I had a particularly unique gig last summer with James Blood Ulmer. It was in the beautiful Austrian town of <a href=”http://aubreydayle.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Aub-and-Calvin.jpg”><img class=”alignright size-medium wp-image-1270″ alt=”Aub and Calvin” src=”http://aubreydayle.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Aub-and-Calvin-225×300.jpg” width=”225″ height=”300″ /></a>Saalfelden. We were performing pieces from ‘Bloods’ seminal recording called ‘Are You Glad to Be in America’. This was particularly interesting in that all but three of the original musicians that played on the album also performed on the show. Ronny Drayton, Calvin Jones and I replaced Billy ‘Spaceman’ Paterson, Amin Ali, and Ronald Shannon Jackson receptively. I truly was a great experience. I had a chance to play with Grant Calvin Weston who I have respected a great deal for many years and three of the very best saxophonist on the planet. Here was the line up:

James Blood Ulmer – guitar, vocals
Ronny Drayton – guitar
David Murray – tenor saxophone
Oliver Lake – alto saxophone
Hamiet Bluiett – baritone saxophone
Calvin Jones – bass
G. Calvin Weston – drums
Aubrey Dayle – drums

Look out for a new a collaborative CD that Calvin and I made with Toronto based guitarist, Kim Ratcliffe, in the new year.

The band only had a chance to rehearse earlier on the day of the show. We each had to do our home work before arriving in Austria. I found it especially challenging. I had to figure out Shannon Jackson’s speedy hi hat approach to the music! The interesting things is both Calvin and I didn’t really play the music the way it was played so many years ago. Blood demanded something different; as he always does.