In May 2003, I joined the Latin Salsa band, Cesar Morales y Sabor Latino, fronted by local bassist, Cesar Morales. Cesar was looking for a horn section to add to his arrangements of original and traditional Latin tunes.
Among my first performances with the band was the Cultural Expressions Festival hosted by NB Multicultural Council, and the Canada Day festivities in Florenceville. We decided to use my bass sax on Cesar’s arrangement of La Bamba.
Our performance at the Cultural Expressions Festival in June 2003, was the first public performance in Fredericton for this horn. It was very well received since most people at the event had never seen a bass sax.
You could hear a buzz in the audience as Cesar introduced the horn at the beginning of the song. The fact that our band was not using a drum kit really allowed the sound of the bass to come through.
The photo below was taken by New Brunswick photographer, Brian Atkinson, during our evening performance at the Cultural Expressions Festival in Officer’s Square in downtown Fredericton.
Almost a year to the day Brian took the photo on the right, a photographer for the provincial paper took the first picture (that I got to see) of me actually playing the bass in public. I was very surprised to see it on the front page of the provincial newspaper in full colour.
Check out a video of our performance at a Fredericton church during a fund raiser on February 6, 2004. We were asked to play at the last minute, so it was an acoustic performance. You’ll hear how great the acoustics are in the church, even without a microphone, the sax and percussion are easy to hear. Sadly, there was also no extra lighting, so the video isn’t what it could be, but you get the idea.
Just before I moved back to BC, we won the CBC sponsored Galaxy Rising Star Showcase at the 2004 Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. Check out what the festival wrote about us.
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