Helsinki, Finland: 8 Dec, 2008 (TMT Winter Tour)

(TMT Here are a few photos from the Symphony show rehearsal in Helsinki Finland.







G.Wicks & Tallinn Philharmonic

























Adam Hawley















Steve Hass

















MD, Yaron Gershovsky (and some of my charts)












Janis Siegel & Yaron Gershovsky










Alan Paul, Cheryl Bentyne, Tim Hauser, Janis Siegel & Yaron Gershovsky.

The work side of the tour!

Here are a few photos that show the working side of touring with The Manhattan Transfer.







Musical Director, Yaron Gershovsky, conducting the symphony in rehearsal in Tallinn, Estonia. (Did the piano give the location away?)


















MD, Yaron Gershovsky, soundcheck in Copenhagen, Denmark; Tivoli Concert Hall!














My stage set up on the road. The dreaded Stick Bass, my trusty old Yamaha and two David Eden WT-800's!














The really cool looking stage in the Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark.













Drummer Steve Hass & Guitarist Adam Hawley soundchecking in Oslo, Norway.














Soundcheck in Stockholm, Sweden.






On deck of the Ferry ride from Denmark to Sweden. (Yes the North Sea is cold this time of year!)
l-r:
Drummer-Steve Hass;
TMT Crew Member Extraordinaire-Laurie Green;
Musical Director-Yaron Gershovsky;
& G.Wicks

Photos from the Road

Myself & a Royal Guard, Oslo, Norway

Statue in Park, Oslo, Norway

The Royal Palace, Oslo Norway

Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace in Oslo, Norway

Canals in Copenhagen, Denmark

Spices in the market place in the old city of Jerusalem...wish you could smell it!

Wailing Wall, Jerusalem

Priest inside of Rock of Agony Church

Wall of the old city in Jerusalem

Rock of Agony Church-Jerusalem, Israel

Panorama of Tallinn as seen from my hotel window.

Panorama of the Mediterranean Coast in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The Manhattan Transfer European Tour-Winter '08

The winter tour has been an interesting and exciting adventure so far! We started out in Milan, Italy, and as the pic to the left here might suggest, the Italian dining never disappoints! From there we ventured north to Scandinavia. We spent our time working from Oslo, Norway, to Copenhagen, Denmark to Stockholm, Sweden with many other cities in between. It was dark and cold and I fell victim to the dreaded common cold-a rough one. Luckily our bus driver is a licensed nurse and had lots of helpful pills!!
We just spent a few days in Tel Aviv, Israel and got a good dose of sunshine & hummus!! A quick day trip to Jerusalem led me to the Wailing Wall & other exciting parts of old Jerusalem including the Via Dolorosa! Now I am in Tallinn, Estonia where it is cold and dark again! Next up is Helsinki, Bratislava, Moscow & Samara, Russia. All the concerts have been great and well attended. The first Tel Aviv show was broadcast live on Israeli Radio! More to come soon! (Pics below...Me in Copenhagen; Jerusalem; Via Dolorosa sign)

Endorsements

Endorsements are a strange thing. You see actors & athletes on TV and in magazines endorsing all sorts of things from foods and drinks to shampoos and clothes to sporting goods. In the musical world, these are a bit harder to achieve and yet, I think, all the more useful and helpful to the working musician.

This month I penned and endorsement with David Eden bass amplifiers. I have used their amps since my Boston days with my old bands The Daddys and The Rockett Band!! Well, here I am a few years later with an endorsement from them. I am pretty psyched because I have really liked these amps for ages!

When touring alot, I am often at the mercy of what equipment is available. Some times this is fine, but often it is stressful and frustrating. Now that I am working with Eden, I look forward to a happier backline experience on the road!

