I went last night to sit in with Jon Paris’s band at Lucille’s Grill in BB King’s, Times Square, NYC.  This is the third or fourth time I’ve played with Jon, and the musical relationship is developing in cool ways. 

I’ve used my effects more agressively every time I’ve played with Jon, and last night I started straight out with an octave doubler on the first song, the latin-jazz standard “Song For My Father.”  Then it was right into heavy blues territory.  I used a range of amp emulations, especially Fender Tweed and Blackface models, to get a range of tones from fat to cutting.  I think I mixed it up pretty good–certainly the audience, nearly a full house, was listening hard.   

For his part, Jon played great last night. He gets an amazing sound on slide, ranging from gutbucket guitar to some kind of big swooping bird–there were tones coming out of that instrument that made the hair on my arms stand up.  He asked more of me this time around too.  On several tunes he managed to convey (with a lot of facial expressions and miming) that he wanted the harp to double the guitar line.  Once we got that straight, the sound was absolutely huge.  (Next time I’ll get the message a little faster.)  Rock and roll!

The rhythm section, as usual for Jon’s bands, was great.  John’s drummer took a terrific solo on the Hendrix tune “Up from The Skies,” and Amy, the bass player, did the business.  By the way, it seems like every musician I see now is wearing a narrow-brimmed fedora. Took over pretty quick once it got started, I guess.

So big fun in NYC.  I’ll make a habit of dropping by to sit in with Jon every couple of months.  It’s a great party.