This is the Chet Baker Project. I will not make up an acronym for it. It will not be called the CBP...ever.

That said, I might at some point write in third person--why--I don't really know yet...until I do it. I do not suffer from split personality syndrome or whatever else you call it when you don't know who the hell you are from one day to the next. Oh wait. Well, whatever, let's not quibble over formalities.

I will always try to write concisely so whomever, if anyone, ever reads this thing, won't have to wish they weren't.

Oh, one more thing. sometimes i'll write in lower case. cuz basically i figure, why the hell not. they're all letters right? and who really gives a shit, outside of the english police, the copy editors in publication newsrooms and academia (of which i was once a member) and equally tight-sphinctered-toe-the-line straight shooters.

sorry. it kinda got away from me there. i mean i don't mean to denigrate those whose job it is to monitor and enforce...anything. except to say that if you wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of a parking ticket, go find yourself a different gig for chrissakes.

well now that we're far afield from the original intent of this blog, let's just see if we can reign it in a little.

the Chet Baker Project is something i've wanted to do for fifteen years, ever since i first remembered what i love about jazz and music in general.

i am a trumpet player, piano tinkler and percussionist/drummer. i've been in music since i took my first cornet lesson in that tiny high-ceilinged anteroom just off stage at the Junior High School in my sleepy little upstate hometown of... Back in the day, they were called jr.highs, not middle schools. lots was different back then. but more about that later.

so i've had music in my blood forever. i've played in hundreds of music groups none of which i will ever mention in this blog. (you're welcome)

and you know what, more about Chet and me later. I'm getting bored writing this stuff so i can imagine how you, the reader, is feeling. let's move on, waddya say?

so how about a definitive statement.

ok here it is:

i am going to transcribe, play and record a song from chet's catalog every day.

i am going to practice the piano part (the changes--the chords) the best i can in the style that best emulates the pianist on the recordings that i love.

i am going to use Reaper as my music editor (wish me luck)

i am going to record the drum part using either on-board VSTIs or live drums

i am going to add a bass part to each song and play it on my keys (not the bass, although i do have a bass and if time permits, i shall learn how to play it)

i am going to learn the lyrics of the tunes and actually sing them and record it

i am going to play trumpet on each of the tunes, perhaps in the form of a solo


THIS I SHALL DO.

So, here it is thursday august 27th 2009 and i have already three of these recordings under my belt, those being the result of the three days previous.

THE INTENT

how the hell should i know.

at this point i have a few different ways of thinking about it: one is to use this experience as a methodology. a practice method. the rationale being that by coming up with the chords, playing them in the right places, with the best intrepretation of which i am capable, learning the melody on horn, getting the lyrics and singing them, that i will be accruing valuable skills. valuable to whom, to what you may ask. good questions.

another reason for this project is to pay a debt. to myself. to satisfy the lip service i've been giving to wanting to say something of myself thru music, specifically, on horn.

another reason is that i seem to have time right now. i am unemployed. YAY.
more about this later you can be sure. (hey this is my blog right?)

So what's next?

I guess i'll stop and drink my coffee here in my squat blue beach chair in my cement driveway in my unusually not-so-hot-you-wanna-kill-yourself austin texas.
bye