Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra Live At Founders Brewing 12.18.11

The Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra Performing

 
I had the great fortune of catching another fantastic performance by the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra at Founders Brewing Company. They perform there on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month and it's always a packed house with people of all ages. This is one of the best regular events that takes place in our fair city of G.R. Great food, drink and service from the always accommodating Founders staff to go along with top notch entertainment.

With it being so close to the holidays, the orchestra followed in theme with some holiday tunes and killed it as usual. If you haven't been to one of their performances before, you have no idea the time you're missing out on. Along with their linked site above, you can keep up on all of their events by visiting their Facebook page here. You can also go to their site and buy their "Jazz On Tap" CD recorded at Founders or better yet, buy one when you go to see them.

I happened to arrive with my stereo recorder in hand so I could capture a little taste of the action. The first clip was recorded by setting up the recorder by the end of the bar furthest from the orchestra so there's a lot more room and patron sound. For the second recording, I placed it against the window by the sound board which is about 10-15 feet away from the players on the stage left side. You can give it a listen below...

Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra Founders 12.18.11 (Part 1) by buefordwilson

Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra at Founders 12.18.11 (Part 2) by buefordwilson


Life is good.

12 Track Radio Live Set At Jukes 12.10.11

12 Track Radio is a trio that my brother Ryan joined recently. I went to Jukes Bar to check them out for the first time this past Saturday and brought my handheld recorder to capture the set. Here's the audio:


12 Track Radio Live at Jukes 12.10.11 by buefordwilson

New Guitar For This Guy

Had another good find on Craigslist. It's a '72 Telecaster Deluxe Reissue. I had to tear it apart and fix some wiring on one of the tone pots and input jack, but it's sounding great with no hiccups now. I played it through my Kay Model 504 tube amp after repairs were finished. This is what they look/sound like:

'72 Telecaster Deluxe & Kay 504 Test_1 by buefordwilson

Life is good.

A New Recorder & Dax Riggs At The Pyramid Scheme

Recently I purchased a Tascam DR-08 digital recorder. It has built in stereo condenser mic capsules the can be positioned different ways for different types of recording. I wanted something portable so I can quickly and easily capture ideas at band rehearsals as well as live performances. Here's what it looks like:

I got to test it out at a show after a few days of receiving it in the mail. The show was Dax Riggs at the Pyramid Scheme and it was great. I managed to get some audio of his set even though the batteries ran out in the middle of it. I haven't done anything to fine tune the audio yet, but it sounds decent straight from the device. Here's the two uncut clips I managed to capture:

Dax Riggs1 PScheme 12 4 11 by buefordwilson

Dax Riggs2 PScheme 12 4 11 by buefordwilson

And here's one track I caught from Grand Rapids' own Haunted Leather:

Haunted Leather Pyramid Scheme 12 4 11 by buefordwilson

I've had a good amount of stuff going on lately and my amount of posts reflect that surely, but I'm going to try to keep up on this better in the future. On another note, I started building my first tube amplifier. This is going to be a long and arduous process, but that's all for another post.

Life is good.