Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year!

I wish all those who read this blog a very Happy New Year! 2011 has been great for me with many recording and concert projects, wonderful students and colleagues at Capilano U Jazz Studies, and lots of fun with my family.  Next year promises more of the same and, coming very soon, the relaunch of my Third Rail Music Record label in the digital realm.

Len Aruliah sent me a lovely poem by Luis Borges, which I have included here.

End of Year (Final de Año)

Neither the symbolic detail
of a three instead of a two,
nor that rough metaphor
that hails one term dying and another emerging
nor the fulfillment of an astronomical process
muddle and undermine
the high plateau of this night
making us wait
for the twelve irreparable strokes of the bell.
The real cause
is our murky pervasive suspicion
of the enigma of Time,
it is our awe at the miracle
that, though the chances are infinite
and though we are
drops in Heraclitus' river,
allows something in us to endure,
never moving.

-Jorge Luis Borges (translated by W.S. Merwin)

Friday, December 30, 2011

improv insights blog

Long time, no post. Life has been busy, but now I have a little post-Christmas holiday time and no dumb New Year's gigs to spoil it.
My friend Jeffrey Agrell has a started a blog about improvising for 'classical' musicians.  Jeffrey is a very intelligent and creative writer and musician who teaches at U of Iowa.  His books, Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians and Improv Games for One Player are published by GIA Music and are well worth checking out for musicians who grew up in a tradition where music is only what is on the page.


The blog is here

January will be a busy month with some very cool gigs.  I'll be playing with Dave Robbin's Electric Band on Jan. 18 and with Paul Cram on Jan. 25. and with the Capilano U A Band in a Dizzy Gillespie tribute concert on Jan. 27.  More on this soon.