Great Encounters On The Road

There are a lot of challenges to being on the road. Some of the challenges we learn to manage on the road are missing your loved ones, lack of sleep, inconsistent schedules, lack of personal practice time...etc. Of course you wouldn't do the traveling gig if the positive attributes didn't outweigh the somewhat negative. The theme of this blog is not that of complaints but that of gratefulness. One of my favorite experiences on the road is when I get to cross paths with other musicians-get to hear their stories and most of all get to hear them play. This summer I got to meet some great musicians and legends of the music world. In Finland I met Robert Cray. Yes you read that right; I met Robert Cray in Finland. Some other great artists that I encountered on the road are Dianne Reeves, Anita Baker, Jon Hendricks (of Lambert, Hendricks & Ross), Al Jarreau, Les McCann, and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Playing with Jon Hendricks was incredible! Man can he swing!! Hearing Dr. Lonnie Smith was also mind blowing!! He is still a force behind the Hammond B-3-not to mention the striking appearance of his flowing robes, stark white beard and turban. It goes without saying, but I will for the record, that all of these artists are backed by top notch musicians of such a high caliber. Sharing the stage with all of them is both humbling and inspiring.
(Photo l-r: TMT MD /Keys Yaron Gershovsky; TMT Guitarist Adam Hawley; Dr. Lonnie Smith; G.Wicks-@San Jose, CA Jazz Festival-8/08)

Shows in the Northeast

This last weekend I played a few shows in the Northeast with The Manhattan Transfer. We performed in Huntington, Long Island, NY Friday 9/12/08 at a cool not for profit arts theater called the IMAC. I love playing for New Yorkers. They always let you know exactly what they are thinking! It was a rainy night but we had a blast playing the first show of the run-and the first show in a month.
The next morning we headed out early for a drive up to Uncasville, CT. Anyone familiar with that town is then, no doubt familiar with one of the largest casinos ever. That's right, we were at the Mohegan Sun Casino Resort performing at the Cabaret Theater. We played Sat & Sun the 13th & 14th. My folks came down from upstate NY-The Capital Region-and were at both shows. For those who don't know, the bass playing does run in the family and, yes, that is a photo of my dad & I both playing. He took advantage of our soundcheck/rehearsal on the 14th and convinced the band to play a tune with him. I believe the newspaper headline read, "...And Fun Was Had By All..." It was great to have family at these weekend shows. It was a nice wrap up to a week of family time. I arrived at these shows fresh from celebrating my big bro's wedding (see Wandor Adventure Series Blog for more on that one). Well, I am off again for more travel and performing..... More to come soon!

The Manhattan Transfer

So this spring I got called to audition for the internationally renowned Grammy Award winning group, The Manhattan Transfer. I didn’t quite know what to think or expect. I went through the process of learning a few tunes and getting mentally prepared to be judged and dismissed-as can be the case in the awkward experience of auditions. I felt prepared and figured to just do my best and hope for the best.

When I left the audition I felt good about my playing. That is a rarity! Well, I figured I put my best foot forward and would be accepting of whatever the outcome would be. I was pleasantly surprised when the manager called me the very next day to offer me the gig!

It has been a good experience thus far. There has been a lot of music to learn and digest in a very short period of time! Not only that, but I am on the go non stop. I hit the ground running with my first performance being at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. So much for easing me into the gig! All went well on that first gig and I am now traveling all over with them.

The double duty of electric bass and upright bass on the gig is challenging physically and musically. One moment I am doing my best Jaco impression on Birdland and the next I am trying to sound like I belong in Count Basie’s band! As soon as I think I have that under my fingers, I am on to my best job of James Jamerson Motown to 50’s doo-wop rhythm section to Tin Pan Alley style 2 feel playing. The challenges also lie in trying to perform the music as accurately as possible from night to night. Once you think you have a slight grasp on that, don’t forget that I have usually about 10-20 seconds to switch axes before the next tune starts!!

Well, it has been keeping me on my toes and is a great exercise in mental focus. One of the best perks about the gig is the serious level of musicianship amongst this band. They are all serious players of the highest level.

Well, this is the latest update from the world of G.Wicks. More to come soon!!

The Beta News Blog!

Hello everyone!
Thanks for stopping by the news page of Gary Wicks dot com. I will be updating this page as often as possible. I will be primarily using this as a way to communicate to one and all about my travels while I am on tour. This is all new, so in order to sound tech savvy and impressive, let's call this the Beta News page!! You can also see that I am using a new calendar on my schedule page-let's also call that a Beta Appearances page.
Well, this is just meant to be a quick note to getthe page up and running. More to come soon!
Cheers,
G.Wicks