Cannonball + Musician in Terre Haute, IN

SEEKING

ABOUT

Trevor Reynolds here; 62yr. old “keyboard player” and when I say “keyboard” I mean Hammond B3 specifically. If you’re not familiar with the Hammond organ and/or what it can do for a band in the hands of a master, then you’re probably on the wrong post and should save yourself a rather lengthy read by simply moving-on to the next post.

I’m in Terre Haute and working on putting together a blues band, peppered with some tastefully chosen classic 70’s rock…think Govt. Mule. When I say “classic 70’s rock,” think…Allman Bros, Doors, Seger, Van Morrison, Santana, Dave Mason, ect…)

Only way to get with me is to pass a “video audition.” (e.g. make several youtubes and send me the links) I don’t care if you been playing 50yrs. and been in 200 bands and started playing when you were an embryo, you’re still going to need to “put-together” 3-5 videos of yourself playing along to a “smattering” (anywhere from 3 to 5… or whatever it takes for me to green-light you to move to phase II) of my cover tunes. If you’re serious, then you’ll want to make sure the videos are of good quality and sufficient length for me to get a good idea of you chops. If I like what I see/hear, you’ll hear back from me in a couple days. If you don’t hear back from me in a couple days, the reasonable conclusion to draw is that what you sent didn’t pass muster. I won’t contact you to let you know that though…no answer is your answer.

I don’t mind teaching the band “members” (Bass, drums, guitar) the tunes, but I don’t wish to teach anyone how to play…hopefully you know the difference.

If you chops aren’t in the same league as these guys:

www dot youtube dot com / watch ? v = 10gkUE5P8qQ&t=5733s

then save us both some time and don’t reach out to me, as that’s what I’m going to need to be motivated. I mean, I can play like that Hammond player, so why wouldn’t I expect as much for you on your respective instrument?

Before moving forward with you, I’ll need to be 100% convinced of 3 things and they are as follows:
1.That you are cool with all the provisions set forth in my
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2.That your chops are sufficient for the task at hand
3.That your tone is what I’m looking for

Sorry about the hoops to jump through, but my standards are high and I’ve been burnt more than once by mistakenly aligning myself with not-ready-for-prime-time-players. I didn’t walk 45 minutes to class both ways in snow and freezing cold to get a degree in Jazz/Commercial music, just so I could spend my time teaching a guitarist how to play a E7(b9) chord and/or a bassist how to walk bass and/or a “bam-bam” drummer how to play some decent fills. In other words, I’m interested in playing tennis with my equals, not being a tennis-instructor. The bar is high on this project and even though you won’t find any Mahavishnu Orchestra and/or Rush covers on the list, a high level of musicianship is still a prerequisite.

My resume is as follows (not boasting…just informing):
30+yrs. in the trenches as a professional keyboardist…that coupled to a Degree in Jazz/Commercial Music from Ball State University. I was also Gene Deer’s (one of Indiana’s premier blues-men, who sadly just recently passed-away at age 59, Hammond B3 player. During my tenure with him, I regularly played top blues clubs (e.g. Slippery Noodle in Indianapolis, IN) as well as headlined summer blues fest. We basically played anything and everything, as Gene didn’t have another job, so to keep the money rolling in, we played every weekend. Also, while I was a full-time student working on my jazz degree at BSU, I played 3-4 nights a week in a classic 70’s rock band in order to help put myself through school. Additionally, I can play and hour of Chopin’s Ballades and Nocturnes by memory, as well as 2-3 hrs of solo cocktail jazz piano…long story short, I’ve been at this a long time. I know what I’m doing and I’m good at it.

