Category: Personal

the whole thing

I usually try to stay away from political subjects in my blogging. There are plenty of good political blogs, and better politically blogging musicians, but I have to weigh in on Obama’s recent speech on race and America. I think it is important that we all hear the entire speech. Don’t trust some other party to give you the cliff’s notes version of the good stuff. Invest the 38 minutes and listen to the whole thing.

New Orleans scene is gaining momentum

As New Orleans continues to rebuild and regain itself, the out/creative/free jazz/whatever scene is starting to get some traction. Andy Durta (Scatterjazz) has started booking ir-regular Sunday nights at the Hi-Ho Lounge on St Claude, and the last couple have been great, including last Sunday’s Neslort performance. The Saturn Bar has also opened up to some more adventurous music, which I believe might also have something to do with Andy. Rob Cambre’s AnxSnd is as vibrant as ever. McKeown’s Books has been hosting more performances, and the Open Ears Series has been having good audiences and music. I especially dug the Jimbo Walsh Quartet last week.

It is feeling like a good time to be creative in New Orleans.

Kids are the best critics

This morning I was practicing for an orchestral bass trombone audition. Several of the excerpts are pretty loud. Whenever I would get to one of those, my 2 year old daughter would come in and say, “too loud!”

I’m not sure if that means I am achieving my goal of a real rich beautiful fortissimo, or if it means that I am being an insensitive bonehead. Let’s hope for the former.

Lucky 7s in Cadence year end list

One of the cool things about the way Cadence does their year end lists, is that they print each of their writer’s lists. This is nice, in that as you get to know the tastes of the writers, you have some idea about how to weight each one’s list for your own use.

The Lucky 7s CD, Farragut, made the top of Grego Edwards’ list for 2007. Even though the CD came out in late 2006, it was reviewed in Cadence in 2007, so it qualified for the 2007 lists. It’s nice to still be on someone’s mind so many months later. We’re in pretty good company too, other people on Grego’s list include Roscoe Mitchell, Peter Kowald, and Steve Swell.

If this piece of information inspires you to pick up a copy, that’s fine with me. 😉

Disney & record stores

This week, my family and I fled Mardi Gras and went to Disney World. It was quite ironic that at least once each day I still had to try to figure out a way to get where I wanted to go while a parade blocked my path.

I can’t remember that last time I went into a record store and bought recorded music. Probably a little over a year ago in Chicago. There are no more record stores in my city. A few small ones, but no one that carries any sizable chunk of stuff I dig. Tonight I took my stepson into the Virgin Megastore in Downtown Disney. He really just wanted to play the X Box demos, so I went off to search out the jazz section. I finally found it tucked back in the corner. It was even harder to find any new releases. There was classic Trane and Miles all over the place, but hardly anything new. I was relieved when I saw the display with the new Diana Krall and Chris Botti CDs, at least then I knew that they could get new releases. I did pick up Larry Young “Unity”, and Jackie McClean “Jackie’s Bag” for $8 each. The world/latin/electronica section was noticeably larger than the jazz/vocals/classical section. Vive la internet!

Classic and rock

Last night was one of those special nights when I get to take part in two completely inspiring and seemingly opposite musical experiences.

The first performance was Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. I must admit that I have previously dismissed much of the classical period repertoire as “good, but not all that interesting to me.” I guess it was due to combinations of being a trombone player that is into jazz and new music, and just being foolish. Anyway, the bass trombone part to The Creation is pretty involved, so I spent a good bit of time with the piece before we got into rehearsals this week. That, combined with the spirit and joy that Carlos brings to this piece have really made it come alive for me.

After the LPO concert, I headed to dba to play with one of my longest tenured musical friends, Clint Maedgen. Clint and I went to high school together, and have started playing together again recently and it has been a blast. Clint does a wide variety of things, but the show last night consisted of one set of Clint’s tunes, and a set of Beatles tunes. It was a real gas.

It’s funny how two seemingly different musical worlds can get you to the same beautiful place.

Poetry Picks: Best Poetry CDs of 2007

Poetry Picks: Best Poetry CDs of 2007

Tonight I saw Mark Bingham at the Hi Ho Lounge (for the AnxSnd Holiday blow out show) and he mentioned that an Ed Sanders CD that he produced (and I played on a few tracks of) was listed as the top poetry CD of 2007 on About.com. I thought that was interesting, then he mentioned that a Davis Rogan disc is also on the list. I am also on the Davis CD.

I am on two of the top poetry CDs of 2007 according to About.com. Will I suddenly become rich and famous, or even rich or famous?

What a trip…

Recent good music hangs – Chicago and Porter’s Birthday

I have noticed that the amount of music I am making is inversely proportional to the amount of time I spend writing here. I guess it is good that I haven’t written much lately, because that means I have been playing a lot.

On December 9th, I spent a very eventful 18 hours in Chicago. BoX3 played the Ears and Eyes Festival, and it was a blast. The festival also provided me the opportunity to hear Zing! and Matt Ulery’s Loom. I have already commented on the Zing! CD, and I picked up a copy of the Matt Ulery’s Loom disc “Music Box Ballerina”, and the James Davis Quintet’s “Angles of Refraction” at the fest. There may be more comments on these CDs later.

Later that night I heard Aram Shelton at the Hungry Brain. The first set was solo Aram with alto sax and laptop. He did a nice job of integrating the two and having it make some sense, which can be very difficult. The second set was Aram with Josh Berman on cornet, Jeff Parker on guitar, Jason Roebke on bass, and Frank Rosaly on drums. They sounded great. I had had a long day and Dan was pouring quickly, so I can’t offer too many specifics, but it was an enjoyable listen, and good to see and hear some friends that I don’t get to see or hear often enough.

Every year on December 26th, George Porter, Jr. has a birthday gig at The Howlin Wolf. This year it was quite a production in honor of George’s 60th year. A Who’s Who of New Orleans music was in attendance, and it seemed like half of them showed up on stage at some point. The Runnin’ Pardner horn section joined PBS for a few tunes from the new CD. At one point I looked over and Ivan Neville had jumped on the vacant B3 that was stage left, and Stanton Moore was on the second drumset. Johnny Vidacovich played, as did Raymond Weber. At one point later, Russell left his drums and went to the B3 and Stanton and Raymond were left at the two drumsets. It was a fun jam, and most of it was pretty musical. George is a special cat, and it was nice to be able to be part of acknowledging that on his 60th birthday.