Live At Dixie's

Last Saturday the StillWaters Jazz Band played at Dixie's coffee house in China Grove. It was our fourth gig, but was really our first public outing.

When I drove to the grocery store the week before the show I was greeted by this excellent sign in front of the shop. I began to get excited about playing.

I really hadn't played for a secular crowd before, so this was my first time to perform in front of my peers. (When you play in church everyone HAS to be nice to you. It's the rules.)

Of course, I was also somewhat nervous about doing this performance. It was my peers that we were playing for, remember? This whole thing is still pretty new to me. I didn't get that nervous, though. I figured that not too many people would show up.

Boy, was I wrong.

When we got there to set up the place was almost empty. One or two folks came in and left. I figured that we'd be playing to the proprietor. That was OK with me too.

However, by the time that 1:00 rolled around, the place was nearly full. It was hard to believe that that many people from China Grove would actually come out in the middle of the day on a Saturday to hear a band that they had never heard before.

I mean, jazz? In China Grove? Seriously? Seriously.

The coffee shop stayed full until nearly 3:00. There was even a guy there taking pictures of the band. It kind of freaked me out because he was wearing a "Spin" t-shirt and had an armful of really cool-looking tattoos, and was taking lots of pictures in a very professional manner with a very nice camera. I knew that there was no way that we were good enough (or notorious enough) for Spin Magazine to be checking us out. But the longer that he snapped pictures, the more it perplexed me.

The first set went pretty well, and after we stopped for our break I was able to calm down a little bit.

By the way, the coffee at Dixie's is excellent, and the atmosphere is my favorite of all of the other coffee houses in Rowan County. It is classy vintage. I'll try to get some snapshots of the decor the next time that I go there.

Our second set started off a little rocky for me. We did "I've Found A New Baby" and for some reason, I never really got situated right. Both of my hands started getting tired. It was all I could do to finish they were burning so bad. Thankfully, I only had one other glitch during the gig. On "Greensleeves" something happened to my capo and the tension wasn't enough to push the strings down all the way. Not a really good effect!

It was also nice seeing Pastor Cameron, my sister, Vanessa and her daughter, Grace, Randy from our former church, and one of Sara's friends from work. We were so honored by all of the folks who came out to support us.

Let me take a moment now to introduce the folks in the band.

This is Justin, the brains of the operation. It was his idea to put the band together in the first place. I would have never thought of playing guitar in a jazz band. I wouldn't have had the first notion of how to begin, but Justin had the knowledge, the passion, and a notebook full of jazz standards.

Justin really carries the band. He is a great musician, and it is his playing that really helps to make what we do jazz. He has also written a couple of the numbers that we perform. His song that we do most often is called "Cookout." If you ever want to understand what StillWaters Jazz Band is all about just talk to Justin for 5 minutes. That's all he'll need to make you understand.

By the way, Justin is also the band director at South Rowan High School and is a talented bass player too.

Gillen is our bass player. He's only a few months out of high school, but has a lot going for him.

Like most guys his age, he is hyper-involved in all kinds of things. He works a full-time job, goes to school, plays for his church, plays for us... Oh, to have that kind of energy again!

The thing that impresses me most about Gillen is his passion for the Lord. Gillen loves Jesus and is really pursuing a relationship with Him. He hopes to eventually go into youth ministry, and I am sure that he will be excellent at it. You can't know too many people like Gillen. I love being able to hang around with the guy. I have never seen him discouraged. He always has a positive attitude.

This is Sara, Justin's wife. She plays a really mean piano and is uber-creative. I said earlier that Justin carries the band - well, so does, Sara. They both are scary talented and technically savvy. I have learned tons from both of them.

You can tell when Sara is really getting into the music - it is like there is no one else in the room. Sara comes up with some really cool ideas just messing around between songs. My favorite so far is a jazz version of "Fur Elise" that we are trying to work up now. Unfortunately, we have yet to commit it to paper. Hopefully, we will have done so by our next gig. It is so cool!

Sara is kind of quiet until you get to know her, and then you discover that there is a lot going on under the surface.

And this is me, Big Papi. (It looks like I have just had a brilliant idea pop into my head. I think that it is in reality an Easter decoration.) I live right here in China Grove, so it was fun playing on my home turf. I provide the rhythm section for the band.

I'm pretty new to jazz, and stepping out into the realm of solo playing is utterly new to me. I've always been a rhythm guy. So this has been both an exciting, challenging, terrifying, and absolutely fun experience for me. I've been learning new chords and a whole lot about music, friends, and living.

It has also been fun learning about this whole new realm of music. I had heard some of this stuff before (I'm into the swing and big band standards) but now I am starting to actually hear the music of legendary musicians whose names I had only heard before and some that I probably would have never heard were it not for the band - like that of the recently-deceased jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson.

Here we are all together - the StillWaters Jazz Band.

Now that I've introduced everyone, I guess I should say a little bit about who we are as a group. SJB is a group of people who love music, and love friendship, but mostly who love Jesus. We started this band to reach out to the folks of Rowan County in a non-churchy way. Hopefully, as people enjoy our music, they will see something of our Father in us.

We anticipate playing at Dixie's again next month, and I'll be posting updates and announcements when that date is firmed-up. Once again, thanks to everyone who came out to Dixie's last Saturday. We hope to see you next time!