Summer 2012

I hope you’re managing to stay cool, wherever you happen to be. Here in New York, it’s been HOT! I never thought I’d learn to love air conditioning quite so much!

It’s been a busy few weeks, since last I wrote on here. The trip out to Bethlehem, PA with Mr Ho’s Orchestrotica, at the end of May, was great. That band is so much fun to play in, despite the impossibly high 1st Trumpet book, and I’ve really gotten into the music of Juan Garcia Esquivel. By now, the previously ‘secret’ gig we had on June 29th has happened — we had a blast playing on the TD Stage at the Montreal Jazz Festival! We played two shows to estimated crowds of 100,000+ people. What an experience!! It’s hard to describe what it was like so, instead, I recommend you check out a little taste from YouTube. Here’s our performance of ‘Harlem Nocturne’:

There are a couple more selections from the gig on my Videos page. Enjoy…

There are a couple of interesting gigs coming up in the next week, for those of you close to NYC. On Tuesday, July 24th, I’ll be with Mike Longo‘s NY State of the Art Jazz Ensemble at the Baha’i Center (53 E 11th St, a couple blocks south of Union Square) once again. The show begins at 8pm and the cover is $15. Mike has a great book, including a lot of charts from the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, and the band is storming. It’s always a fun thing to hear (and play)!

The following evening, I’ll be leading the Trumpet section of the Blue Nitrous Big Band at the Bitter End, in NYC. This is a rare opportunity to hear what has become a great band! Our regular rehearsals are now one of my favourite evenings of the week. We’re playing 1 set only at 7pm and the cover charge is $10. The Bitter End is located at 147 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and LaGuardia) in Greenwich Village. I hope to see you there!!

Looking forward to November, I’ll be making a welcome return to Austria for a short tour with Gansch & Roses. I wrote about that the other day. Venues have yet to be confirmed, but this band is always remarkable! We don’t get together often, so see it while you can!!

I know that there are things I’m forgetting to mention but that’ll do it for right now. Stay cool and enjoy your summer!