Description

One of the great things about living in Nashville is that when I go to record a new project, I have access to some of the world’s best musicians. The pocket, the time, the groove, the pitch, the tone, the musical ideas and just their pure brilliance can never be overstated. And at times, I have the opportunity to ‘sit in’ with them and play. Without a doubt, one of the greatest ways you can improve as a player is by sitting in with musicians that are better than you. The bar is raised IMMEDIATELY! And oh my word, it is SO MUCH FUN!!!!

 

I was thinking about one of those times recently where I sat in and played with Tim Akers & The Smoking Section on the K-Love Cruise and it really was one of those truly amazing musical opportunities.

 

It got me to thinking….I bet other folks would LOVE to do the same thing. But you may not live in Nashville (or another city that has such a large pool of phenomenal musicians). So I’ve come up with a way for you to do a ‘virtual sit in’ with the guys that I am blessed to work with whenever I want.

 

 

I’d like to give you an opportunity to ‘Join the Band’ online. Awhile back, I created an arrangement of Just a Closer Walk With Thee in the Retro Hymns 2 collection from my Horns & Rhythm series. This arrangement was recorded with 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 2 saxes (alto and tenor) plus piano, electric guitar, bass and drums.

If you play ANY of those instruments, I have a way for you to now virtually sit-in with some of the best musicians in the world!

I have created 10 different audio mixes of the entire recording on my YouTube Channel. If you are a drummer, I have created a mix of the song with everybody EXCEPT DRUMS. If you are a keyboard player, I created a mix of the song with everybody EXCEPT KEYS (Fender Rhodes on this particular arrangement).

AND…if you’re a trumpet player (I love this part!), I created a mix for Trumpet 1 and a mix for Trumpet 2. So either you play the Trumpet 1 part and be ‘the LEAD’ or you play Trumpet 2 and play along with Steve Patrick playing lead.

Whether you play Alto Sax or Tenor Sax (or both), you can order both sax parts here and you’ll play the one part along with Mark Douthit playing the other part. Mark played both sax parts on the recording. And Mark is a beast!!!!!

All of the mixes are available for FREE on my YouTube Channel in the ‘Join the Band’ playlist. All you’ll need to do is purchase the part for your instrument and you’ll be able to immediately download a pdf of the sheet music. Then pull up the mix you want to play-a-long with on YouTube and BAM…YOU’RE IN THE BAND!

 

And Who Is the Band by the way? (This is the really fun part!)

If you know Tim Akers & The Smoking Section, then you know a lot of these guys. Here’s the band you can sit in with that played on this recording:

Trumpet 1 & 2 – Steve Patrick

Alto and Tenor Sax – Mark Douthit

Trombone 1 & 2 – Barry Green

Piano – Jim Gray

Electric Guitar – Mark Baldwin

Electric Bass – Gary Lunn

Drums – Tom Reeves

Yes…most of these guys are all ‘regulars’ in The Smoking Section!!!!

 

If you’re an alto OR tenor sax player, you can purchase both the alto and tenor sax parts by clicking ‘add to cart’.

Click here to see the list of all parts available

 

What are you waiting for?

JOIN THE BAND

 

Here’s the YouTube Playlist: