Quoted:
The leader of a jazz band I play with always starts our gigs off with a blues.  He calls whatever key he feels like (usually Bb, G, Gb, F, Eb, Ab, Db or C) and pretty much everyone takes a ride.
Not yesterday afternoon.
He called “Blues in E” and counted it off.  Now, the key of E is pretty unusual, if not unheard of, in jazz.  It puts the trumpets and tenor saxes in the key of F#.  Alto and baritone saxes are in C#.  Few people are comfortable in those keys.  Certainly I’m not!
Instead of having lots of people wanting to solo, the guitar, bass, one trumpet and two pro-level sax players jumped in.  The rest of us plopped our horns on their stands and stayed out of it.
The audience had no idea what was going on, of course.  It was a damn short number.

Quoted:
The leader of a jazz band I play with always starts our gigs off with a blues. He calls whatever key he feels like (usually Bb, G, Gb, F, Eb, Ab, Db or C) and pretty much everyone takes a ride.
Not yesterday afternoon.
He called “Blues in E” and counted it off. Now, the key of E is pretty unusual, if not unheard of, in jazz. It puts the trumpets and tenor saxes in the key of F#. Alto and baritone saxes are in C#. Few people are comfortable in those keys. Certainly I’m not!
Instead of having lots of people wanting to solo, the guitar, bass, one trumpet and two pro-level sax players jumped in. The rest of us plopped our horns on their stands and stayed out of it.
The audience had no idea what was going on, of course. It was a damn short number.

Hmm....seems like we recently had a discussion over the merits of the ability to play by ear utilizing the understanding of chord structure. Would come in quite handy at times like these!