Hello folks! I'm just writing to tell you about a few musical things I've got going on in the near future.

Have You Heard?

This Monday night I am very happy to be featured on one of my favorite radio shows, Have You Heard?, hosted by the great saxophonist Patrick Wolff. Each week Patrick does a deep dive on the work of a single artist (usually someone on the less well-known side) in a way rarely heard on this coast. For this show we'll be hearing tunes from several of my albums (plus an unreleased track of a work for big band) as well as having some conversation about the jazz world in my usual curmudgeonly fashion. You can hear the show Monday at 9pmon KCSM; the show will be also be available for one week after at the Have You Heard? website.

Jazzschool Classes

I'm happy to be offering three classes this summer as part of California Jazz Conservatory's Jazzschool summer session, geared toward intermediate musicians of all ages:

• Demystifying Coltrane Changes: A deep look into how to take the fear out of learning daunting tunes like Giant Steps and Countdown, including theory, listening and in-class playing. More info here.
• Counterpoint & Beyond: An introduction to one of my favorite compositional toolboxes, with an eye toward real-world contemporary and jazz applications. More info here.
• Modernize Your Language: A look at three ways to take the next step beyond bebop and mode-based improvising, with an eye on integrating with the student's existing language, through theoretical discussion and in-class playing. More here.

If you or someone you know might be interested, please check out the links above to find out more and register. Class space is limited! (And a reminder: I'm also accepting new private students in trumpet, improvisation, composition, ear training and harmony.)

Asian-American Orchestra Performances

This weekend and next, I'll be making my debut with percussionist & composerAnthony Brown's Asian-American Orchestra. The group consists of an eclectic (in a good way!) mix of western and eastern instruments including shakuhachi and sheng (Chinese mouth organ) as well as a burning jazz ensemble. For these performances we'll be joined by the Ojalá Batá percussion ensemble, plus poet Genny Lim and vocalist Amikaelya Proudfoot Gaston. We'll be performing original works by Brown as well as a new realization of Max Roach's classic Freedom Now Suite (you all know I don't do plain old tributes).We'll be doing two performances this Sunday June 5 at the San Francisco International Arts Festival at Fort Mason, followed by a show on Saturday June 18 at Musically Minded Academy in Oakland. Hope to see you!

Also...

I'm happy to announce that I am among the lucky crop of grant recipients for San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music's 2016 Musical Grant Program, to compose a set of pieces for my brand new 7-piece ensemble Wood/Metal/Plastic, premiering next year. And just a reminder that my new album Interview Music ("complex chamber music with solo space" - Doug Ramsey, Rifftides) is now available on CDBaby, Amazon, and iTunes. You can hear a free track from the album below. Thanks![embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFjbnC96zQg[/embed]

Interview Music, the new album from my Quintet+1, is officially out there, and some very gratifying reviews have been coming in.First, from Doug Ramsey at the great music blog Rifftides:

In the articulate liner notes for his fifth album, Carey explains that he writes music not to label it “about something” in order to snag foundation grants, but to employ what he’s learned and make it work for him and his players. Interview Music does that. Even better, it works for the listener. ... His sextet plays the five-part suite with drive, wit, swing and a palpable unity of purpose. It is complex chamber music with solo space for Carey, long an impressive trumpeter; bass clarinetist Sheldon Brown; alto saxophonist Kasey Knudsen; pianist Adam Shulman; bassist Fred Randolph; and drummer Jon Arkin. They are among the cream of the Bay Area’s jazz community. In a victory for his creative policy, the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music supported Interview Music with a grant despite its not being “about something,” which, of course, it is. It’s about music.

From The Jazz Page:

[Carey] has returned with an ambitious new recording that succeeds in its effort. Interview Music is a fantastic suite that sees some of Carey’s most adventurous writing matched with truly outstanding performances. ... While the production is one of some range, it is accessible, even as weaves and winds its way forward. ... Carey’s writing affords each of his fellow players many moments to exhibit their depth of talent, and in the process, allows the entire project to shine.

And a listener left this very thoughtful review on the album's iTunes page:

Very inspiring to hear this kind of sophisticated composition and playing coming out of the Bay Area. As an ex professional trumpet player who grew up in Bay Area and studied and played in NYC, this is really the first time I've encountered such a high degree of post-bop compositional creativity and craft come out of the Bay Area with the exception of Joe Henderson of course. Also very fine playing all-around, with a special shout out to Ian who is obviously a really accomplished trumpeter and improviser.

