Confessions of a Sideman Or... A View from the Side (and the Back): How Spanish Jazz Producer Jordi Suñol Moved the 18 Musicians of the Phil Woods Big Band Relatively Unscathed in and out of 8 European Countries 17 Times, on 20 Planes and 15 Buses, Performing 21 Sets of Music in 23 Days (and Nights). Or... How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bus.

Intro

Confessions of a Sideman

Confessions of a Sideman

Or... A View from the Side (and the Back): How Spanish Jazz Producer Jordi Suñol Moved the 18 Musicians of the Phil Woods Big Band Relatively Unscathed in and out of 8 European Countries 17 Times, on 20 Planes and 15 Buses, Performing 21 Sets of Music in 23 Days (and Nights).

Or... How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bus.

By Patrick C. Dorian
East Stroudsburg University
of Pennsylvania Music Department

Although primarily known worldwide as an astounding improvisor in small group settings such as his own quartets and quintets (February 1999 marked the 25th anniversary of The Phil Woods Quartet containing bassist Steve Gilmore and drummer Bill Goodwin for the group's entirety), Phil Woods has also been composing and arranging music for big band for five decades. It has been a dream of his to front a working big band of five saxophones, four trombones, four trumpets, piano, bass, drums, and percussion. As he became quite proficient at using a computer in the mid-1990s to compose and orchestrate his music, he entered a substantial portion of the oeuvre from all segments of his career into his computer, revising some of them and gearing most of them to feature the melodic statements and virtuosic improvisations of his quintet as the nucleus of the eighteen-member ensemble. This way he could keep his working quintet intact while enjoying the deep variety of textural densities and orchestral colors that a big band may afford an experienced, artistic arranger. To students of Western music history, I've often thought that this approach must parallel in a striking manner the compositional technique used in the concerto grosso of the latter part of the Baroque Era (1600-1750), where a small group of virtuoso soloists called the concertino would be featured among the larger accompanying ensemble that formed the main orchestral body known as the ripieno or tutti.

At the annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz & arts festival, founded in 1978 by Phil Woods, trombonist Rick Chamberlain, and the late Ed Joubert in Phil's home village of Delaware Water Gap, PA, a big band had been performing since the late 1980s. The ensemble was founded by former New York City rehearsal band leader, composer, and copyist Dick "Uncle Dickie" Cone as a rehearsal band in the late 1980s and was called Grandma's Soup after a concoction that Uncle Dickie's grandmother used to produce from whatever ingredients were on hand. The group rehearsed and performed at the legendary Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap. Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, and Paul Motian recorded a live trio album, At the Deer Head Inn (ECM records ECM 1531 517 720-2) at the inn on September 16, 1992. Keith states in the liner notes that the Deer Head Inn was his first serious trio job on piano and that this recording at The Inn is "what jazz is all about." Pat Metheny and Dave Liebman recently performed at The Inn and as of this writing, The Inn has run live jazz for almost 50 years and now presents over 160 jazz events yearly.

After Uncle Dickie's death in 1991, Phil Woods began leading the big band's performances each September at COTA and the ensemble became known as the COTA Festival Orchestra.

Phil set his big band dream in motion by bringing this group into Red Rock Recording Studio in Saylorsburg, PA, for three days in January 1997 to record a compact disc. It was released in July 1997 as Phil Woods & the Festival Orchestra Celebration! on the Concord Jazz label (CCD-4770-2) and in January 1998 the disc was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance (not a bad calling card!). All of the printed compositions and arrangements from this CD, along with dozens of other brilliant Phil Woods works are available from: Music DuBois, PO Box 278, Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327. (2006 editor's note: Arrangements now available online at http://www.philwoods.com. They are no longer available by mail order.)

