Just got back to Nova Scotia from a possibly once in a lifetime experience in Montreal, where Stochelo appeared at the Upstairs Jazz Club with Denis Chang and members of Denis's group. It was nothing short of amazing. Stochelo was everything expected - simply stupendous. Incredible virtuosity, imagination, musicianship, and even humor.
Even more amazing was our own Denis Chang. I've got Denis's "Nature Boy" CD, plus all of his instructional DVDs, and have always been impressed by his playing as well as his skill as an instructor. But Saturday he just blew us all away, more than holding his own with the master. It was simply a delight to see and hear these two great musicians play off of each other, trade hot and tasty solos, and share laughs. They appeared very relaxed and very much a team, generating great star power but no one acting like a star.
I also have to congratulate Denis's other compatriots, Romain Vuillemin on rhythm guitar and Paul VanDyk on bass. Paul wowed the crowd with some great solos, and Romain quietly provided a solid rhythm all night long, the unsung hero of the night.
It was great to see Wayne Nakamura again and to meet up with some folks from New York and Maine who will be at Django in June this year.
Thanks to Denis and the Upstairs Jazz Club for making this possible. Who's next? Angelo perhaps?
Benny
"It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
-- Orson Welles
Comments
Anyway, I think we made the ultimate Stochelo Rosenberg instructional DVD .... we might have 5 hours worth of usable material for the "in the style of" DVD... and the waltz DVD is going to be massive (interactive playalong, transcriptions, close ups, chord voicings, etc... etc....)
and since i produced the DVDs you can be sure there will be lots of great gags/pranks..... I actually managed to convice stochelo to do some hilarious gags! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
And now I am off to sleep for a month...
www.denischang.com
www.dc-musicschool.com
Count me in for all the DVDs and a HD signed copy of the Scarlet Johansson one!
as the rhythm guitarist and DVD producer, I'm afraid I have no clue which waltzes are going to be on it.....
haha jk
Two waltzes by tchan-tchou
Three by his uncle Wasso Grunholz
One by Bamboula Ferre
Two of his own compositions
8 waltzes of varying difficulty ... Shot from two camera angles... He shows you the chord voicings that he uses, he slows down the difficult passages for you, and his cousin Manuel shares a very important message about Eddy Murphy at the end of the DVD (Dennis style ending)...
these are the ultimate chopbuilders.... and it's not over yet... a waltz DVD volume 2 is a possibility in the near future
www.denischang.com
www.dc-musicschool.com
Merci
Charlie
best,
Jack.