The album also got mentions from Marc Myers' Jazzwax ("this abstract original suite for quintet led by trumpeter Carey has classical overtones") and Tom Hull ("a sprawling suite with four parts and an interlude, a fine example of postbop composition and arrangement"). It's great to know people are giving it a listen, 15-minute tracks and all!Finally, here's another sample track from the album, the interlude and first half of the fourth movement. If you'd like to hear more, please pick up a copy for yourself![embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F343FNgYzBw[/embed]

Hello folks! If you missed our CD release show last week, you have another chance to see this band and hear music from our new CD on Kabocha Records, Interview Music. (The title is sort of an inside joke about the jazz scene. More on that here.)This Sunday (4/24) at 4pm we are thrilled to be returning to Chez Hanny in San Francisco's Portola District, an intimate "jazz salon" that has been presenting unique concerts for over a decade.The band will feature my longtime partners in crime Kasey Knudsen on alto saxophone, Sheldon Brown on bass clarinet and tenor saxophone, Jon Arkin on drums, Fred Randolph on bass, Adam Shulman on piano, and myself on trumpet. We will be playing all the music from the new album (including my four-part title suite) plus new expanded arrangements of music from our previous albums Sink/Swim, Contextualizin', and Roads & Codes ("★★★★½” —DownBeat).Chez Hanny (click link for more info) is located at 1300 Silver Avenue, San Francisco. $20 donation is requested. Email reservations are strongly recommended (see previous link) as seating is first come, first served (doors open at 3:30pm). I hope to see you there!BUT: If you can't make it and still want to hear Interview Music, the album is now available on CDBaby , Amazon, and iTunes . And you can hear a full track from the suite here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcF9k56U4DUALSO: A few weeks ago I was fortunate to be invited to do an interview with Alisa Clancy on our great local jazz station KCSM to talk about the album. You can listen to the interview below.http://iancareyjazz.com/audio/KCSM_interview_040816_edit.mp3ALSO ALSO: I'm going to be playing this Saturday afternoon with the great drummer and composer Bryan Bowman and his quintet at a new house concert venue in the East Bay. The show is at 4pm at 1034 Talbot Ave. in Albany, $10 donation requested. Thanks!

Hi folks, I wanted to let you know about an exciting show happening this Monday, and encourage you to "save the date" for our CD release show next month.First: This Monday March 13 my new band IJKL will be playing at Studio Grand (just down the block from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland). I formed IJKL (Ian Carey on trumpet, Jon Arkin on drums, Kasey Knudsen on alto saxophone, and Lisa Mezzacappa on bass) in order to explore the freer side of improvisation, and have written a new book of music inspired by some of my favorite musicians in that genre (including Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Giuffre, John Carter, and Cecil Taylor). It's some of the most adventurous playing I've done in a while and I'm really looking forward to playing it with this great cast of characters.We're sharing the bill with Gold Age (featuring local creative music heavyweights Aram Shelton, Mark Clifford, Safa Shokrai, and Birtt Ciampa). The show starts at 9:45p (I know, it's a late one) and we'll play second (Probably around 10:45). Tickets are $5-15 sliding scale. Hope youcan make it!Second: I wanted to give you a heads-up about the long-awaited CD release show for Interview Music, the new album from my Quintet+1, at The Sound Room in Oakland on Saturday April 9. It's a project that has been in the works for several years and I'm thrilled to have a finished album ready to send out into the world. Stay tuned for more info as the date approaches!

Hi folks, I'm very excited to announce the release of the new album by my Quintet+1, Interview Music, this April. The centerpiece of the record is the 55-minute, four-movement title suite. The video below will tell you more about the album, the piece, and the outstanding band:[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UovLNqQiE5U[/embed]The album was made possible by the support of the generous donors to our crowdfunding campaign, to whom I am extremely grateful! Thanks also to San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music and the California Jazz Conservatory for their early support for the composition and premiere of this piece. (You can read an extended article about the album here. )We'll be doing two performances in the Bay Area to celebrate the album's release--the official CD release show at Oakland's great downtown venue The Sound Room on April 9th, and an intimate afternoon performance at Chez Hanny in San Francisco on April 24th. I hope you're able to make it to one or both!

Friends, Family, Fans & Supporters:It's been a while since my last update! A lot has gone on, including a very busy musical time (including performances with my new band IJKL, Sam Bevan and his quintet, and Arun Luthra's Konnakol Jazz project), followed by a not-very-busy musical time (while I recuperate from handing off a kidney to my dad, which is surprisingly not something they like you to play trumpet right after doing).But today I wanted to​ tell you about my new album Interview Music: A Suite for Quintet+1, which I'm hoping to release April 2016, with your help. It's been in the works for over two years, and we're in the home stretch of the process, which I'm really excited about. The centerpiece of the album is a four-part, hourlong suite which is a culmination of over a decade of growth with an amazing group of musicians--Adam Shulman, Fred Randolph, Jon Arkin, Kasey Knudsen, and Sheldon Brown.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EueuB8C8-FU[/embed]And now we're asking for your help to make it possible for us to make it down the last mile and to a finished CD we can release to the world. We've come a long way--through composing, rehearsing, premiering, recording, and mixing--but we still have some very important expenses remaining, so we're launching a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo (one of the most trusted crowdfunding sites on the planet) to help raise funds to make it through this last mile of the production process.  (These are of course expenses which in the good old days would've been fronted by a record label, but that is some spilt milk that's definitely not worth crying over.) (Just kidding, I cry over it all the time.)Of course we're not just asking for a handout--we offer perks for contributors at many levels, ranging from digital downloads for $10, to CDs for $15, up to posters, signed copies of the original score, concert tickets, and even producer credit. Any amount you're able to contribute, even if it's just preordering the CD, would be very helpful and appreciated.So please visit our campaign page at http://igg.me/at/interview-music to learn more about the campaign, the band, and the music. And please feel tell anyone you think might be interested in the project, or share on Facebook or Twitter.Thanks very much for your support!