Two days before our “Dot Dot Dot” Cd release party at the Hamilton, the band got together before a rehearsal to celebrate Mo’s birthday, complete with a home-baked chocolate cake and a rousing rendition of the Birthday Song!
Chaise Lounge celebrates Marilyn's birthday!
The smiling birthday girl...
– Joe Jackson
According to my kids, the answer is a big fat YES! They have long been fans of the Internet radio service and were recently inspired to type in “Chaise Lounge” and see what happened. Should I have told them, as the familiar song played and their little jaws dropped with astonishment, pride and adoration, that “getting onto Pandora” is not quite the same as getting onto the American Idol finale? I think not. So, as they basked in my fame, I appreciated the algorithm that likens us to Paris Combo and Nossa Alma Canta (Hat tip to Christian and Alejo!). And then, famous mom or not, it was time to liven things up and go back to the Michael Jackson station. (Wait until these kids hear about our newest chart – see Charlie’s last blog post 🙂 )
—Marilyn
Needless to say I was happy Charlie wanted to have a few Benny Goodman tunes added to the Chaise Lounge “book.” Pete helped in this request by calling either “Seven Come Eleven” or “Wholly Cats” if CL had to play a jump-tune “head” arrangement. The clean lines of BG’s playing both melodies and solos always floated over the chord changes in a natural way but still “swang” like crazy. And, most listeners can hear the BG swing style even when being played by others. I also had the pleasure of working with the late, great rhythm guitarist Steve Jordan. Steve worked with Benny and had many great stories about BG that wound up in Steve’s book, Rhythm Man. Steve said that, when on the road and after a performance, BG would practice late into the night while the rest of his band had anything but practice on their minds. Thanks, Charlie and Pete, for allowing me to perform some of BG’s more familiar tunes with CL.
—Gary
Had a great rehearsal in preparation for the “Marquee” tour of Maryland. One of the most fun parts of it was getting a handle on Marilyn’s new song. You heard that right, my friends! Mo has a new tune for you. We will be springing that one on you in the summer. Can’t wait to play in Baltimore tomorrow night at the Patterson and at Bethesda’s new club, Bethesda Blues and Jazz on Saturday night.
Ask any musician about January and you will get a grim smile, reflecting a woefully empty gig calendar. It has ever been thus. What to do about this? Start your next record! Well, that is what Chaise Lounge is doing, anyway. We began the new album in earnest last night with rhythm section recording sessions at Cue Recording in Falls Church, Virginia. Ken Schubert is engineering.
As we were putting together the list of new songs to record, I was amazed at how many we have. Also I was reminded of how many times people have asked for recordings of these songs and I have blithely tossed off, “Oh, that will be on the next CD.” “The Coolest Car” is one of those. Another is “I Just Want All Of My Stuff.” Maybe the most-requested unrecorded song is Gary’s solo piece, “Losing Streak.” All of them are coming soon. I’m not completely sure yet, but I think the new album will be called “Dot, Dot, Dot.” Yes, that song too is coming.
The first session was a delight. It was great to get back in the studio. And it felt good to dig into the fine details of some of those tunes. “Via Con Me” is a deceptively tricky song to play well. If the tempo is not exactly right it doesn’t work. We have also unearthed some of our back catalog for this. Who remembers “Celestial Navigation”? I think we played that twice…maybe at IOTA? Well, here it comes. And there is a song about a wrecked Airstream trailer (title still in flux)—who remembers this? It may be the saddest song in the world; too sad, we decided, to play much live.
Last year we released two records (Insomnia, A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas). This year, it will be only one. But I have a feeling it will be a doozy.
—Charlie
At least for Chaise Lounge, that is how this show feels. We will be playing all our groovy Christmas songs at The Hamilton this Friday. Once we do that, I will eat cookies and pie all the way to New Year’s Eve…when we will be playing at the Kennedy Center!
–Charlie