Part Seven: Spain

Thursday, March 6
Sala Loco Mateo C, Valencia, Spain

The drive to Valencia is about four hours and for the last two hours we see the calm Mediterranean Sea to our left. We're crammed into a small station wagon made by Seat, (pronounced like Fiat, but with an S, see-aht) a Spanish car company. Our man, Paco, drives like a mad-man and scares us as we careen down the highway at 190+ kilometers per hour.

Valencia is a large seaside city and the people are preparing for a large celebration, The End of Winter, so there is a lot of traffic, hanging lights over the streets and the sound of firecrackers going off. We stay in two, three-bedroom condos on the beach, which is a nice change from the city hotels. Frank and I are roommates since we're the "practicers" and Baron and Tom kick back in their condo and get some rest.

Sala Loco is a beautiful new club with a combination of seating and standing. By the time we hit the stage at 11:15 pm the place is jammed with fans. We play one of the best sets of the tour, partly because the stage is small and we're so close together we can hear each other very clearly. Back at the condo I fall asleep to the sound of the ocean, very relaxing.

Friday March, 7
Centro Cultural Centro Cultural la Pocilla, Galapagar (Madrid), Spain

We leave Valencia at 8:30 am to drive about 5 hours to Madrid. We have a radio interview on Spanish National Radio at 2 pm and we're about 15 minutes late arriving. The interview is funny and quite probing as our interviewer wanted the "dirt" on Journey, Santana, The Chick Corea Elektric Band and he even tried to get some dirt on Kevin Eubanks of the "Jay Leno Tonight Show" because he knew that Baron played and recorded with Kevin… nobody was safe.

The interview was setup by our Intuition record distributor in Spain, Juan Ramirez, with the questions and answers being translated by the lovely Maria, a professional translator and jazz fan. Regardless of the content of the interview, it worked.

The show at the Centro Cultural was sold out with 400 people in attendance. The venue is a large and well-kept theater with a good "vibe." The people in this town have a lot of jazz concerts and they were very appreciative listeners. We played here last summer as the rhythm section for the sax player, Bill Evans. In fact, Tom Coster will be back in Spain next week touring as a part of Bill's group. In May, Bill will be our Special Guest for a week in Hollywood, CA at Catalina's Bar and Grill, May 20-25th.

Playing with Bill is fantastic, he is truly one of the best sax players in music today and his playing and concept fits perfectly with Vital Information.

Saturday, March 8
Auditorio del Conservatorio de Musica de Santander ¨Jesús del Monasterio," Santander, Spain

The five-hour-plus drive to Santander is mainly on winding, mountain roads. This made for great scenery, but with Paco's "grand-prix" style driving it leaves us all a bit queasy. Santander is spectacular seaside resort city on the North Coast of Spain that reminds me somewhat of Nice, France. Our hotel is right on the Atlantic Ocean and my room has a great view of the water.

In my suitcase I carry a practice pad that I can strap onto my leg, an Ed Thigpen "Brush Up" brush practice pad, a metronome and some lightweight dancing shoes that I wear when I play. I always put these in a Zildjian carry bag and then take them all to the venue so I can warm up before the gig. Today I couldn't fine my shoes, which I've had for a couple of years. They are made by Danceskin and are very high quality and have lasted a long time. I figure I must have somehow left them at my last hotel -– what a drag.

But when I get to the venue, Roberto from Call and Play had found them in the dressing room from the last gig!! I was very happy to get my "playing shoes" back!

The venue is another large auditorium inside a music school for children. A music school for children is a wonderful concept and one that is lacking in the USA, music education isn't taken very seriously in the US school systems which is unfortunate. The 350-seat theater is oversold with standing room only. It's our last show on the European Tour and the audience seems sophisticated and quite educated when it comes to jazz music. This helps inspire us to give the folks a powerhouse performance.

We pack up one last time and I give my DW 9000 double pedal and set of Zildjian Cymbals to Roberto to have him ship them back to Sonor A&R man, Ian Croft, in the UK, where they will remain until my next trip to Europe.

Sunday, March 9
Travel Day

We leave at noon for the drive back to Madrid and once again get a little sick on the beautiful but roller-coaster-like ride with Paco behind the wheel. At about 3 pm we decide to stop for food and have an excellent Spanish meal complete with Sangria. This helps make the remainder of the trip a bit more pleasant and we finally arrive at our hotel at 7 pm. We're staying about 15 minutes from the airport as we all have early flights the next morning.

Monday, March 10
Travel Day

Baron left the hotel at 5 am to catch his flight to Boston and then on to San Francisco. Frank, Tom and I left the hotel at 7:15 for our flights to Frankfurt where Tom and I took a plane to San Francisco and Frank went onto Los Angeles.

Over the past weekend the World-Wide Music Trade Show called the Musik Messe, took place in Frankfurt, Germany. I wondered if I'd run into someone I knew on the flight home from Frankfurt, Germany and sure enough I did. Stu Hamm was on the flight after playing for the weekend at the Messe. Stu and I caught up on what we'd each been up to for the past couple of months. Stu and I see each other and play together in San Francisco occasionally and we played together recently at the Anaheim NAMM show in January with the trio GHS – Gambale/Hamm/Smith.

Stu is a very funny character and Stu, Tom and I had some laughs on the plane before people started telling us sit down and be quiet. Baron's flight was late getting into Boston and he missed his connection to San Francisco and didn't get to my house until after midnight. Tom and I arrived in San Francisco at 4 pm and I was picked up and driven home by my friend and student, Jason Wall.

It felt so good to be home and see the family. I'm looking forward to being off the road for a few weeks. Frank made it to LA but his bags didn't and he needs the guitar equipment in the bags – preamp, EFXs and pedals. He'll need to come up with something quick! There are still two gigs left on this tour, two nights at one of the best jazz clubs in the USA, Yoshi's, in Oakland, CA.

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