Tough show tonight, but fun to play because of all the sightreading. The act was a piano player with some decent classical chops who had orchestrated the entire show himself. It was a good workout, and probably the most challenging music I've played on the show to date.
The only issue, though, was that the charts had a serious case of pianist-turned-composer-syndrome. That's when pianists forget that they're writing for wind players and neglect to put those wonderful little things called "rests" in the music. The show closes with back to back medleys, both of the 6+ pages long, and the last three pages of both charts are written straight through for the whole horn section. Normally there would be at least eight bars where the lead lays out and the second trumpet covers his bit so that he can play the obligatory high notes at the end (meaning that the 2nd player is screwed, but that's okay because that's what we're there for), but not in these charts.
On the second show, Rob couldn't hit the last few notes because he was spent. Even on a good day it would have been a stretch, and it wasn't a good day. The headliner gave him some crap about it afterward and things got a little frigid.
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