we had a horn section.

Ray Dera, co-owner of Tin Star played all night on a beautiful green Telecaster. Ray was a gracious host, as usual.

Thanks, as always to Ben for doing a professional job of running the jam.

At 1:00am (Thursday morning, mind you) I looked around and the bar was still packed with folks who had showed up just to listen to the music. It must have been a good jam.

--Doug