That same week the group performed to a standing-room-only audience at the 25th Annual International Association of Jazz Educators International Conference at the Times Square Marriott in New York City. Within weeks the ball continued to roll on Phil's fantasy via the formation of a summer 1998 European tour of several major international jazz festivals by the Phil Woods Big Band a.k.a. Phil Woods and the COTA Festival Orchestra. Spanish jazz producer Jordi Suñol organized the tour and it was thought that "Big Band" would be more easily understood than trying to explain and sell the "Festival Orchestra" concept. Not to embarrass Phil, it is believed that he accepted this tour well knowing that it would sacrifice both his health and finances. The personnel of the tour were:

Phil Woods: director, alto saxophone, clarinet(quintet)

Saxophones: George Robert, Jesse Heckman, Tom Hamilton, Lew Del Gatto, Jim Buckley
Trumpets: Ken Brader III, Brian Lynch (quintet), Paul Merrill, Patrick Dorian
Trombones: Jeff Galindo, Evan Dobbins, Kevin Haines, Jim Daniels (bass trombone)

Rhythm Section:
Piano: Bill Charlap (quintet)
Bass: Steve Gilmore (quintet)
Drums: Bill Goodwin (quintet)
Percussion: Ed Hudak

Days 1 and 2: Saturday, July 4, and Sunday, July 5

Jim Daniels and I were on a reconnaissance mission. We were to travel from Stroudsburg, PA, to Vienne, France, one day before the other sixteen musicians to set up the music stands, microphones, etc., for the first performance of the 1998 European tour of the Phil Woods Big Band (PWBB). We left Newark Airport around midnight, getting us to Zurich, Switzerland, at 1:35 p.m. This was fine because it was already midafternoon in Europe and our jet-lagged bodies were that much closer to the evening sleep. We had a three-hour layover, so I took my trumpet mouthpiece and credit-card-sized pitch tuner to a deserted part of the departure area to practice softly. Bad move. After about 20 minutes a uniformed airport employee approached and commenced shrieking. I assumed that I appeared to be doing something wrong as this person reminded me of the Charlie Brown TV specials where Snoopy's tiny bird friend Woodstock is complaining a mile a minute in a language that only Peanuts' characters can understand. I pointed to my mouthpiece and said "musique!" to no avail. I then pointed to my tuner and said "nonincendiarie!" as the employee proceeded to get a colleague/supervisor who then made a vain attempt at caring. I rejoined Jim sheepishly in the crowded waiting area.

The connecting flight to Lyon, France, was on a Swissair subsidiary crossair (remember that name!) and featured continuous champagne and sandwiches as we passed over Berne, Geneva, and the beautiful snow-covered Swiss Alps. I think we eventually landed, and as Jim and I retrieved our luggage we suddenly realized that we had no idea as to how we would get to our hotel. While standing on a long line waiting to be searched, I spotted a person near the front of the line holding up a paper. We thought: Could it be? Yesssss!!! The paper had our names on it. Christoph flashed a mysterious orange card, taking us entirely around the Customs cavity search. He quickly loaded us into a new Peugeot (a corporate sponsor of the first gig) and kept flashing that magic orange card so that guards would raise gates. Out on the highway he tailgated anything he could at 100 kph as Jim regretted taking the front seat. The next day, another driver informed us that Christoph's nickname was "Trouble." That evening, Jim and I walked a couple of miles up the Rhône River and at 21:00 met saxophonist Jesse Heckman in the hotel lobby upon his arrival from Oslo.

Day 3: Monday, July 6

Jim, Jesse, and I got to the concert site, Jim being the "stage meister" to guide the resident stage crew as to how Phil likes his band set up. Jim is not only an accomplished bass trombonist, what with his 20 months with Woody Herman's Young Thundering Herd in the mid-1970s (he's on five of the Herd's recordings) and years subbing and recording with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, he also paid major dues as a member of Woody's setup crew and has been heading the local COTA stage crew for years! The band arrived intact with time to spare, Phil handed out some new additions to the band's repertoire, everyone warmed up, and we soundchecked. Bill Charlap immediately sat down at the piano to give it his test, executing Puccini's Nessum Dorma! from the opera Turandot. Hmmm . . . why would he be warming up with that piece? Interesting . . . will we be hearing Giacomo's beautiful melody again? Time will tell.

The 18th annual Jazz à Vienne was a 15-day festival with 11 major sponsors held in an absolutely magnificent stone amphitheater built by the Romans around 200 B.C. It seems to be in better condition than the Coliseum in Rome! During the performance, proud Papa Phil showed his experience as a great leader, realizing that the band was jetlagged and sightreading as he counted off tempos slightly slower than expected. Nice and relaxed and no one got hurt. No train wrecks here! Trumpet wizard Brian Lynch ripped off several typically blazing solos. Unfortunately, ripping was the operative word as his sound was being amplified through a large monitor speaker next to my left leg, angling the sound straight up to my ear, ripping through my left tympanium, and coming out the other side of my head. So much for preconcert soundchecks. I probably broke French stage crew by-laws and turned the speaker directly at the trombone section.

