Two nights ago, I played a concert at the Hollywood Bowl featuring music from the soundtracks of Woody Allen’s films. Woody’s long-time music man, Dick Hyman, was on hand to conduct and play piano, and he brought along guitarist Howard Alden, the fantastic musician behind the Django Reinhardt-style guitar in the movie, Sweet and Lowdown, starring Sean Penn*. Sweet and Lowdown is one of my favorites especially since the main character is a jazz guitarist.
There was a lot of music played at the concert, actually 50 separate pieces! It was rehearsed in a total of 5 hours of which the second day’s rehearsals were at the Bowl in 100-degree temperatures. A group of freelance players, the Hollywood Jazz Orchestra, was assembled for the occasion and sounded great despite the heat.
Since Howard was the main guitarist for the show, I was there mainly as the rhythm guitarist for the Sweet and Lowdown portion. It was such a blast to play this style with a small group onstage at the Bowl. Dick Hyman played piano for most of this part, taking over for our exceptional local pianist, Brian Pezzone, who played when Dick was conducting. It was fun to see the look on Dick’s face as he was playing, enjoying every minute. Trey Henry on bass and Dick’s pal, Ted Sommers on drums, along with the two guitars rounded out the Django-style quintet.
What a fun way to spend a hot summer evening…
*When I originally saw Sweet and Lowdown I was impressed by how exceptionally well Sean Penn’s fingers moved in synch to his onscreen guitar solos. It turns out that Howard was also Sean’s guitar coach for the movie. He told me that Sean prepared so hard for his role in the film that in a relatively short amount of time he was actually able to play the first chorus of many of the solos pretty well, although it’s Howard’s playing that we hear in the movie. That’s really quite an accomplishment and I have a new respect for actors like Sean Penn who prepare so meticulously when approaching their roles.