Porchfest 2024

Hudson 5 Jazz Quintet

Musicians:

Geoff Mitchell - piano
Robert Burman - guitar
Nic DiLauro Trumpet
Andrew Skowronski - Tenor Saxophone
Stewart Gunyon - electric bass

Lady Bird (1939)

Lady Bird is a sixteen-bar jazz standard by Tadd Dameron. This "celebrated" composition, "one of the most performed in modern jazz", was written around 1939, and released in 1948.

Tadd Dameron was one of the most influential pianists and composers of the bebop jazz era spanning from the 1940s to 60s. 

Lady Bird is a very "happy" song, and one of my favorites - Stewart

Simone (1977)

Frank Foster (1928-2011)  (saxe, composer and arranger) wrote this tune. He was a mainstay in the Count Basie Orchestra during the 50s and 60s.Simone was written in 1977. It's our first of several tunes in 3/4.

Cheryl (1949)

Written by the great alto saxe player, bandleader and composer Charlie parker, Cheryl is a classic 12 bar bebop tune. Typical complex melody and rhythms! 

Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of  bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. He was a virtuoso and introduced revolutionary rhythmic and harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions.

Song 3 (2024)

Written by our very own Geoff Mitchell. Song 3 is a modal 3/4 tune.

Geoff has played piano most of his life, and some of us have had the honor of playing with him

for over 20 years.

Nica's Dream (1954)

"Nica's Dream" is a jazz standard composed by Horace Silver in 1954. It is one of many songs written in tribute to jazz patroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter.  The song was first recorded by the Jazz Messengers in 1956, and has since been recorded by many other artists. It features jazz melodic minor harmony with prominent minor-major 7th chords. Its first studio recording by Silver was on the Horace-Scope album.

Minor Threat (2024)

Another fun composition by Geoff Mitchell in A Minor in a 6/4 time signature!

Up Jumped Spring (1967)

Up Jumped Spring” is a tune written by the great trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. It’s a waltz with a beautiful melody and it’s a lot of fun to play! “Up Jumped Spring” is a fairly common jam session waltz so this is definitely a good one to know. This tune is most commonly played in the key of Bb major.

Sea Kayak repairs and upgrades

So it's 2024...I have owned my Impex Force Cat 5 since 2009. She is a solid boat and we have had a lot of fun together. I managed to develop a chronic heel injury last summer training for Bromont, and I have not run since January 1st. So my warm weather sport will pivot back to kayaking. That means repairs and upgrades for rhe old girl!

First, the skeg wire needs replacing. There are a handful of blogs out there from 10-25 years ago discussing this procedure.

I visited The Boathouse in Dorval, a sailing equipment store and purchased 2.5m of 1 x 19 Stainless 316 cable. Size was 3/32". The almost equivalent of the OEM of 3mm is 1/8", but I read that 1/8" is y fat and may have trouble travelling in the sheath.

Ordering this wire online is very expensive. Locally it cost me $2.75.

I removed the skeg with a rubber mallet and it popped out. I measured the wires together, and the replacement is notably thinner. At least that's how it looks. Hoping it works!

I got out my heat gun and applied it to the epoxy where the wire joins the skeg. Using a screwdriver I eventually removed the epoxy and original wire.

Then I backed the existing hole with duct tape.

Discussing this procedure with my friends at The Boathouse we agreed that G35 epoxy was the best choice. So I mixed a bit and applied it to the hole once I had slipped the wire in the top hole.

I also applied some G35 to the hole that the guide rod in the slider fits into. It has been annoyingly popping out...I'm not sure it's built that way! Hopefully that takes and my skeg toggle doesn't pull it out anymore.

 

Next day:

The G35 has set and I installed the wire and popped the skeg back on with my rubber mallet. I clipped a bit off the end of the wire at the toggle.

The glue on the rod held....I tightened the toiggle screw and my skeg is working like new!