Well, I'm BAAACCCKKK! After 18 months of recovery from on challenge, I had to deal with 9 months playing with a tooth missing from just behind my lower lip and THEN adjusting to the new implant, and THAT was a serious adjustment! However, I'm gigging more and more and my playing, centered around my new Callet/Salamone chops is really becoming more and more solid. I am, quality wise, almost back to where I was before the unfortunate events. My jazz improv is still a bit sketchy - one minute great ideas popping and the next nothing but gibberish spewing out of my horn.
I'm not worried, though. I now KNOW that we can learn to solve our problems and how to solve them. I'm going to start going to jam sessions again and do much more playing/practice with backing tracks. I need to be able to make music happen without the luxury of retakes. I've very preoccupied with getting my chops to work properly and the attention to music making has been a bit on the back burner. However, now that I know how to practice, I'm working on my improv language again.
This is a shorter blog, so let me get to the point.
As with my recent blogs, I want to encourage folks facing challenges to not loose hope. I am absolutely convinced that we, as human beings, can train ourselelves to do almost anything, with reason. He are a couple of vids I did addressing this.
The first is a complete progress report. The picc thing is an addendum.
Now, my playing on these clips is, indeed, wanting. However, they are intended to outline some of the challenges I've been facing. My hope is to convey the idea, that, if I CAN overcome these challenges, SO CAN ANYONE - YOU!
My best wishes to anyone needing support.
ND