Saxophonist and composer Willow Neilson shows us how he spent the last hours of 2009

09:00

I wake up and open the curtains to let the sun in and open the bedroom door to let in my two little Yorkshire terriers. They jump on the bed, excited for petting, but soon settle down to lie in the sun.

09:25

Shower, then breakfast– Carman’s muesli and yogurt and an almond milk, banana, blueberries, bee pollen, “dirty” honey, spirulina and protein powder smoothie. Bee pollen is really energizing, and I keep hoping that the protein powder will one day give me big muscles (I’m doubtful).

10:00

Jump on my electric scooter to go to mixed martial arts class at Sai Rui MMA club, a straight shot down Panyu Lu and then Wuzhong Lu. As the wind bites through my clothes, I wish I had worn thermals. I weave through Shanghai’s traffic chaos, beeping my horn and yelling at dawdling cyclists.

10:30

Arrive at class. Today we are focusing on jiu-jitsu conditioning and techniques, some judo takedowns and transitions between two types of arm bars, a method of breaking a person’s arms at the elbow joint (don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to ever have to do that to someone). I have a lot more to learn, although the teachers are encouraging about my progress.

12:30

Weave through the traffic back home. 13:00 Arrive home, shower and have a sandwich for lunch as I listen to the music I have been making for my friend Tao Wright’s short film. It’s a comedy chase sequence. I use a lot of fast drums and percussion and comedic sounds. It still needs more, I just have to find some more comedic sounding samples to match the film–it’s really challenging making music suit visuals. I decide to leave this one for today. I feel like making music , not searching for sounds.

13:15

Watch some Big Bang Theory on Youku. Corny American sitcoms are my guilty pleasure. I rationalize to myself that at least the writing is good.

13:30

Tongue, finger and breathing exercises, my daily warm up drills on the saxophone to keep myself in musical shape. Jazz calisthenics.

14:30

Sit in front of the laptop, midi keyboard attached, to start fine tuning the compositions for my new album recording in February. I email people in Lijiang about my upcoming visit to record ethnic minority folk musicians. I have been arranging their songs for my jazz group. Two arrangements from recordings from my first trip will be included on my next album as a “teaser” for this project. I hope other people will hear the soul in these people’s music as much as I do.

16:00

Get on my bike for tonight’s gig’s soundcheck. More traffic chaos.

16:30

Arrive at soundcheck. I should have been late, but the sound guys are not ready in time, as usual. I make sure to reassure the client that everything will sound great after testing all the mics and lead connections. I help pianist Sean Higgins put his keyboard and amplifier on his bike. He is up there with Chinese guys for carrying incredible loads on scooters.

17:30

Back home on the bike.

18:00

Take the dogs out to Huashan park, the best park in Puxi, as it allows dogs and you can walk on the grass. It’s a bit late for the usual, large, midday group of mothers and their cute children who love the xiao gou gou.

18:30

Back home, relax, save energy–it’s NYE, after all. 19:30 Dinner at Southern Barbarian. Their food is awesome. Got a bit of a Yunnan fetish going on lately.

21:30

Off to the gig, glad I have a scooter so I don’t have to sit in the NYE traffic jams.

22:00

Performing a duo gig for the new owners of apartments in the Baccarat residencies in Xintiandi with Sean. He’s such a good player, one of the many great musicians in Shanghai.

00:00

Happy New Year! We play Auld Lang Syne as people drunkenly sing along and fireworks explode over Xintiandi. Another year–what’s in store?

What We Think
The last we’ve heard of Willow, he was wandering around villages near Xishuangbanna in search of good ethnic minority folk singers that he’d heard about . We can’t wait to hear what t hose sound s combined with jazz will sound like. Let Willow know what you think of his day.