On a personal level, the last few weeks have been extremely difficult. In the beginning of November I started to develop some neurological problems that my doctors have yet to find the cause of. As my symptoms got worse over the last 5 weeks, I was advised by my neurologist not to play horn at all. Rather than cancelling booked shows, my Bassic Sax Jazz Ensemble is currently performing without me. My drummer Gary Huntbatch, has stepped up, and is currently running the band and retooling all our arrangements to fill the rather large holes. All shows are going on until the end of December.
I had a chance to go and listen to last Thursday night’s rehearsal, and my band sounds really good. Only problem is of course there is no sax. But my hat is off to Gary, Jason, Steve, & Karen for their hard work to keep our commitments. Thanks guys! You’re amazing.
There is one regular commitment that we have not been able to keep because of my neurological problems however. We have temporarily stopped playing our regular Thursday night show at the Yorkshire Rose. If you are one of the people that comes to see us that night, I am very sorry. Once I’m a bit better, and once our keyboardist slot is filled, we will see what Greg wants to do about the Thursday night performances.
Not all the news is bad however, as of last Thursday, I was given the go-ahead to start playing again, but only in the privacy of my own home. The neurologist doesn’t want me on stage for a little while yet, until she knows for sure what is really going on, and until I am more along in my recovery. But at least I am able to start slowly working on my embouchure and finger dexterity again. I have lost a fair amount, but am fully confident that I’ll be able to get it back in fairly short order.
