Jam session with Gary and Niles part 2 (part 1 being nine months ago).

Tonight marked the second jam session with Gary and Niles. We had a good time all around. Got some good things out of it. Gary said about 20% is usable for mixing and sizing down to use as some pretty decent material for actual individual peices. But the real highlight of the night for me lies within the talk Niles and I had after Gary left.

You see, Niles has gone through a plethera of musical experiences, good and bad, so he has alot to offer in nearly every realm. So he shared quite a bit of what he had to offer with me. He kind of ventured back to his earlier days when he was just starting to play, all the way to now, and the points in between where he became very cocky (he's completely the opposite now though, although he knows what he has). There are far too many aspects of the talk for me to get into, one, because I would have to think for quite some time to get even half of them in the forefront of my mind, and two, because I'm sure most of you wouldn't be all the interested. But he spoke alot about when he began to realize different ways of going about certain ways of playing and helping to lead a chior and whatnot. But the main things that stuck in my mind was the way he said he feels that Im alot like he was when he was younger. He described pretty much exactly what Im going through musically, better than I could, about improvisation, melding with others, and the different stages of which a musician goes through in his or her life, if they have the will to. How you build so many little goals or steps, and when you get to a certain point you surpass them all, but that's just one stage. Even if it seems like you can go no higher, there's many many stages which you can hit. Most never reach the final one, at least whatever would be the final for them personally, because if you have the will enough to do it, then it is attainable, it's just a matter of if you choose to make it your ambition. To be at that level that is perfect for you and those who you play with and those that hear. My highest gratitude toward him though is because he could put myself on his level, and actually say he sees himself in me now musically will stick with me for a loooong time. Unfortunately Im pressed for time and I cant write any more. I could've said alot more but I may save it for another day when I can fix my thoughts in an acceptible order. But I couldn't possibly do justice to the talk earlier and I've destroyed it as is so you wouldn't get anywhere near of what it was even if I had the time to try. Good news is we may have another jam sesseion tomorrow. And we're gonna try to get Ralph Stone in on this one. Big Papa Ralph as I like to call him.

Goodnight.