I've been playing bass for Sophisticated Ladies since January and we closed this past weekend. If you're not familiar with the show (I wasn't until I got the gig), it's a review of music by Duke Ellington...."Take The A Train", "It Don't Mean A Thing, If It Ain't Got That Swing", etc.I struggled a little with this show at first because half of the show is charted as opposed to being written out. What this means is that instead of each note and rhythm, the music just consists of blank bars with the chord changes written over top. Jazz dudes play this way all the time but I don't have a lot of experience with it. I knew some jazz and blues scales, but went on-line to make sure what I was playing was appropriate for some of the weirder chords. Do you know what scale to play under a C minor chord with a flat 7th? I didn't.
Once I got comfortable with it, I loved playing this show and their were certain nights, when we all locked in, that were amazing!
