Bop Til You Drop!

*** Dec 26th-27th *** Click a thumb below:

2 cute	2 guys from gonzales	alex returns from boston	all in the family	bloggin
check this out	concertmaster	conducting the train	gabe waits as clara blows	hot clubbin
ironman gabe burns on	jammin in the wee small hours	late night audience, holding tight	michael blowin hot & cool	only 18 hours to go
robert swing, sings, and clara bows	rotary blooz left	rotary blooz right	scott brown's band	gabe waits as clara blows
the gang	the sun comes up, the band plays on	there it is!	who stole the blanket?

*** Dec 26th-27th *** Click a movie clip below:

alex goes sideways with metronome

late nite jammin

Here we go!!!

On our way to 25 with 20 players... 4 horns, 3 bass, cello 2 violin 2 piano 6 guitar 2 drummers, conga... blues, A Train, Song for my Father so far. Everybody sounds good so far, I hope the energy can sustain us through the wee hours.

One hour down... twenty-four to go.

Matt Hannas: jazzmasters is great we play all different kinds of music from of course jazz all the way to pop. tonight we have everyone here for "bop till you drop." it's the best thing ever we start at 7pm Wednesday and go till 8pm the next day 25 flippin hours of flippin JAZZ!!!!!
get to your drummin. . . matt

Steven Jacobs: A lot of good sounds and it's only 9:00 pm. Some new instruments showin up... young talent, some polished, some polishin'.

YOWZA!!! these guys are cookin (with gas - har) no really, good sounds comin out now, we'll see how they sound later, in the wee small hours/ bye now, - Pamela Forman (aka PintoPammy)

As always a really fine job. You guys rock for kids playing jazz. Well have a jazzy time- Kathleen Ferrall.

The music has progressed around here. The music sounds wonderful. Keep it going and follow your dreams as musicians. Janet Ferrall

Bruce Forman: We are at 21/2 hours and just started the second blues... ok... at that rate at the end we'll have a dozen or so... the year end blooz... silent auction is kinda silent night at this point but 22 and a half to go...

Clara Rosenberg: We've made it to 9:30. Every song and solo has been great. It's kind of like having a twenty-five hour jazz concert. I wonder if anybody's going to be either listening or playing all twenty-five hours.

Clara Rosenberg: About 10pm. The number of players is getting lower and lower. It's amazing how many people don't want to play late at night. I mean, how many times in a year do you get to play jazz anytime you want to within a 25 hour limit?

JR de Vera: 10:30 pm... Great blend of Jazzmasters graduates and young blood. The music is grooving with loads of hot solos. Wish you were all here to feed your souls with these tasty tunes.

Matt Hannas (10:30pm wed.night)
its been great I played drums and now we have to be quiet!!! because the neighbors may get annoyed with our loud playing. a number of people have gone home and now we are only allowed to play acoustic guitars. . . NO DRUMS!!! anyway see you guys tomorrow.
(Bruce Forman: hey matt... soft drums are ok, they have this thing called brushes)

Clara Rosenberg: Almost 11. Very late. Only a few people left playing.

Bruce Forman: Everybody's (all 7 of 'em) hanging with the metronome, reality check as the calendar page is about to turn over. Steady as she goes...

Noah Freedman: I'm sure Bruce gave us one of them trick metronomes. seems to only play the right beat for him.

Alex Govan: I guess they only sell broken metronomes in California... who knew?

Bruce Forman: next time they'll be blaming the batteries... don't they woodshed on the east coast? it's 12:40 only 19 hours and 20 minutes to go... piece of cake.

Gabe de Vera: The F blues lasted one hour! At least we got the timing down.

Bruce Forman: gotta tell ya, music is sounding better than years past, but the blogging thing is a bit cold... if I had my druthers, I'd take the swingin any day.

Herb Eggleston: so what when energy runs low I go for a habanero /avocado sandwich. This way energy runs beautifully again and hopefully a few more neurons will light up the ole memory banks of the ohio. in the kind while so what is sounding a little loopy with some interesting silences in between the familiar enough changes...

Bruce Forman: It's 3:45... made it more than a third of the way, the music is still pumping, these ironmen + woman are inspiring! 6 of them!

JR de Vera... Close to 5:30 am and the ole farts: Herb, Hank, Steve, JR sprinkled with few of the still awake teens: Gabe, Britney, Michael all dug in and jammed thru the wee hours. Hot bass player:_________ showed up around 4am and raised the level of playing. Lots of trading 4s and stretching tunes to about half hour each. Everyone is just so soulful and are really enjoying our language, art, and each other... Some tunes we played: Blue Bossa, All of Me, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, So What, Manha de Carnivale, and Killah Jo. Right now a cool trio with Michael W. Bruce on keys, and the hot bass player in a Mellow Tune.

Alannah Rosenberg: Clara brought me in about 5:00 . . . at least it's two hours later than last year. It's early morning, but they're doing "How High the Moon." Bruce's wife brought his dog & a blanket so he can get some sleep, and has joined the bass, trumpet and keyboard with her melodica - then gives us a lovely vocal.

