Ask Robin Eubanks

[Lois Gilbert]

Robin you and I have been together a long time and you really have helped to make jazzcorner and specifically Speakeasy a success. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now where the hell is your new itinerary?

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Robin! Robin? Yoohoo! Come back to us!

[Robin Eubanks]

I'm checking out the new Speakeasy system.
I wanted to know where the old posts are and if I can access them.
I have close to 3000 post on the the Ask Robin ...thread overall.
I wanted to use my answers to some of the questions as research for some writing that I'm planning.
I hope I can access them. It would be a MAJOR PROBLEM for me if all of that material was lost.
Please let me know!

-Robin

[Jeff Albert]

Robin,

I used an old bookmark and it still got me to the old board. It was ...oops, i just went to check it and it didn't work, it came back to this board.

[Gary Sisco]

Robin -- Lois said before she made the change that all of the old threads would be saved, and they'll be moved here, eventually. (I guess.)

[Dennis Gonzalez]

Hey Robin...I also want to be able to access my 1000+ posts because they contain a wealth of information that certain questions brought to my mind, kinda like an interview.

Good to "see" ya back.

[moneyp]

Robin, eventually the posts will be moved here and they will be browsable, although they can't be integrated into the new software, so responses to old posts must be generated here.

(Hope that makes sense.)

[Lois Gilbert]

Hi Rob

I know you actually haven't gotten your feet too wet over here yet. but I actually have a question for you.


You released your own CD:

and then you played on Steve Turre's One 4J

How do you think the approach to the tribute on Steve's CD different from your own tribute specifically to JJ?

[Robin Eubanks]

Hi Lo,

There are several differences between my CD and Steve's.
First of all I did mine while all four of the "honorees", JJ , Slide Hampton , Curtis Fuller and Al Grey were all alive. I sent each of them a copy of course.
I also performed a larger number of originals than Steve did on his tribute.

I enjoyed playing on Steve's project. It was nice to get together with everyone and play Jay's compositions. I also did an arrangement of his "Kelo" for Steve's CD. I used to play that piece when I was with Art Blakey.

Steve is currently touring in support of his CD. I will do a few concerts with him in May.

-Robin

[zemry]

I'm gonna do my best to make it to the Jazz Fest and meet you Robin.

[Robin Eubanks]

Hi Zemry,

I'll look forward to chatting with you at the Jazz Fest.
I've never been to that festival so I don't know what the venue or the logistics will be, but if you come to the front of the stage area before or after the gig, you should be able to get my attention.

How are you enjoying this new Speakeasy layout?
I hear there are LOTS of features here, but I haven't had time to check them out yet.
I'm working on a few projects.
I'm performing the Rimsky-Korsakov Concerto for Trombone with the Bakersfield Symphony on May 17th. I'm also composing and orchestrating a piece to play with the symphony. I've never done either of these things before so it definitely presents me with some new and exciting challenges.
If I'm able to pull them both off, it could open up many new opportunities for me, including more work with other symphonies around the world!

You never know, so I'm studying and working on both things daily.

I'm also working on some new music for Dave Holland's Quintet... so yes, I'M BUSY :-)

-Robin

[Jeff Albert]

Originally posted by Robin Eubanks
Hi Zemry,

I'll look forward to chatting with you at the Jazz Fest.
I've never been to that festival so I don't know what the venue or the logistics will be, but if you come to the front of the stage area before or after the gig, you should be able to get my attention.

I am sure you will be in the Jazz tent at the Fairgrounds. Most of the fest activities are at the Fairgrounds. The back stage area at the jazz tent is just separated from the seating area by a poilice barricade. There are also trailers for the artists, but everyone is pretty accessible. I am also looking forward to that show.

BTW I like the new board format.

[Marty]

Hey Robin

I'll be at the Montreal Jazz festival to see the DH big band play. This is made possible by the fact that I made the Royal Canadian Ceremonial Guard band in ottawa so Ill only be 2 hours away!

-Marty

[zemry]

I'm still getting used to the new format. It's very similar to the www.trombone.org site so it's not much of a learning curve.

