Cottontail

Turnouts for the jam have been really good lately, but last Sunday's was crazy, especially for the 1st set! They were bringing in extra chairs and still there weren't enough.  What was the deal? At least half the crowd was with the Goodman Center/GMJC "Live Soundz" education program: middle and HS age students playing their 1st jam session, and their supporters.

The students rehearse and play as a group and did a good job on "C Jam Blues," "All of Me," and "All Blues." They appeared to enjoy themselves so let's hope we see some of them again. By the second set it thinned out a bit and despite the large turnout we managed to get everyone up for at least 2 tunes.

Our next jam is May 3 and the band is Darren Sterud - trombone, Mark Davis - piano, John Christiansen - bass, and John Lombardo - drums. The featured tune is Duke Ellington's,"Cottontail." It is one of hundreds of tunes based on George Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm" and is usually played in Bb. That's what we'll do, too. Learn Jazz Standards has a chord sheet and playalong. Here's the most famous version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbOseBw-fnU