My first jazz gig!

[Robert Rogers]

Im very excited to tell you guys that im going to the jazz factory in Huntsville,alabama tomorrow night to play some jazz with my emmons push-pull.I wish some my dads old friends could be there to hear me play and cheer me on because Im very nervous.My dads from Decatur and his name his Gary Rogers.Do any of you guys from Huntsville remember Paul Putman?Paul loved to hear Buddy Emmons.He told me one time"Son a man has to be crazy not to like Buddy Emmons".Sure do miss getting to see Paul.

Robert
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Emmons 1974 push-pull d-10 8&4

[John Steele (deceased)]

Robert,
At the risk of sounding lilke a self-proclaimed expert on the situation, which I am most assuredly not, let me share this with you....
I went through the same situation a month or so ago, and one factor I failed to figure in until the middle of the first set was, the incredible Comping power of the steel.
I got the bigget boot of the evening not in my solos, but in the formidable power of the steel in comping behind other soloists. I think the rythym section and I had more fun than the soloists that night, God bless them. We had fun. It's powerful, man. Revel in it !
-John

[John Kavanagh]

Most of my professional playing is as a jazz bass player, and would I ever love to play jazz with a savvy pedal steel player like you guys. I bet the comping, combined maybe with an acoustic archtop, is too sweet for words.

Keep doing it!

[John Lacey]

Have a ball, Robert! I did a jazz gigs with some friends about 6 years ago in Calgary and it was a hoot. Some of the guys were players from my area which brought down the nervous factor and the rest were their friends from Calgary so it was one big happy family. It helps also to have knowledge of the Real Book and the standards so you feel comfortable with the idiom, but I'm sure you're already versed in that. Anyway, live it up!