A bit more about me:
Although highly proficient on piano, with bands, I only play my Hammond B3/Leslie rig…reasons being: By the time I’ve wheeled my Leslie 122A (the size of a small refrigerator) into the club and then back out to the truck to get my Hammond, I’ve pretty much earned my money for the evening, w/o having to make another trip out for an additional keyboard and an amp. Also, the Hammond/Leslie is what brings-the-rock, as in that big unobtainable any other way sound. It’s what provides that ocean of sound for the guitarist to sail on. The digital Hammond clones are certainly easier on the back and do a fair job at getting close, but as any good carny-rat will tell you “close ain’t no cigar.” The digital stuff simply doesn’t “bring-it” like the real deal…trust me, I’ve had em’ all, even the dual manual Hammond XK3 set-up complete with stand and bench…after A/B to the real thing, couldn’t sell it quick enough. That’s why all the big-name national acts that can afford to still use the real thing. And no reason to reach for the Doan’s Backache pills either, as I have the logistics of moving it around down to a science, with a special cart that took me years of trial and error to develop. Most times I don’t even need assistance to get the ole gal up on stage and even when I do, no heavy lifting required, generally just a little push here and there to get up the ramp. I played every week-end for two years with Gene and never encountered a stage I couldn’t get on (granted the back stage at Slippery Noodle can be a bit of a pain, but they can just as easily put us on the front stage, which I like better anyway…more intimate.) My Hammond is actually a Hammond A102 chop-job…same exact guts as B3, but narrower cabinet…easier to get through doorways. And significantly lighter. It probably only weights about 250lbs., whereas a Hammond B3 tips the scales at closer to 400lbs…mine is the ultimate B3 gig-rig. And my Leslie 122A is one of the new ones, not the old under-powered 122’s, with the fragile upper driver, that would frequently blow…my 122A will rip yer head off and drips in lushes’ tone…maybe I’ll get a digital clone eventually, if gigging with the Hammond gets to be to hard…so no worries there…but for now, while I’m still able, it’s B3 all the way.

You’ll need you to be “cool-with” all the following provisos:
1.Both recognize and defer to me, as the uncontested
musical director of this project. I’m always willing to listen
to and considering other band member’s input, but I still
have “final-say” in all aspects of the music (e.g.
arrangements, keys, song choices, etc…) not because I’m
a tyrant, but rather because, I’m the one with the degree
in Jazz/Commercial Music and I’m the one who spent
years explicating these tunes, so I could show them to the
band and thus, give us a “killer” act in a relatively short
amount of time. Not to mention that I’m the one
schlepping a Hammond/Leslie combo around, just so the
band can have that big, unobtainable any other way
sound...can’t live with that?...goodbye…have a nice day.

2.Have the time for this project. To have that kind of time,
you’re probably going to need to be an old retired dude,
like me. Guitarist…I don’t care if you’re Eric Clapton
and/or Warren Haynes, this project is still going to require
a significant time investment, as I’ll need you to get all
signature riffs pretty much “spot-on.” Come “impov-time”
handcuffs can come off. There’s quite a few guitar
“themes” (I would call them) that I’ll need you to play
“spot-on” as well. Drummer and bassist…your parts will
need to be pretty much indistinguishable from the
recording. I actually have about 25 of the bass lines
transcribed note-for-note that I could relinquish to the right
bassist. In my view, having said transcriptions could serve
to greatly expedite getting yourself up to speed on the
material. Moreover, I even have several of the guitar
themes transcribed as well.

3. must already be a top pro. Blues/classic 70’s rock
player…with lots of gigging under your belt.

4. must be willing to park whatever musical agenda you
might be packing, to learn my 30 cover tunes. And when I
say “learn” I mean wood-shed-your- arse-off on ‘em, to
get all the grooves, intros/outros, ect…pretty much spot-
on. I’m not on trial here, so I don’t need to defend these
tunes and/or myself for playing them. Suffice it to say that
they are what work for me and how I play the Hammond
organ. I know over 300 cover tunes, but I want everyone
tight on these 30 for now. Maybe in a couple years we
can discuss adding some new ones. But if and when we
do, it’ll be at my behest and approval.