Michael Weissman: It's now 6 and I tried to get some shut eye, but to no avail. Between the lack of sleep, playing, and writing college app essays, you might as well Take All Of Me, which I happen to hear in the background.

Clara Rosenberg: Some people are sleeping on the sofas. I guess that they were the bunch that was up at 2 in the morning. Only a few people left playing, but they produce a wonderful sound. There's melodica, bass, guitar, violin, and I'm about to get back to piano. It's about 6:35. Only 13 hours and 25 minutes to go.

Herb Eggleston: Always love to lose sleep and gain music a fair way to live soundful and restful with beauty vibes frequently caressing the soulful air. music is the food of love and these players are serving up a heavenly banquet of soulfood.

Susan Brown: 6:40 a.m. and arrived to find a bunch of nappy peeps sprawled about the three coveted couches. Clara is jamming on the keyboard with that "Snoopy Theme Song" that I could never play... that darn syncopated left hand! It's truly inspiring to hear someone so young with so much talent. Noah just left to go work on college apps. These seniors are so crunched for time, it's a wonder they could be here at all. Michael is snoozing next to a very awake Mikie on the couch in back... draped my cow patterned blankie on top of him and tucked him in for some much needed winks.
Breakfast is here: OJ, granny smith apples, yogurt, lemon cake, raisin bread and oh, of course... floss!

Clara Rosenberg: We are officially half-way done with it. Only half to go. It seems like we have been playing forever! It's hard to believe that we have about twelve hours to go. How many times do we have to play the blues with only three or four people? I wonder how long this one will last. I hope its not for too long. There's other songs we have to play, other instruments to play besides the two that are playing right now. I think we're just playing for fun now. Over half of the audience is asleep. I hope they don't sleep right through a couple of the best songs. Oh, and also, people need to start getting involved in the silent auction. We only have less that half of Bop Till You Drop left, and there are still a couple items that only have three bids! It's finally a good time for people to wake up and do something, but I don't see the people here getting up. I wonder if we're allowed to wake them up with loud drums...

Susan Brown: 8:29 a.m. ... heard after he sang beautiful rendition of "My One and Only Love", Lee commented ..."I think this has got to be the earliest that I've even tried to talk!" Robert arrived with 3, count 'em, 3 guitar cases! Michael Weissman is trying to wake up enough to drive home, having stayed awake all night, minus one hour's snooze this morning. A productive evening, 2.5 college apps complete! Way to go Michael! Pammy is belting out, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" and I'm going home to slop the hogs, will return for Kenny at 2. Thanks for the mocha latte Amanda! And don't forget to floss y'all!
Clara Rosenberg: People are beginning to do the silent auction. And more and more people are starting to play. Before, it was few, and now it is many. The number of players is growing slowly but steadily. I think that more people are playing is that more people are awake. It's hard to believe that it is already almost 8:45 in the morning. We have about 11 hours and 15 minutes to go. I never really realized how long this felt compared to how long it really is. It seems like it is 50 hours. But even though it seems like longer, it is definitely not boring. It's fun! And we don't have to leave to get food, because we can just go upstairs to the café. There's apple juice, OJ, doughnuts, licorice, bananas, and who knows what else! We can just grab something, eat it quick, and come right back down! I love it!

Clara Rosenberg: There is nothing else that can say these words except for this:
BOP TILL YOU DROP IS AWESOME!

Bruce Forman: Robert Patterson came by around 9 and sang and swung us into the day. I got to do some radio time on Magic 63 thanks to Lee Durley, talked with Mike Cleary what a help. Too bad if you are missing this... not for the faint of heart though!

Brittny Sattler: well about 3 of us crashed between 5 and 6am, but now were back to playing and sounding good! its 9:45 and were working on G blues and everyone is getting back in the groove of things for another day of jamming in sunny (today) Carmel.

Matt Hannas: I am back and it is about 10a.m. everyone is back in the groove of the music its GREAT!!! I got to play and it's a nice bright sunny day!!!

Alan Rosenberg: Bruce did an interview with the Salinas NBC-TV affiliate just before Bop started. It aired on the 11 PM newscast and was available on the station website for viewing over the Internet. Don't think he has seen it yet. He explains JazzMasters perfectly.

Thomas Anderson: Almost 11 AM and Bruce has still got a core group grooving. Santana- not bad for an 11AM groove!

Matt Hannas: I've been hanging out and playing drums. its fun. we played a Santana song which was fun it had an awesome groove. now it is about 12:00 pm and we are playing some fast blues. I am trying not to fall asleep as I type here because I didn't get picked up to go home till 11:30 pm last night. I'm sitting here and it sounds like they are playing blues with a "Santa clause is coming to town" mixed in with the groove. It's awesome. . .

(11:40a.m. Thursday)

Clara Rosenberg: Although I like to play drums, I can't do it for a long time because if you keep hitting drums and cymbals, your arm gets tired. Good thing we have more than one person who is willing to play the drums!

