What about that first rehearsal with the Boacondas? The first memory I have is of returning to Perry and going to my girlfriend’s place, and describing to her how I’d played around with “Spain” during a break in the rehearsal. I was excited. I’d just met these guys. We’d played, I don’t know what. We were getting ready for some gig at a country club. So we were rehearsing “Blue Bayou” and shit like that. Then we took five. And I didn’t know anybody, and I was probably bored with the music, so I started dicking around with the chords to “Spain”.
I was used to rehearsal boredom, but I was also used to indifference from the band and from bystanders toward what I played on my own. But I started playing around with “Spain”, and Ed Cain started playing with me. He knew the tune. He was playing his fretless Fender bass, and it sounded great. G… F#… Em… A… D… G… C#… F#… B… He knew the chords. Ross started to drum with us. It sounded cool. It would have been normal to me if the bass player had been awed by my ability to play such a tune, completely ignorant of the song and simply watching as I went through the chords. Ed was not only not exactly awed, he and Ross were right there with me. I was flabbergasted.
I’d always been in bands that learned songs note-for-note. Each player learned his part and played it the same, all the time. Now, I was with dudes who were capable of playing. I was thunderstruck.
We played the gig at the country club that they’d called me for, and I can vaguely remember Ed Cain saying something like, “We should make a band out of this.” 🙂
Ed had been playing Spain and a lot more Chick Corea stuff for years at that time. I think he totally wore out our copy of Return to Forever. A very good memory, Paul. Thank you.
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Dallas?? You drunk???
yes but this is not from me…