Speaking of trombones, it was our first opportunity to hear Rick Chamberlain's replacement on lead trombone, Jeff Galindo. Unfortunately (?) Rick is principal trombonist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra in Lincoln Center (yes, he wears many hats equally well) and was committed to their July season in Saratoga Springs, NY. Jeff is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston and he immediately established himself as a powerful lead player plus an accomplished improvisor. He has a fine CD entitled Locking Horns by the Galindo/Phaneuf Sextet on TTwin TTower Records, available by contacting Jeff by phone (617/547-6763) or e-mail ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Thanks to former Phil Woods Quintet member and Berklee College of Music faculty member, trombonist Hal Crook for recommending Jeff. The second half of the concert was a performance by Carla Bley and 23 musicians of her operatic-type work Escalator Over the Hill written with Paul Haines in 1971. The PWBB viewed some of it via TV monitor while dining underneath the stage. Dinner included pâté and a fine regional beaujolais. Admission for the evening was around $30, approximately 4,000 people attended, and it was broadcast on French Radio and TV.

Day 4: Tuesday, July 7

Day 5: Wednesday, July 8

The band took over the hotel and the saxophone, trumpet, and trombone sections met in different rooms and rehearsed . . . loudly! starting at 10:30 a.m. It was not a large hotel, but other music groups were also housed here, including popular Dutch saxophonist Candy Dulfer. Also, Bobby Byrd with guest trombonist Fred Wesley from James Brown's famous 1960s band, The JBs. Bobby co-composed James's famous opus Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Pt. 1.

The PWBB traveled to a midafternoon soundcheck that would also serve as a rehearsal for some of Phil's new arrangements. Arriving right on time as per the contract, the band ascended the portable stage to find that nothing was set up. The sound people were, however, operating a keyboard (that had a terrible layered sound) through the large sound system that reminded us children of the '60s of preparations for a concert by The Who, documented at one time as being the loudest rock band in the world. You know, the late 1970s type of concerts where people got trampled to death in concrete coliseums. After some sincere, appropriate expletives on the part of the performers and mention that three pages of stage setup information had been sent to the site from Phil Woods Enterprises months ago, one stage crew member sprung into action! The band smelled a long interval of time and immediately scattered into dozens of directions to exchange salary for Swiss francs and to shop. Forty-five minutes later we started a severely shortened rehearsal/soundcheck. Midway through the rehearsal one of the stage crew members slammed a forklift into the stage. I, being a caring partner, turned to my section mates and asked: "Did the stage move for you, dears?" Dinner was back at the hotel outside on the lakeshore. Jordi and Phil were telling stories about encounters with Duke Ellington and Stéphane Grappelli. Fascinating! Also, Bill Charlap and Steve Gilmore made first mention of "Bow Tie," a remarkable singer of whom they possess a tape recording. We were interested in hearing this person, but Bill and Steve made us wait.

Returning to the concert site, the Roy Haynes Trio was performing and the overflow crowd of 3,000 was responding. The performance was broadcast over Swiss National Radio. The 20th Lugano Jazz Festival ran seven days and had 10 major sponsors. Admission was free and this audience heard the PWBB deliver top-of-the-line artistic statements, which was the way the entire tour would go. It wasn't just some nights. It was every time the band performed. The consistency was amazing! Upon returning to the hotel, the moonlight reflecting over Lake Lugano was striking.

Day 6: Thursday, July 9

The band was up by 5:45 a.m. to depart by 6:30 a.m. for a four-hour bus ride to the Zurich Airport. Heading north through the valleys between the Alps was some great scenery; however, inside the bus, two dogmas were becoming well established. The first was who was sitting where. Since most humans tend to be creatures of habit, they usually sit in the same seat, even when changing buses. Thus, each PWBB bus had established an area of permanent personnel known as the Back of the Bus (BOTB). This was a rather vocal group of about eight sidemen who tended to destructively analyze any travel problem whether real, imagined, past, present, or future in a rapid-fire, nonconstructive manner. Any time a potential problem was sensed or reminisced upon, the group erupted into about 35 seconds of verbal violence (usually dominated by people who play an instrument that relies on a slide to change the pitches) that never but never offered a solution to the problem. Yes, the BOTB was very dark, even at nine in the morning (it's an attitude). If the 20 flights would have allowed a back-of-the-plane group to form, more wasted energy would have been expended (fortunately air travel seating is random). In Europe, most buses even have a second door toward the back, conveniently creating "attitude segregation!" By the way, the front of the bus in any big band is reserved for intelligent, responsible persons capable of making important split-second decisions. This is where our leader Phil, tour producer Jordi, and tour guide Billy were encamped.

