Typical Day
Reed Filliner starts his day by catching the red-eye at 6:00AM on the way to Georgia, where a session is set up for a famous rock star, Otto Matapia. Otto wants to lay down a couple of tracks for his new solo album while he's out on tour with his band.
Reed has been told this will be a departure from Otto's usual metal sound. Instead of epic guitar solos, Otto's going to emphasize horns, woodwinds, and "kind of a salsa feel, if you get me!" At least that's how Otto put it.
While Reed doesn't have tons of experience playing salsa music, and doesn't know Otto, he isn't worried about fitting in. He's a great sight-reader, and he listened to some classic salsa tracks the night before to get him in the groove.
Reed's happy for the work but not thrilled about schlepping to Savannah. The artist he's recording with is a big name, but it's not like the time he got to play sax and clarinet on Etta James' album. That was the pinnacle moment for him, getting to play with one of his absolute idols. He also got to play on a track that ended up getting mixed on Eric Clapton and BB King's album, but he never even got to meet them— though he sure wishes that he had.
Reed got the call for the job just a couple of days ago from a producer who's also a good friend of his: Tim Pany, a drummer whom Reed met a month ago while working on a jazz album. Reed likes Tim and is looking forward to hanging out with him after work when he gets there. Maybe they can hit some of the Savannah jazz clubs and do some jamming for fun later on.
Reed boards the plane, takes his seat in the back, shuts the plane window, and snoozes the flight away.
At 9:30AM, Reed lands in Savannah, Georgia. He has only thirty minutes to make it from the airport to the studio session. No time for jetlag—Reed splashes some cold water on his face in the airport, rents a car, and hightails it with his horn to the gig.
At exactly 10:00AM, Reed walks in the door, and takes his seat in the brass section with the other horns. He's glad he made it on time—he can't even count the number of times his pay has been docked because he was late. Some producers will jump down your throat if you're even a minute behind schedule.
Reed recognizes a few of the guys from other gigs and, of course, Tim who gives him a weird high five/handshake combo just as Otto walks in. Time to get to work.
Otto says a quick hi to the band and hands out music to everyone. He tells everyone the sound that he's looking for by singing a few bars of a song they've never heard of. It takes a minute before everyone realizes that he wants them to start playing immediately, and pick it up.
Otto's not the singer in his band, and now Reed knows why. The guy sounds like a bunch of whales with food poisoning. The guys in the band take no notice, though; they don't have to like the job to do it well.
The Latin beat definitely clashes with this guy's off-key, rocker style. He's no Tito Puente. The song won't win any Grammies, but at least the pay is good.
The session goes on for over four hours, in which they record two songs that Otto is satisfied with, and another two he seems to hate.
Otto is not a quiet guy. When he doesn't like something, he tells you. Luckily, Reed checked his ego at the door and isn't sensitive to criticism at all. He can't afford to be. Besides, he's secure enough in his playing to know that it's really got nothing to do with his ability—it's just about delivering what Otto wants.
At 2:15PM, everyone takes a break. Reed fields a call from his agent, who wants to book him a commercial jingle if he can get home and be in a studio in New York at 9:00AM tomorrow. It'll be tight, but the money is good and Reed really could use the cash. He says yes. That means no late-night partying tonight with Tim and the rest of the gang. Oh, well. They can always hang out at lunch.
Tim and Reed grab some southern hospitality, munching on the buffet of chicken, gravy, biscuits, greens, and mac 'n' cheese that Otto has had prepared for everyone. It's the best perk of the job by far, though they have to be careful not to overeat. Reed doesn't want to blow chunks of cornbread from his sax during his solo.
At 3:00PM, everyone's done chowing down and is ready to get back to business. They work hard until 8:00PM, when Otto has to go onstage to the concert he's giving. He offers the musicians backstage passes to the show where they can enjoy the music, chill with the groupies, and hang out afterwards. Reed would love to take advantage of the offer, but he's got to jam over to the airport, turn in his rental car, and get on a plane back home so he can make his next gig.
It's a close call, but Reed makes the plane. He's exhausted, and he doesn't make it home until after 2:00AM. He'll get exactly six hours of sleep before he has to run to the commercial gig in the morning.
Maybe it'll be for something cool this time instead of the adult diapers tune he's had stuck in his head for the past month.