Benjie Messer

Three gigs this weekend- drums on Friday, piano on Saturday, trombone on Sunday- kind’ve digging that-

So I’ve been playing trombone with a new band for two or three weeks now- a local latin pop band called Rakatá. The two percussionist/singers who run it really know their stuff. They do pop songs with a latin flavor (Colombian, Brazilian, salsa, merengue, timba, etc.), and traditional latin songs with a more soulful crossover sound. If you’ve heard modern pop music from Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil- it’s that kind of thing. Phoenix is full of salsa bands, but these guys are doing something unique here, as far as I know. Very fun, very danceable, and a great situation for a trombonist.

I haven’t been able to invite people out to the gigs yet because I’m not a member of the band- they just hire me when they can afford an extra person- and so far I haven’t known about the gigs until a few days before- but I definitely recommend seeing them (for you Phoenix folks). They (we?) play every Tuesday at the Asia de Cuba (in the Hotel Mondrian in Scottsdale), every Friday at Trader Vic’s (by the Valley Ho in Scottsdale), and I think they have a Saturday gig starting soon, somewhere on the west side.

Here’s their myspace page, if you’re interested.

Privas’ regular keyboardist, Dave Henning, coaches lacrosse in the spring, and has a game every Friday night, and our regular bassist, Harald Weinkum, is on tour for the next six weeks, so our drummer Nick found another bass player, a recent Phoenix transplant named Toby Curtright, I’ve been playing keyboard, and that’s the trio. We’re at Dragonfly on Mill Ave. and 4th every Friday night, 7:00-11:00 PM.

I have my first regular gig in Phoenix!

Privas is me on trombone, Nick Watts on drums, Harald Weinkum on bass, and Dave Henning on keyboard. I was stressing about playing keyboard with them (see my last post), but I couldn’t make their first gig, and my sub Dave asked if he could stay. So now there are four and I get to play trombone, and I’m psyched. We’re playing every week at a Vietnamese restaurant in Tempe called Dragonfly. I posted before that it would be Thursdays, but we may be switching to Fridays. Stay tuned.

Can anyone give me some advice about this?

I think I have sideman’s fever. I’m tired of playing in other people’s musical groups and working hard to do what they want. I want to be in charge of some music that’s MINE, based on my thinking and my creativity.

And I’m having a bit of a musical identity crisis. I teach piano and guitar lessons, I practice and play trombone at jam sessions and in a big band, I’m occasionally playing drumset at my boss’ church, and at work I pretend to play all the instruments- and it’s all fun!

At this point, the main ways I can think of to be creative and in charge are to:

- lead a combo playing trombone
- lead a combo playing piano
- sing my vocal songs alone at the piano
- compose music for local independent filmmakers

The last one sounds a little too much like going to work after work, so I think I won’t worry about it right now. But the other three seem equally exciting and ambitious. I could do any of them if I worked at it, practiced, etc.

Any one of these would probably require me giving up the others. Being in charge of something takes more time and energy than just being a sideman. And I want time to relax and cook and be social, after all. I’m excited about playing trombone, and piano, and singing my songs, and don’t want to give up any of them. But as long as I try to do everything, I don’t seem to have time to do anything. So I have to pick one. I’ve spent a million hours writing, thinking and talking about this choice, and I STILL CAN’T DECIDE.

I’ve been stressing about this off and on since I moved, but part of the reason it’s up now is that I just took a weekly trio gig at a Vietnamese restaurant in Tempe. I’ll be playing piano, with my friend Nick Watts on drums and the amazing Harald Weinkum on bass. It was offered to me, it paid okay, and I was excited to be leading something, so I took it. But now I’m thinking- does this mean I’m about to give up trombone, just when I’m playing so beautifully? Does this mean I’m never going to be the singer/songwriter I imagined being? Why can’t I make a decision about this part of my life?

If any of you reading have any ideas, perspective, or advice for me, please let me know!