Hello Folks! I wanted to let you know about some exciting musical stuff coming up that I'm glad to be a part of.
Firstly, the Ian Carey Quintet+1's next album, Interview Music, was recorded this past weekend at the legendary Fantasy Studios in Berkeley (in the same room as "Don't Stop Believin'", if you can believe that). The band put a herculean effort into a very long day (and my pain in the @#$ compositions) and I couldn't be happier with the result. The album is on track for a fall release.Speaking of which: the Quintet+1 (Kasey Knudsen, alto sax; Sheldon Brown, bass clarinet; Adam Shulman, piano; Fred Randolph, bass; Jon Arkin, drums; and me) will be returning next month to the great downtown Oakland venue The Sound Room. The show is on Saturday, May 16th, so please save the date for what should be a very exciting show.I'm also excited about a new album I was fortunate to record with the great local drummer and composer Bryan Bowman and his quintet (with saxophonist Bob Kenmotsu, pianist Matt Clark and bassist Doug Miller). The album, titled Like Minds, features many of Bryan's beautiful compositions. The CD release show for the album will be held Thursday, May 7 at 8pm at Bird & Beckett Books in SF.I've also been playing quite a bit with two very interesting big bands, both dedicated to original arrangements--which is especially great since just a couple of years ago the Bay Area seemed to be becoming a big band dead zone. The first is guitarist/composer Tony Corman's Morchestra, which will be playing this Friday, April 24 at 8pm at the California Jazz Conservatory (aka the Jazzschool) in Berkeley. In addition to Tony's beautiful charts, we'll be joined by a special guest vocalist, the great Ed Reed.The other big band is the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra (led by trumpeter/composer Erik Jekabson), which features a who's who of local heavies and only performs arrangements written by members of the group. I was lucky enough to play on several tunes of their upcoming album Cheap Rent and have been playing fairly often with the group (and they've been gracious enough to play one of my compositions). I'll be joining them at their regular (free!) Sunday night residency at Doc's Lab in SF on the following Sundays: 4/26, 5/3. 5/24, 6/7, 6/21 (all shows from 6:30-9pm).And later on in the summer, I'm excited to be playing for the first time with one of my compositional and bandleading idols, Nathan Clevenger, so stay tuned for details.Finally, I'm planning on expanding both my musical instruction and graphic design business in the next year, so please don't hesitate to reach out if you know someone interested in trumpet, improvisation, or composition lessons, or who is in need of graphic design assistance.Thanks and hope to see you at a show soon!
Hello folks,I wanted to give you a heads-up about a show next month that I'm very excited about. My group will be giving only the second performance of my new 4-part suite Interview Music (made possible by a grant from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music). The show will also be our first appearance at the historic Hillside Club, a beautiful Maybeck-designed hall at the foot of the Berkeley Hills.I wrote the piece over the past year and a half, specifically for my Quintet+1 (Adam Shulman on piano, Fred Randolph on bass, Sheldon Brown on bass clarinet, Kasey Knudsen on alto saxophone, Jon Arkin on drums, and myself on trumpet). It's close to an hour long and contains the most involved writing I've ever done. You can read more about it, including what the title means, here.More importantly, we're going to be doing a recording of the performance which will hopefully be released as our fourth album next year--and you have the opportunity to say, in the words of Pee Wee Marquette, "that's my hand on that record!" This is also likely to be your last chance to hear Interview Music in its entirety for quite a while. We'll also be playing other music from our book including music from our album Roads & Codes ("★★★★½ " - DownBeat).The show will be Friday, November 14 at 8pm, and the Hillside Club is located at 2286 Cedar St. in Berkeley. Hope to see you!
I also wanted to let you know about two exciting shows this weekend--the first is Friday 10/24 at 9pm. It's the debut of a brand-new 17-piece big band, the Morchestra, which is led by guitarist/composer/arranger extraordinaire Tony Corman, and features an embarrassment of local riches in the band. We're going to be playing at the newly-relocated Birdland Jazzista Social Club in Oakland and it should be a great time. More info here.Saturday night (10/25), I'm excited to be getting together with my friends Fred Randolph, Adam Shulman, and Bryan Bowman for some good old bar jazz at the Albatross Pub in Berkeley from 9:30-12:30. Just a $3 cover. Come on by and see if we can be louder than the crowd!