All That Jazz

Bob Balsley, the AV guy here, had a guitar performance slated at “Sax 'n' Art,” a jazz club just minutes from our ship. I ran into him in the streets during the day and he gave me a business card. He also mentioned that I might be able to play with him. He is quite a prolific guitar player/teacher. If you Google his name, some good stuff will come up. I mean, he's really legit. Played with Van Morrison and Chuck Berry, to name a few.

But before I tell this story, there is some background info you need to know.

So, every sea day, at 7 PM, a bunch of us get together in the piano lounge to play music. Bob plays guitar. I play piano. Jordan plays guitar, Chazz plays bass, and there isn't usually any percussion. Bob has brought in random songs for us to play, but a lot of time we just jam. In the last few weeks, we've been getting together a nice repertoire of complete songs for the purpose of an end-of-the-year performance. On this list is “Mercy, Mercy” and “Rocket Man.” We also do some Spanish-style jams and of course, the blues.

So me, Taylor, Isaiah, Ari, Chris, Sara, you know the bunch, show up at Sax 'n' Art. I am really excited because I REALLY want to get on stage. It is a little stage with a piano, guitar, microphones, and a really awesome drum set. The band shows up and they start playing, and it is some great music. The main guy, Tuan, plays the saxophone. His picture is all over Sax 'n' Art, leading us to believe that he has some sort of history or link with the place.

Jordan also happened to be there. He heard about Bob's performance and ran into Bob earlier that evening and said that going on stage is a very good possibility. We can, at the very least, get up there with Bob and play a few songs. It was awesome. I told Taylor, who plays drums, that we might go on. He has never practiced with us, so he was a little apprehensive. I told him not to worry about it.

Also, Chazz, our bassist, was there. I hadn't seen him all day and I'm not sure whether he knew about Bob's performance, but all of us were there. It was looking like if we want this, it might happen.

Not so long into their performance, they invite Bob on stage. He played his regular style with the solos and the jazz chords and the virtuosic flourishes of talent. We ordered some drinks and when it was time to pay the lady was giving us a hard time. We sat there arguing with her for 10 minutes, trying to figure out why an extra 50,000 was on our bill! She showed us the total, and then the 10% for the tax but then she kept adding 50,000! Finally, I turned out, it was the cover charge. We didn't think it was going to be on our bill, but it was. It was funny, but stressful.

Anyway, around an hour and a half into the performance, Bob and Tuan pulled me aside and asked me if we wanted to go on. I said YEAH! Tuan asked me who was there and what instruments we had, and I told him the breakdown. Bob asked me what I thought we could play, and I suggested Mercy, Mercy, our standard, and some jams. Tuan asked me if we have anyone on drums. I told him my friend Taylor plays, but he may not want to go on. Tuan said if Taylor doesn't play, he'll play the drums himself. I found Taylor and, despite him being a little reluctant for never having playing with us before, decided to go on stage with us.

I wrote our names down on a little piece of paper, and Tuan introduced us one by one. So now onstage it is me at the piano, Jordan and Bob on guitars, Chazz on the bass, and Taylor on the drums. We're primed and ready to go.

We play Mercy Mercy and it went REALLY well. We're pretty solid at it. Then we did a blues and jam and then we did Rocket Man. This is when I sang. That's right, sang Rocket Man. I was slated to sing this song for our end-of-the-year performance, so I was happy to have some practice on this particular night.

We did more jams, and at one point Bob just packed up and left. I asked him about this later and he said he was just toasted, having played for two hours.

So now it is just us on stage. We were living the dream. Performing the music we want, on a real stage, for an audience of SAS people AND local Vietnamese people, with real instruments. Once I had the mic in front of me, we improvised lyrics and did harmonies and it was a lot of fun. Tuan even came on and did some sax solos for us when he was inspired.

The soloing was the best part. You just called out “and now, Jordan on guitar!” and Jordan would rip away on the strings. It was incredibly scary, but a lot of fun.

We played for 45 minutes. We never knew what we were going to play next, and we found that our beginnings and endings of songs need a little work. What we need is to work on our audibles, our little signals to tell when to start and end. And a setlist would be good too.

After we were all done, Tuan thanked us all and said it was a real honor. We took a picture with him on the stage. We also all bought shirts of the place to have forever. They gave us each a free beer, and one of the Vietnamese ladies working there wanted my business card. I didn't have one so I just wrote my information down on a paper. I'm not sure what she wanted it for, I couldn't hear her nor could I really understand what she was saying, something about her being a student as well.

Isaiah got it all on video. There is a short split when my camera ran out of memory and he switched to his camera, but it's mostly all there. I evaluated my performance and learned a lot.

SAS has not only given me an opportunity to see the world, but is has also given me an opportunity to practice my art. Incredible, right?