5. Not be a drunk and/or druggie…want to nurse a beer at a
gig?... fine by me …I’m not the beer-police, but
rehearsals are dry, because I value my time.

6. No “guns for hire.” You must be willing to make this your
“one-and-only” project...2 things I really don’t care for are
as follows:
a. Attempting to book a band, only to find out that one
of the players has that date already spoken-for with
one of the three other bands they’re playing in.
And/or they can’t play that date cause they have to
get litl Timmy to swim practice.
b. Giving someone all my hard-earned material only for
them to use it in another band.

7. Once we have the 30 tunes presentable and reasonable
tight, be ready willing and able to play as many gigs, as I
or anyone else can put on the table, even if it means
playing most every weekend. I’m 62yrs. old, so I’m not
saying I would even want to play every weekend…what
I’m saying is that I need to know that, if I’m going to invest
my time into putting this together, everyone will gig when
the time comes.

I can and will make exceptions, but my preference is to gig not more than a 2hr. drive from Terre Haute. Anything I book will pay each member at least a $100 a night. Another reason I’m trying to keep this a quartet is that, at least in my experience, it’s hard to consistently get that amount for everyone, as a quintet. And I’d rather gig more often than not so often. I tried my best to pick songs that don’t require Tom Jones pipes. But someone(s) still going to need to cowboy–up and do some singing. The reason I don’t contribute much vocally, other than chiming-in on harmonies is because, what with, grabbing fists full of drawbars, playing a dual manual Hammond organ and ramping the Leslie up/down, I’m a busy man making the music happen. If it turns out that, even after giving it the ole’ college try, the vocals still are just not cutting-it, for whatever reason, then maybe we can talk about bringing-on a lead singer. But, be it known, even if we do, my minimum is still a $100 per gig. I don’t really need the money and don’t really do this for the money, but I’m still worth that and playing a gig is a fair amount of work, driving and time.

Should you pass the video audition and find yourself in position to move to phase-II, the time-line will be as follows:
1. I’ll email you a set of 10 songs. You’ll then have 2 weeks
to get yourself up-to-snuff enough on them for rehearsal.
Then we’ll have a rehearsal and run through them. We’ll
continue in that fashion for the 2nd and 3rd sets…and
then a final rehearsal, where we’ll run through the entire
set-list…after that, it’s gig-time.

In addition to picking-up whatever “local” (Terre Haute and surrounding area) watering-holes we can, I’m also looking to target this act toward the following:
1. “local” summer blues fest
2. Being a band that regularly plays The Slippery Noodle in
Indianapolis and maybe even Stevie Rays in Louisville.
Structurally, unless I indicate differently, we’ll play the
songs exactly like the recording, so there will never be a
time where anyone has to look around the stage, like a
deer in head-lights, for cues, as to what is next, (e.g.
verse, solo, chorus, etc…) Everyone will know what is
next, because they will have taken the time to make a
structure-chart of each song.

There are some short videos of me “steppin’-out” a bit on my Facebook page, from back when I was with Gene. And if you do a youtube search of Trevor Reynolds Band, there’s probably some old videos still floating around there…audio isn’t great on those, but you’ll get the idear.

The recording here are of The Trevor Reynolds Band. I was the catalyst for that band. I showed everyone the songs and put it all together. These were recorded after 3 rehearsals at our 3rd gig...note* only one guitar here, so should give you an idea of the power of the Hammond in the the hands of a top pro...looking forward to those audition-videos...and may the odds be ever in your favor.

non-members can reach me at:

[email protected]

Sincerely,
Trevor

Screen name:

Cannonball

Member since:

Nov 21 2023

Active within 24 hours

Level of commitment:

Very Committed

Years playing music:

30

Gigs played:

Over 100

Tend to practice:

More than 3 times per week

Available to gig:

2-3 nights a week

Most available:

Days

Instrument experience:

Keyboard:

Expert

MUSIC