Sugar Rum Cherry!

Well, it's that time of year....time to get the clarinet out and play some excellent Duke Ellington music. If you aren't aware of Duke's arrangements of the Nutcracker Suite I recommend you stop reading this post and make arrangements to purchase this wonderful work of art. I have to admit that I like Christmas music and right at the top of my favourite albums is Duke's interpretation of the Nutcracker Suite! This upcoming weekend I will have the opportunity to perform the complete suite with the Craig Brenan Big Band at the National Music Center (Nov.29/30) I believe the concert starts at 7, if you are a fan of Christmas music you will not want to miss this show...seriously!

The following week (Dec. 6/7) I will be performing with the Yardbird Suite all-stars (Craig Brenan t-bone, Jim Brenan-saxophone, Bob Tildsley Trumpet, Sandro Dominelli-Drums, Chris Andrew-Piano and Chris McCann-Bass) in Edmonton at the Yardbird Suite! We will be playing the music of Joe Henderson. I have been working on the arrangements for the past few months and am really looking forward to this gig as well.......what a diverse musical landscape we live in in Alberta. One week it's a burlesque show with Quinn Lemley the next big band the next a modern Jazz sextet, and following that AFRO-Beat (more on that later).
 I love the diversity! There is a lot going on in the province these days.... a few of my friends (Rubim De Toledo, Carsten Rubeling, and Jon McCaslin) are playing the Music of Mingus with the Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, definitely worth checking out

Better Get Hit In Your Soul
Dances inspired by the music, life and times of Charles Mingus
November 22 – December 1, 2013
Big Secret Theatre, EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts

...now back to that pesky clarinet! 

 

The week that was....will be

This past weekend I had a great time playing with the (mostly) 70's rock band Alter Ian! We played two nights of some well known and lesser known hits from the 70's. I really enjoy playing with the guys, the music is always a challenge. I really took note of how some of the tunes had such inventive chord progressions....progressions that are not always the easiest to just hear on the fly. I had managed to put together a bunch of charts so I could reference the most needed horn lines, but at times I really had to focus, especially when the leader would point at me to solo. Often I had no idea exactly what changes were that I would be soloing over. I love this kind of ear training....I also love the challenge of playing in a genre. I am really looking forward to the next gig with these guys.

This upcoming week I'll be playing a concert at the National Music Center with the Invertigo trio. We have done a handful of gigs, and when possible we get together just to play...sessions with this group are always satisfying. Rubim and Jon are my favourite Bass/Drums combination in Town!

This weeks concert is with the guitarist Peter Bernstein. Peter is one of the finest jazz guitarists on the planet.

That's kind of all that needs to be said about that. He's fantastic and if you can you should try to attend the concert just to see him.

Tuesday, November 5th

8:00pm

National Music Centre
134 11th Ave SE
Calgary, AB

$20 General Admission
$15 students

Here is a great clip of Ahmad Jamal performing superstition from his 70's album "Ahmad Jamal 73" one of the first albums I bought (5$ at sound connection) great things can happen when you take a chance.