Jeanette has asked me to host the Song of the Month thread for June and I have selected a nice Latin American tune that was new to me when we played it at an improvisation workshop in the last couple of months. It's called "At The Mambo Inn" (or more simply "Mambo Inn") by Mario Bauza and has a 32 bar form in AABA structure. Sometimes it has a written introduction, also used as an interlude and outro, but mine is a simple version.
The lead sheets and a couple of different backing tracks can be downloaded from this file sharing directory. Box Or feel free to use other backing tracks or record with your own groups !
It seems to be particularly popular with guitarists so here are some examples:
It's very quiet here - can I assume that people are working away to produce a recording by the end of the month ?
Remember that other backing tracks can be used - I know that this tune is in the ABRSM Real Book and there are backing tracks and an example recording that accompany that. The tune is also in Aebersold Volume 64 which covers Salsa and Latin Jazz.
To get your creative juice flowing here is a nice saxophone recording from YouTube.
I've been on holiday and starting a new job this week so my saxophone time has been short. Plus, I'll admit this song isn't especially calling out to me.
Though he's Mario's orchestra playing it, which gets me a bit more excited!
I was sparring with another 2 belts higher than me in a traditional TaeKwonDo Dojo in Gallup, NM. He had very little control, kicked me hard in the ribs. I went home, then while lying in bed getting up, I felt a very painful snap. Went to the hospital ER.
Xray showed I had a snapped rib, cleanly broken. The doc told me I was fortunate to not have a punctured spleen. I was given an elastic band to hold the ribs tight together, then visited with an orthopedic doc a day or two later.
It healed in a couple weeks.
A couple months later, it was testing time. The master paired me up with the same person. It was then that I agressively backed him into a corner, won the sparring round, got my next belt.
Take care, perhaps an orthopedic doc or even a general who is familiar with broken bone injuries can set you up with an elastic band or corset to help hold the fracture in place until sufficiently healed? Might give you enough support that you can do some limited practising without undue pain? (with doc's concurrence of course)
I was sparring with another 2 belts higher than me in a traditional TaeKwonDo Dojo in Gallup, NM. He had very little control, kicked me hard in the ribs. I went home, then while lying in bed getting up, I felt a very painful snap. Went to the hospital ER.
Xray showed I had a snapped rib, cleanly broken. The doc told me I was fortunate to not have a punctured spleen. I was given an elastic band to hold the ribs tight together, then visited with an orthopedic doc a day or two later.
It healed in a couple weeks.
A couple months later, it was testing time. The master paired me up with the same person. It was then that I agressively backed him into a corner, won the sparring round, got my next belt.
Take care, perhaps an orthopedic doc or even a general who is familiar with broken bone injuries can set you up with an elastic band or corset to help hold the fracture in place until sufficiently healed? Might give you enough support that you can do some limited practising without undue pain? (with doc's concurrence of course)
Thanks mate, I am on the mend, started work-outs again. I had one of those elastic bands the second time I broke a few ribs and it was no good. Doing ok now, did 100 push ups and 50 chin ups today (and yes it is that "don't do this right now" pain but some of it is just losing the edge over a time of 2 weeks)
But this entire "thing" almost turned fatal, not for me but one of my companions in crime, Raksha. Raksha is a 12-1/2 year old Great Pyrenees/Samoyed mix with more character than the entire Cafe membership combined (it's not a qualitative statement).
Anyway last Monday we went out to the mountains and after a few hours she disappeared. There is a riparian area and she likes to hide out there if it gets too hot, so I wasn't worried but dinner time came and she had not come back. I spent about 2 hours checking all her hiding spots - nothing. Eventually I heard some noises that I had never heard before and it freaked me out but I could not pinpoint the location.
Another 30 min later I found her, she had fallen into a mud hole and only her head and neck were still sticking out. If you know mud, you know it is like quick sand, it sucks you in. I tried to pull her out by the collar, not a chance. I tried to get my (left) arm around her chest and pull her out ... 2 inches before it sucked her right back in.
I finally managed to lay down on the ground, with my legs holding on to a willow and pulling her legs, one by one out of the muck and then getting my left arm under her belly and rolling her out of that trap. Now, that's in the middle of nowhere, 80 acres, nobody'll hear you.
I got her on safe ground (and I could not use my right arm, that's the connection) but she was so hypothermic by that time that she could not get up and I had to drag her out of the bog area. There is a little access driveway and I tied her up, just in case and went to get the car but guess what? A big Aspen had fallen across the driveway, blocking any access. So I got the chainsaw (thank God it is a Stihl and always starts), cut the access to the road and got to where I could carry her to the car.
No chance to turn around in that area and with the new cars, the rear view sensors went haywire as soon as I tried to back out, courtesy of tall grass. 10ft driving- emergency brake. Another 10 ft driving - emergency brake, rinse and repeat.
Eventually we made it back to the house and I backed up against a dog ramp, which is level with the trunk with the only thought, that my neighbor owns a few large caliber guns, just in case. It was bad. I was at the point where I could hardly move my right arm anymore, the pup did not move at all except for shivering and chattering her teeth.
2 hours later she finally fell asleep, snoring. 2 more hours, she crawled out of the car onto the ramp, 3 hours later she managed to get off the ramp to make a humongous pile of poop.
The next morning I managed to hose her down at least on one side but she couldn't walk more than 10 ft at the time.
We went back home that night and I made a make-shift walker from a blanket wrapped under her belly so that we could walk at least a little bit, me holding up the blanket.