Matt Hannas: WAZZUP!!!! I totally think we should have dueling drums it would be awesome. . . TOTALLY!!!!!!!!!!

Jacob Braccio: 1:15 It's concert time!!! Jazz flute and organ with a drummer and a guitar player being joined by congas and saxophone. Man they are really swingin!! Only a couple of the all-nig

Bruce Forman: Scott Brown's band in for a set w/ Kenny Stahl, Andy Weis, Steve Ezzo and some JMW crew sitting in. Swingin... only about 6 and a half to go. Man this year has flown by, music has been even better than last year.

Brittny Sattler: now we have three tenor players and people are starting to switch instruments more. Bruce is playing a nice solo to maiden voyage on keyboard and Chris and Ben are playing tenor (and Ben is playing with the drums), along with Ben A. On congas, Jacob on bass, Noah on violin, Gabe also on keyboard, and Matt kickin it on the drums. They have a nice groove going on. Only 4 hours and 45 minutes left. Its going to be a great end to a year!!

Matt Hannas: this is awesome I got to drum and I did a really cool solo it was totally awesome. I need some time to practice my latin beats because I am not very good at playing them... Andy Weis was totally awesome he would be someone I would like to take lessons from... YEAH!!!!!

Chris Lopez: So this is year number two for me. It has been a very fun time here. I didn't stay over night. I figured if you did it once you get your tag for having done it. Anyway, it was nice hearing everyone and just keep keep bopping and try not to drop!

Bruce Forman: Now begins the traditional blues time around 5 it'll take us to Paris in the 20s then the final jam-a-rama. I can smell the finish line, can't wait to hear it.

Matt Hannas: now the blues has started and its rockin it all the way home... unfortunately I don't get play drums... boohoo!!! L this is great usually the finale is the best part but this is great.
KEEP ON DRUMMING and BOPPING till you DROP!!!!!

OK = Pintopammy here again - its 5:30 and I'm back, my third time here, must admit I went home at noon to "walk the dogs" ha-it was really for a nap! anyway, had fun playing with Clare this morning (AT 5 AM) on my melodica, and singing-looking forward to hearing some great music these last few hours - made my contribution to the program - DID YOU?????

were down to the final string with only 2 hours left in this marathon. the string quartet is jamming and michael just stepped up to the plate to add his notes to the mix. I think everyones energy is building as we make our way to the final hour of this amazing 25 hours of jazz, fun and everything in between.

Dennis Murphy: Holy Cow! These kids are great! So are you, Bruce. Hey . . . Why do gorillas have big nostrils? . . . Because they have big fingers!

Matt Hannas: I know I gripe about not getting on drums a lot, but listening to every one else while I wait is fantastic. Little Clara on the violin, Bruce giving it his all on his cool sounding guitar, Mike Mckinley doing a little brush work on the kit, Michael Weissman giving us some sweet melody on that horn, Brittney doing that saxxy thing she does so well, Gabe still playing the keyboards with fingers lightly caressing the notes, cello, guitars, bass, all making the most wonderful music. There's nothing like playing and listening to artists who do more than play, they feel it, it is them, it is what makes them who they are. So many gifted people, I can not thank them enough for sharing their gifts with me. I feel blessed and honored to be in their company.

Scott Brown----THANK YOU BRUCE FORMAN FOR LETTING ME BE A PART OF JAZZ MASTERS FOR THE LAST 4 YEARS. TEACHING THOSE LITTLE RATS DOWN IN BIG SUR HAS ENRICHED MY LIFE AND HOPEFULLY THEIRS TOO! MONDAY NIGHTS ARE SOMETIMES A CHALLENGE FOR ME, BUT I LOVE CHALLENGES! LET THE MUSIC CONTINUE AND LET'S KEEP OUR CHILDREN GROWING MUSICALLY. THANKS P.S. HI ANNA AND GRACE IN NEW ZEALAND. WE MISS YOU!

Bruce Forman: My thanks to all, we are nearing the end... so bittersweet. Who'd have known eight years ago that we'd be here now, all these great folks, kids who have gone on to great things and keep coming back to help out with the next group. To my wife and the fantastic group of mentors and my main man Mike, my enduring gratitude, I couldn't have done it without you

Noah: We're now starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Only 18 minutes left, and on the 4th annual bop-till-you-drop, we're nearing 100 hours of total jamming. Just finished summertime, and now we're taking it out on a blues.

Clara Rosenberg: We did it! 25 hours of jazz! WE MADE IT ALL THE WAY THROUGH!!! 100 hours of Bop till You Drop jazz accomplished. WE DID IT!!!

Matt Hannas: (8:00pm) "stick a fork in us were done" our 25 hours are complete with music in our hearts only to wait in joy for the next BTYD!!!!!

Clara Rosenberg: I can't believe we made it. (Sorry, I just had to have the last word in the blog.)

Bruce Forman: Sorry Clara, see you in my dreams... or drums

Chow everybody!