I would love to hear a recording the R-K concerto after you have played it. Do you find it hard to switch between classical and jazz?

[djpens//dj kennedy]

jl;;;ouuuuuuuuunnnTTTTTTESTing SPLaashYYYYYYYYY WWWWOOOOOWWWW???????????!!!!!!!!!

[Robin Eubanks]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the logistical layout of the NO Jazz Fest.
Come up and say hello.
I enjoy meeting posters to our thread :-)


-Robin

[Robin Eubanks]

Hi Marty,

Congratulations on nmaking the Royal Canadian Ceremonial Guard band.
Sounds like the hard work is starting to pay off.

Now that our Big Band recording won a Grammy we should have more interest developing. At least winning it will be good for something :-)

Since this big band recording garnered so much attention, we're all looking forward to the reception the next recording will get, because to a man we feel it is much better.

See you in Montreal.

-Robin

[Robin Eubanks]

Hi Zemry,

I'm still getting used to this new speakeasy format as well.
Does anyone know if you can skip down the list of replies before responding or do you have to scroll through an ever growing list of posts?
Also I'm finding it annoying to have to use the back button to read the post I'm replying to. Is there a way to view the post you're responding to while you respond? I'm sure there are ways to do both of these things. I just don't know how yet.

Regarding my playing the Rimsky-Korsakov with the Bakersfield Symphony,
it's going to be VERY different for me to stand in front of an orchestra and an audience and perform a classical solo. I'm preparing for it.
However, I'm more excited about the piece I'm composing for the symphony.
I'm trying to finish it up soon so they have time to work on it and I have time to make corrections. The most difficult thing for me is to try and understand balance ebteewn the instruments. For instance, how will a flute line cut through a string section. Or will a flute be drowned out by soft brass. It's hard to try and "hear" these kinds of things because I'm not that familiar with the sound of a symphony orchestra. On my computer sequencer I can simply mix it louder but it doesn't work that way in the real world!
So I have my work cut out for me.
Wish me luck!

-Robin

[Valerie]

Originally posted by Robin Eubanks
I'm still getting used to this new speakeasy format as well.
Does anyone know if you can skip down the list of replies before responding or do you have to scroll through an ever growing list of posts?
Also I'm finding it annoying to have to use the back button to read the post I'm replying to. Is there a way to view the post you're responding to while you respond? I'm sure there are ways to do both of these things. I just don't know how yet.

Robin, I'm probably the last person on earth who should be answering your questions, but, here goes:

Have you noticed at the top of the page in the left-hand corner, it says something like "go to first unread post". That should skip you to where you left off or came in, or whatever.

Also, when you're replying, you should be able to see the previous posts (most recent first) below where it says "Topic Review".

Saw and enjoyed you in Toronto although I didn't get to say hello. Hope to do so, however, when you're in Boston soon.

Best,

Valerie Bishop

[bluenoter]

Is there a way to view the post you're responding to while you respond?

Yes. Scroll down to below the Post Reply form and the Submit Reply and Preview Reply buttons. There you'll see copies of quite a few of the most recent posts. (I see that Valerie answered that one too. What I just wrote is another version of the same info.)

[Robin Eubanks]

Thanks for your help Valerie and Bluenoter,

I guess I'll get better acquainted with the new software a time goes by.
See you in Boston Val.

-Robin

[CarstenR]

Well since a whole bunch of posts got deleted, I'll start off by saying that I hope everybody continues to post messages on a thread that has been so succesful (Robin-what do you think?). It's too bad that all the info about our responses to music etc. got deleted as it probably would have been valuable info to have. Anyways, we might as well keep on truckin' and start with some new questions. Robin, I was wondering- who decides where you guys go on tour? Is it just whoever offers you a gig or can you guys request a destination? Oh yes, I'm going to be talking to my teacher Al Kay up here in Toronto to see if we can work something out for next year to get you up for a clinic. Take care Robin and everybody else!

Cheers
Carsten

[Jeff Albert]

Robin,

I dug the DH5 set in New Orleans, and my wife liked it too. She usually doesn't like the stuff that I really dig, but you guys were winners to both of our tastes.

The sound in that venue is notoriously bad, but out front it actually sounded pretty good for your set. Do you guys travel with a sound tech?

[Robin Eubanks]

I've been out of the loop while out on tour for the last week or so and I'm just being made aware that a problem existed. I noticed it first when I signed on and half of the post from the "Ask Robin..." thread were gone. I still don't know exactly what happened. I'm assuming that the lost posts are gone for good. Is that true?
I'm still trying to get a feel for this new SpeakEasy. I had no problem with the old one personally, but that's irrelevant at this point. The last I heard there was supposed to be a way I could access the 2,ooo+ posts from Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the old "Ask Robin..." threads. Is that still possible?
Given the current situation the ability to copy and use those posts as a reference source is even more important to me.

-Robin

[Ellery Eskelin]

Hey Robin
yea, the last several weeks of posts got accidentally wiped and are gone for good. You might consider saving your posts as you go, (I was able to restore my thread that way) although I’m told that there are now automatic backups of the entire boards made each night. The old archives are posted now (although longish posts are truncated and I think Lois is working on fixing that).

You had a nice thing going recently about how people listen...maybe folks want to re-post their comments to get that going again. I had posted one and I’ll paste it here...maybe this will help get it restarted.

Hope to see you around, Robin...take care...

-------------------------------------

Hi Robin,
Very good question you pose...

Generally I think that musicians hear inside the music more (details) whereas non-musicians respond more to the overall music (bigger picture), but that's a gross generalization.

Actually, I don’t know that I fundamentally hear any differently than I did before I played an instrument. I think musicians are able to say what things are, having had the experience of playing. Yet I think non-musicians absorb the details but in a more subliminal way. I remember hearing jazz records when I was a kid and hearing things that I could never describe in words that I now know. Sometimes we can get hung up on these things and take for granted the bigger more obvious issues that non-musicians respond to right away.

But I wouldn’t second guess it too much. The nice thing about details is that you can hear new things in a performance over many, many listening. As long as the music is honest I think people can find their way in if they want to. And from what I’ve heard of your stuff you have little to worry about! Keep up the great work, see you somewhere out there...

[Robin Eubanks]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by CarstenR
Robin, I was wondering- who decides where you guys go on tour? Is it just whoever offers you a gig or can you guys request a destination? Oh yes, I'm going to be talking to my teacher Al Kay up here in Toronto to see if we can work something out for next year to get you up for a clinic. Take care Robin and everybody else!
==========

Hi Carsten,

The booking agents and managers put the tours together. Sometimes a venue or festival may request your band and you see what you can get on either side of that date. Hopefully, one that is close geographically.
Sometimes you can make a request and have the manager or agent look into a specific gig.

I would love to come up ito Toronto to play and/or do a clinic. A group approached me during the IAJE in Jan, about coming back up as a featured artist and playing my large group arrangements.

-Robin

[Robin Eubanks]

Hi Ellery,

Thanks for the info and the comments.
I'll try to repost my original questions.
Which was getting some intersting responses.

===================
I am interested in hearing from people about how they listen to music.
As a musician with "trained ears", I think it is impossible for me to hear music as the average non-musician, who are the vast majority of people. For instance when I go to a movie I see the plot, story line and charcter development to some degree, but a film maker will watch the same scenes and notice the blocking, camera and lighting techniques and many other things that I'm not aware of.

I want to see if the responses I receive will or will not affect how I compose or arrange.

1. When you listen to music. What are you listening to? Everything at once ro do you focus on a specific instrument.

2. Do you hear the melody and harmony or do you focus on the groove?

3. Do you listen to music to make you think and feel or to unwind and escape?

If anyone remembers anu of the other questions I asked , please remind me :-)

-Robin

[Robin Eubanks]

Originally posted by Jeff Albert
Robin,

I dug the DH5 set in New Orleans, and my wife liked it too. She usually doesn't like the stuff that I really dig, but you guys were winners to both of our tastes.

The sound in that venue is notoriously bad, but out front it actually sounded pretty good for your set. Do you guys travel with a sound tech?

=============

Hi Jeff,

It was nice to finally meet you. I glad that you enjoyed the set.
It was VERY HOT on stage, but I enjoyed playing there.

