Classical Recital—2 Songs!..

On the evening of Monday, March 9th (‘09), I had a great time playing in my first classical gig in a VERY long time.
Fortunately, it wasn’t really my show—Pittsburgh Symphony bassist Peter Guild heard me play Lite Brite at Pittsburgh Mennonite Church, and asked if I’d play 2 songs at the end of his recital. He played bass, of course, and Jason Rafalak joined us on mandolin (for songs on which he normally plays bass, when he plays with me). Those songs will be Lite Brite & She Loves Jesus>me.
The show was in the PNC Hall (corporate sponsorship really is everywhere!) of the Mary Pappert School of Music, at Duquesne University’s school of music, at 8pm. Here are 3 little musical jokes we worked into the 2 songs:
—Peter figured out how to play a well-known classical bass melody (Richard Strauss’Heldenleben) during the instrumental section of “Lite Brite.” Sure enough, the classical musicians (lots of bassists there) got a chuckle out of that one. It definitely would’ve gone over my head, if I hadn’t been “in the know.” —In “She Loves Jesus”, we played a little triplet figure after the line “it’s hard to compete ‘cause he’s in the Trinity” (triplet/trinity); also,Peter played a very conspicuous low C (not available on your average double bass!) on the line “the Lord gets an A+, and I get a C.” This also got a laugh from the musically astute audience. It was a very fun evening, and the classical portion of Peter’s recital was also terrific.