The second established set of rules involved a Jim Daniels project known as The Program. To be in The Program, a sideman could not spend any of his salary unless absolutely necessary (bring it home!). Since breakfast and dinner were always provided, being on The Program meant when the band stopped for lunch, Program members chose not to eat (not that anyone needed a meal three hours after a large breakfast). If you wanted to spend a little money you had to ask Jim if it fell within the rules of The Program. If it didn't and you still spent the money, you were brought up on charges, risking possible banishment from The Program. Reinstatement could take literally a couple of hours depending on if Jim could be found. Laugh all you want, but this is serious stuff. Sidemen need strict, detailed rules, especially when carrying salary. If you haven't already guessed it, Jim sat in the corner in the very back seat of the bus, surveying all before him, and it was wise to ask permission to sit anywhere near his corner, especially if you needed to stay in The Program.

While heading toward Zurich, the bus passed through Gotthard, the longest tunnel in Europe: 12 miles! (Ever feel like the world is closing in?) This information comes courtesy of lead alto player George Robert, director of the Professional Division at the Swiss Jazz School in Berne and admirer of all things beautiful. George was subbing for woodwind wizard George Young. You must already be assuming that to play lead alto saxophone in Phil's Band you must be formidable, but what I can't understand about George is how such a sweet, friendly person can strap on a sax and play so wonderfully dirty, nasty, greasy, and stankful. Phil featured George several nights on Leonard Feather's composition I Remember Bird as arranged by Oliver Nelson, and every night George had the audience screaming for more. George's 1999 CD The Summit is on the German-based MONS label and features guest artist Phil Woods.

At the Zurich Airport I laid low so as not to be seen by my acquaintance of the first day. Trombonist Evan Dobbins was exhausted, and as we emptied the bus and entered the terminal, Jim Daniels and I had to convince Evan that his trombone and carry-on were not in the building. He claimed that theyíd already been checked and we explained that we didn't even know what airline we were on yet! Jim and I ran and caught the bus before it left, we found the items, and put them in his arms. Evan is not a morning person but functions and performs quite well during the afternoon and night. We boarded the flight for Lisbon, Portugal. Three hours later we were on another bus headed for Cascais, the farthest western point in mainland Europe.

The evening performance was at the Estoril Jazz Festival, in a palm-tree-lined park near the ocean. We arrived to find music stands constructed from wire even though the contract specifically stated "no wire music stands." Our heavy folders really needed sturdy
stands but maybe there were none in the country? Or maybe they didn't care?

The moderate-sized audience took its time taking their seats and as the concert started it seemed like a very low-keyed environment until halfway through the first set someone figured out that Tony Bennett was sitting in the front row checking out Phil and his band. After intermission, Phil was the most gracious of hosts and invited Tony to come up on stage and sing. They decided on Don't Get Around Much Anymore, starting out with the rhythm section as Phil and Bill Charlap presented beautiful improvisations and then the entire band took it home.

This five-day festival had five major sponsors and the audience of 400 paid $17 to attend. Dinner that night was from 12:30 to 2 a.m. (a 20-hour day) at a great little sidestreet restaurant (hang rating: 10). Jordi said that Portuguese wine is one of Europe's best-kept secrets and this restaurant proved him correct, once again. He left us for a few days and would later rejoin us.