Yes, we have a sound tech that travels with us. He knows how to get a consistant sound out of the band.

Did you ever find Zemry? I didn't see him.

-Robin

[Jeff Albert]

It was pretty hot in the audience too.

I never did find Zemry. I wonder if he made it.

Hey Zem, were you there?

[Gary Sisco]

Hi, Robin -- Looking forward to hooking up in Burlington, soon, and seeing you again, and hearing the Big Band.

So sorry about your threads getting wiped, man. That was a good discussion. It won't hurt to have it again, I don't think.

I'd have to answer yes to all of your questions/scenarios because I don't always listen to music in the same way or for the same reasons, from one experience to the next. But I also used to play and made my living that way into my 30s, so I understand what you're saying about possible differences in the way musicians or listeners listen to music. When I was playing, for instance, I never listened for pleasure to the kind of music I played. For example, I played barroom rock and roll and blues, and some twisted, very rocked-up country, but what I listened to in those days was delta blues, jazz from the 20s/30s/50s/60s, old-school r&b 40s-60s, 50s/60s Chess and Sun records. Once in a while I check the "competition" more related to what I played, but I viewed that as part of making my living, so it was more like reading a trade mag or something. Not the same kind of listening, in any event.

When listening to music on records (really listening, I mean), I try to hear the whole thing as one piece while at the same time hearing what each cat is doing and how it's making itself a part of the whole. But that requires, for me, some real undisturbed time, as it requires a kind of focussed concentration and awareness that approaches a kind of yoga, in some ways. Especially to be hearing on the two levels at the same time. Like most people today, unfortunately, there is too little time available for that kind of deep listening and concentration, so I welcome it when I get it, but don't always get it.

On the other hand, most times I can get pretty close, even so, sometimes even subliminally. I'll be doing something else, apparently, even to myself, like working or reading or something, even having a conversation, when suddenly I'll realize that I've been hearing something in that deeper way, without really trying. Those are rare times, though. On still another hand, however, if you find that you're having that experience before you actually become conscious of it, who's to say what your mind and memory are picking up on that other less-conscious level, all the time?

Music, to me, is the most ineffable of art forms and communication, so of course it's very difficult to talk about the experience with words -- words being a different form of communication that happens on a different level of the mind. Not the same language(s).

And of course there are many times when I just want to bust loose with some good rhythms or grooves on the box and be very happy with that in itself. Some James Brown I've heard countless times and still love. Great reggae music. Stuff like that, that's meant to be experienced in that way, even though it also rewards closer concentration, of course. No one ever had a better band than The Famous Flames, in my always humble opinion. They can make you just shake your butt, want to or not, but also reward careful attention, as the music, while sounding relatively simple, perhaps, is actually hugely rhythmically complex, as is reggae, and some other musics that sound like entertainment on one level and the deepest possible music on another or both at the same time (when you're lucky).

And, yes, there is the chilling/relaxing aspect, when you're done with your day and you just want to kick back. That can also be a kind of yoga, in a way, at least for me. Letting the music just wash over me and my mind go where it will without apparent direction.

And, finally, sure there are lots of times when I'll focus in on just one cat and what he's doing, either because it's so hip it caught my attention that way, or I'm doing some research, or I'm listening to a friend and what he's doing (like when you take a solo, for example).

All of these ways of listening of course blend and crossover, back and forth.

The best thing is when I'm hearing music live in that deepest way, when time disappears apart from its rhythmic role and you go somewhere else altogether with the band and the other people around you. That's as good as it gets, when that happens. And that's what I'm always hoping for when I go out to a show. Live music is the best. I love my records, for sure, but they're a different experience altogether.

There's also the visual aspect of live music, watching people play, that I really dig. Watching the more athletic aspects of music, like watching Billy Kilson. He's like watching an olympic-level athlete doing what he does best. That's an awesome experience, many times, by itself. Bronwyn, for instance, often loves concerts but wouldn't want to listen to a record of the same cats doing more or less the same thing, like once when we went to hear AEC. She loved it. Put it on at home? Only in my room.