jazz and ska

This has been another busy week music-wise. Last week we had our jazz concert, which went really well i think (videos hopefully soon to come!) and last night i played for the first time with a ska band that invited me to play with them. i was really nervous because i had never even rehearsed with them, and had to figure some of the songs out right there on stage! but a good lesson for me in relaxing while playing and just going with the flow and improvising on the spot. it was a lot of fun because everybody there was dancing and its just fun music. it's a traditional ska band, so it's not the kind of ska like Supertones or Five Iron Frenzy that you may be thinking of. We played a lot of songs from Elvis's all-time favorite band, The Skatalites, which started in Jamaica back in 1957 !!! I mean, these guys are legends and started ska music, which later gave a start to reggae music. It's such fun music, and the amazing news is that The Skatalites are coming HERE in October! i can't believe they are still around, playing. So here's the best part...the band I played with last night, "Groovy Time", is opening up for the Skatalites, and they have invited me to play with them again for that concert!!!! i can't even really digest that yet. we're just really excited about even having the chance to see and maybe even meet the Skatalites. Here are some pictures from the concert last night, a video, and then a video of the Skatalites. Enjoy!

And now the real deal, The Skatalites...