Day 7: Friday, July 10

A reprieve! The bus left at noon for a four-hour ride up the coast of Portugal to Povoa de Varzim. The band stayed at a highrise hotel on the ocean. Other than initially attempting to cram the band into two small tables for dinner, an inconsideration that Phil wouldn't allow, a fine dinner was had by all, especially the flan. The performance was at the Casino de Povoa (perhaps for a group of high-rolling jazz lovers?) and the dressing room was intimately guarded by the close Portuguese relatives of Vegas or Atlantic City mob goons who made sure that we musician types didn't steal any of the four walls or a refrigerator or two. One of the stranger scenarios of the tour!
 Back to the hotel by 1 a.m., wake-up calls were set for 3:45 a.m. Several of us wouldn't even think of sleeping for two hours, waking up and feeling worse, so we headed to the disco in the hotel that opened at 1 a.m. and operated until 7 a.m. The observed Portuguese mating rituals were strange to us and any attempted analysis didn't lead to understanding. The loud music consisted mostly of Bee Gees tunes from the 1977 soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever. To bring all of this strangeness to closure for me was the sound system blasting the finale of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana!!! I left in a state of total confusion. Back at the room at 3:15 a.m. I phoned home. After a shower it was time for . . .

Day 8: Saturday, July 11

Phil Woods

The bus started loading at 4:15 a.m. and the BOTB was there first, laying in wait for latecomers. The BOTB always came through! A few of the younger members were a bit late, barely functioning, which led to a slight eruption from the BOTB: "We stayed up all night so that you could be late!?!?" Sounds like fun, doesn't it? We traveled to the Porto Airport and the employees who dealt with us at 5:15 a.m. didn't look happy, perhaps because only a few of us looked happy? We were flying on TAP Air Portugal and Phil informed us that TAP was an acronym for "Take Another Plane" just as TWA was an acronym for "The Worst Airline." The small jet was so crowded that they told us all carry-on musical instruments would have to be stacked on top of each other in the lavatory. Couldn't they hide their disdain for musicians just a little bit? The one saving grace was the impressive outfits worn by the flight attendants. I asked one of them if we could mail order a few of the outfits home for our loved ones. She didn't understand my question.

We arrived in Lisbon and proceeded to sweat out if our British Airways boarding passes would be printed in time to get on the flight to London's Heathrow Airport. Bill Goodwin was on the case and was the epitome of calm, collected coolness as British Airways gave several last calls for our flight as we stood a few feet from the gate. Our substitute road manager Mario was new at this and was too much of a nice person to get results, but everyone's hero George Robert seemed to be making some inroads with the Portuguese contingent of British Airways. Finally, tarmac contact and we were the final 18 people to step on the jammed 767 Airbus. After this flight, the BOTB came up with suggestions for airlines around the world. From now on, install depth charges under the seats of:

 1. people who are sitting next to each other who insist on talking loud enough to drown out the huge Rolls Royce engines for two hours straight.
 2. children who revel in kicking the seat in front of them.
 3. said children's accompanying adults.

Upon arrival at Heathrow, several pieces of luggage were MIA for 45 minutes and Bill Goodwin continued his reserved heroism, this time in the form of a baggage search until trombonist Kevin Haines spotted all missing luggage spewing out onto a far carousel (from Istanbul!). Yes Kevin! . . . the BOTB always came through!

The band rode four hours north to Wigan, a city of 90,000. Upon arrival at the hotel, the band learned about British law that closes pubs at 11 p.m., so the only time to visit was before the gig.

The band performed at the Wigan International Jazz Festival in a small performance hall that sold out over 500 seats at $26 per ticket. We figured out that these jazz lovers spent more than that per person at the busiest bar on the tour. The festival runs eight nights and sponsors the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, not unlike our COTA Cats.

During the concert I spotted a tiny red light at the back of the hall. At the beginning of one of Brian Lynch's formidable several-minute trumpet solos I quickly left the stage (Phil later told me that he thought I was getting sick) and made my way to the back of the hall. Sure enough, an unauthorized videotape was in production. I found our road manager Mario and he put a stop to it. Jill Goodwin (Phil's wife and Bill's sister) would have been proud of me! These people feel that since they have made a sizable investment in a video camera, they have a right to videotape anything they wish. If only they would ask permission and offer Phil a copy of the tape, maybe it would be possible. There were dozens of these thieves throughout the tour and we began to ignore them. Anyway, I made it back to the stage in time to play my background parts toward the end of Brian's solo. Brian has released an impressive CD entitled Keep Your Circle Small (Sharp 9 Records C E 1001-2).

The bar back at the hotel had a "late-night license" (whatever the heck that is), but after about 30 minutes some of the band figured out that they'd been up for 40 hours so why not get some sleep.