G&G Recording Dates: Getting Ready

800 East Studios, where Godfrey and Guy
will record their first album.

In January, Godfrey and Guy will be recording their first album. I'm excited about this project, and also nervous. I've played for a few recording sessions, but this is the first one for which I'm responsible. Lori and I are sharing the financial burden, but I'm doing the organizational work, including booking studio time, hiring musicians, planning the recording sessions, and scheduling rehearsals. Additionally, I've written the arrangements and am learning about mechanical licensing. There's a lot to do!

So far, the most enjoyable part of the process has been writing the arrangements. We plan on recording eleven songs. Four of those songs are "head charts," in which we'll all just be playing from the same lead sheet. We have a general direction we'd like to go with each of these, but the performance will be loose and mostly improvised.

I have written arrangements for the other seven songs. The instrumentation is voice, trumpet, tenor sax, guitar, bass, and drums. I've never written for a jazz group, and it was challenging and fun to come up with background horn lines. I also wrote several horn soli sections, where the trumpet, sax, and guitar (as 3rd "horn") are playing harmonized bebop-ish lines. One of my personal challenges is to learn the parts I wrote for myself!

Here's our song list:

• No Moon at All
• You and the Night and the Music
• Night and Day
• Angel Eyes
• Dream a Little Dream of Me
• In the Wee, Small Hours of the Morning
• Tenderly
• Whisper Not
• How High the Moon
• A Night in Tunisia
• 'Round Midnight

The arrangements are complete. Studio time is lined up. Licensing is in process. Rehearsal is scheduled. Our first session is scheduled for January 16. I think we'll be ready to roll!