All is well that ends well, we both are fine, at least in comparison but "Nightmare on Elm St." feels like a lullaby in comparison. I know this sounds dramatic but it took me 4 days to be able to sleep again. And no, I don't have pictures but it too me 2 laundry cycles to get the mud out of my jeans.
And this is a true story, it happened last week and reality was way scarier than what I can even write here.
Jeanette has asked me to host the Song of the Month thread for June and I have selected a nice Latin American tune that was new to me when we played it at an improvisation workshop in the last couple of months. It's called "At The Mambo Inn" (or more simply "Mambo Inn") by Mario Bauza and has a 32 bar form in AABA structure. Sometimes it has a written introduction, also used as an interlude and outro, but mine is a simple version.
The lead sheets and a couple of different backing tracks can be downloaded from this file sharing directory. Box Or feel free to use other backing tracks or record with your own groups !
It seems to be particularly popular with guitarists so here are some examples:
The recordings at first sounded daunting to me due to the fast tempo.
I'm not sure that I'll have time to contribute this month but if I did, I'd initially slow down the backing track(s) quite a bit (in something like Audacity) and - by listening to the examples and reading the sheet music - try to get the 'timing' right at a slower tempo.
From the sheet music, I realise that there are only 2 'timing patterns' that are repeated. IMHO, once you really get the 'feel' for the timing (at a slower tempo) you can gradually increase the tempo to one that you feel comfortable playing.
Thanks mate, I am on the mend, started work-outs again. I had one of those elastic bands the second time I broke a few ribs and it was no good. Doing ok now, did 100 push ups and 50 chin ups today (and yes it is that "don't do this right now" pain but some of it is just losing the edge over a time of 2 weeks)
But this entire "thing" almost turned fatal, not for me but one of my companions in crime, Raksha. Raksha is a 12-1/2 year old Great Pyrenees/Samoyed mix with more character than the entire Cafe membership combined (it's not a qualitative statement).
Anyway last Monday we went out to the mountains and after a few hours she disappeared. There is a riparian area and she likes to hide out there if it gets too hot, so I wasn't worried but dinner time came and she had not come back. I spent about 2 hours checking all her hiding spots - nothing. Eventually I heard some noises that I had never heard before and it freaked me out but I could not pinpoint the location.
Another 30 min later I found her, she had fallen into a mud hole and only her head and neck were still sticking out. If you know mud, you know it is like quick sand, it sucks you in. I tried to pull her out by the collar, not a chance. I tried to get my (left) arm around her chest and pull her out ... 2 inches before it sucked her right back in.
I finally managed to lay down on the ground, with my legs holding on to a willow and pulling her legs, one by one out of the muck and then getting my left arm under her belly and rolling her out of that trap. Now, that's in the middle of nowhere, 80 acres, nobody'll hear you.
I got her on safe ground (and I could not use my right arm, that's the connection) but she was so hypothermic by that time that she could not get up and I had to drag her out of the bog area. There is a little access driveway and I tied her up, just in case and went to get the car but guess what? A big Aspen had fallen across the driveway, blocking any access. So I got the chainsaw (thank God it is a Stihl and always starts), cut the access to the road and got to where I could carry her to the car.
No chance to turn around in that area and with the new cars, the rear view sensors went haywire as soon as I tried to back out, courtesy of tall grass. 10ft driving- emergency brake. Another 10 ft driving - emergency brake, rinse and repeat.
Eventually we made it back to the house and I backed up against a dog ramp, which is level with the trunk with the only thought, that my neighbor owns a few large caliber guns, just in case. It was bad. I was at the point where I could hardly move my right arm anymore, the pup did not move at all except for shivering and chattering her teeth.
2 hours later she finally fell asleep, snoring. 2 more hours, she crawled out of the car onto the ramp, 3 hours later she managed to get off the ramp to make a humongous pile of poop.
The next morning I managed to hose her down at least on one side but she couldn't walk more than 10 ft at the time.
We went back home that night and I made a make-shift walker from a blanket wrapped under her belly so that we could walk at least a little bit, me holding up the blanket.
All is well that ends well, we both are fine, at least in comparison but "Nightmare on Elm St." feels like a lullaby in comparison. I know this sounds dramatic but it took me 4 days to be able to sleep again. And no, I don't have pictures but it too me 2 laundry cycles to get the mud out of my jeans.
And this is a true story, it happened last week and reality was way scarier than what I can even write here.
Doing ok now, did 100 push ups and 50 chin ups today (and yes it is that "don't do this right now" pain but some of it is just losing the edge over a time of 2 weeks)
IMO, an added benefit to exercise during injury is to release endomorphines to hasten the healing process plus increase blood flow to the injured area. Back in the 1990's, we had an employee exercise room in our building. With a broken toe, I worked out on the bicycling machine because the exercise didn't stress or affect my toes. A few thought me foolish, but it worked, helped the healing process.
This is why often a doctor or medical team will assign a patient to physical therapy after surgery or injury treatment. It promotes healing.
I have been really busy this month but wanted to record and post a version before July comes around.
There is a short backing track that accompanies the lead sheet in the ABRSM's AB Real Book. It features Gareth Williams on piano, Steve Watts on bass and Tristan Mailliot on drums, so it is fun to play with. Here is the recording I just made on soprano: At the Mambo Inn - Rhys Sop (short) V1.mp3 | Powered by Box
Hoping that some more people will post their own recordings in the next few days (or months).
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