One of the downsides of being a musician is that you rarely get the chance to walk to work. Fortunately, I have two opportunities to do so in the coming weeks--I'm going to be playing two Saturday day-shows at The Mixing Bowl Cafe here in Oakland, which is a cool new neighborhood spot I really like (and not only because it's two blocks from my house).

I'm going to be playing with a swinging rhythm section of bassist Noah Schenker and drummer Bryan Bowman, and we'll be joined by two special guest pianists--first, on April 25th, the great Ben Stolorow, recently back from a tour of Japan; second, on May 2nd, Adam Shulman, who has played with such notables as Bobby Hutcherson, Stefon Harris, Marcus Shelby, and a group called the Ian Carey Quintet (which I've heard is pretty good).

So come on down--it's free, the food and coffee is good, and we'll be playing everything from standards to originals to God-Knows-What. (Come to think of it, that's a good name for a tune...)

What: The Ian Carey Quartet featuring Ben Stolorow (4/25) and Adam Shulman (5/2)
When: Saturdays, April 25 & May 2, 11:30am-2:30pm
Where: The Mixing Bowl Cafe, 4920 Telegraph Ave (@ 50th), Oakland
How Much: Free!

Hi listeners--hope you're enjoying your spring and getting all the stimulus dollars you so richly deserve. It's been way too long since I posted an update, so here we go: I'm currently about a month into my annual music sabbatical, and enjoying having the time to practice, write, and listen. (And with so many people out of work, I'm definitely not taking it for granted.) It's also great to be able to get out to hear some of the great musicians around town, and hit some fine jam sessions at places like Savannah's, Club Deluxe, and 33 Revolutions.

I have two pieces of musical news to share--first, that the original Ian Carey Quintet (with Adam Shulman, Evan Francis, Fred Randolph, Jon Arkin and myself) has two local shows coming up. The first show:

What: The Ian Carey Quintet
When: Wednesday, April 15, 8pm
Where: Anna's Jazz Island, Berkeley
How Much: $10

Anna's is a great club, and one of the few jazz-only venues left in the Bay Area, so you should definitely come out to support it (and us)! We'll be doing a mix of originals, standards, and rarely-heard jazz classics. And the second show:

What: The Ian Carey Quintet + RW3 (with Kasey Knudsen, Nate Brenner, and Jon Arkin)
When: Monday, May 4, 9pm
Where: The Make Out Room, San Francisco
How Much: No cover

This will be a fun show in the Mission. We're sharing the billing with RW3 (a trio featuring Kasey Knudsen, Jon Arkin, and Nate Brenner, all great local improvisers). We'll probably be doing an all-original, more adventurous set than at Anna's--so each show should have its own different appeal. I encourage you to compare, contrast, and pester the band with questions about why my charts are so incomprehensible!

The other piece of news, and the reason it's great to have these gigs (besides the fact that it's great to have gigs at all these days), is that it'll be a chance for us to get fired up for (drum roll) ... recording our second album! That's right, we're finally getting back into the studio in May, which is exciting and terrifying (like many things these days).

Anyway, that's the latest. Oh, and one other thing: for any of my friends in the East-East Bay, I'm going to be playing a concert at Los Medanos College in Pittsburgh with the LMC Night Big Band on Tuesday, April 7, around 7:30pm. The band is led by local jazz heavyweights Erik Jekabson, Mike Zilber, and Jeff Marrs, and is chock-full of Bay Area talent. (And the Pittsburgh High School Jazz Band is opening up.) So come on out!

The Quintet @ Anna's. Click for more photos.

First, I want to thank everyone who came out to our show at Anna's last week; it's very gratifying to play in front of a knowledgeable and passionate jazz crowd. I made a bootleg of the gig which came out pretty well, so check back soon for some live mp3s for your downloading pleasure.

Next, I have two shows coming up in the next couple of weeks that I wanted to tell you about--the first is this Wednesday, May 7th, when I'll be playing with 8 Legged Monster, a 9-piece all-star group of Bay Area bebop warriors focused on "the excitement of densely arranged small group big-band with a nod to tradition that still brings new life to the genre through exploration." The band has been making some serious noise locally since their founding last year, and I'm excited to be playing with them for the first time. It's going to be loud and raucous and swinging, so I encourage you to come out and support this big little band.

WHAT: 8 Legged Monster
WHO: Michael Irwin Johnson, guitar and arrangements; Noel Jewkes, tenor sax; Rob Barics, clarinet; Joe Cohen, alto sax; Tom Griesser, baritone sax; Ian Carey, trumpet; Joel Behrman, trombone; Eric Markowitz, bass; and Vince Lateano, drums
WHEN: Wednesday, May 7th, 10pm
WHERE: Club Deluxe, 1511 Haight St., San Francisco; Phone: (415) 552-6949
HOW MUCH: $10

You also may have heard that the North Beach landmark Jazz at Pearl's was closing, and then not closing, this month; word is that at the last minute, the club found a new owner, but will be continuing in the same tradition--and most importantly, keeping its two resident big bands. So I'll be doing my part to help celebrate the new start by playing a week from Monday (May 12th) with the 14-years-and-going-strong Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. So stop by for some thundering big band sounds.

WHAT: The Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, directed by Tod Dickow
WHEN: Monday, May 12th, 8pm & 10pm
WHERE: Jazz at Pearl's, 256 Columbus Ave., San Francisco; Phone: (415) 291-8255
HOW MUCH: $15

Hello Listeners:

I'd like to invite you to come out to Anna's Jazz Island in Berkeley next Wednesday night for the first appearance of my quintet this year.

We're going to be doing a bunch of new material, including some hot-off-the-press originals, along with rarities from Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, Steve Lacy, and other groovy composers. We just rehearsed yesterday, and I must modestly say that the band is smokin' (as the young folks say).

Please feel free to pass on this information to anyone you know who also likes good music (or jazz islands).

WHAT: The Ian Carey Quintet
WHO: Ian Carey, trumpet & flugelhorn; Evan Francis, alto saxophone & flute; Matt Clark, piano; Kurt Kotheimer, bass; and special guest (direct from New York) Tim Bulkley, drums
WHEN: Wednesday, April 23, 8-11:30pm
WHERE: Anna's Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley (tel: 510-841-JAZZ)
HOW MUCH: Just $8

Hi Listeners, and apologies for the long break in posting here. I'm currently in the middle of a 3-month sabbatical and have been hard at work in "the shed," practicing, listening, and working on new music for my group. (More about that in a moment.) But I'm breaking my radio silence to let you know about two shows coming up in April, both of which I'm pretty excited about.

The first is the release show for a new album by the great local pianist Ben Stolorow called I'll Be Over Here (click to sample or purchase). Ben was nice enough to ask me to do the design for the CD, and then even nicer enough to ask me to sit in with his trio during the second part of the release show. Here's the details:

WHAT: Ben Stolorow Trio CD Release Show
WHO: Ben Stolorow, piano; Greg Germain, drums; Ravi Abcarian, bass; + Ian Carey, trumpet & other special guests
WHEN: Friday, April 11, 8-11:30pm
WHERE: Anna's Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley (tel: 510-841-JAZZ)
HOW MUCH: $12 (there will also be a special one-night-only supercheap price of $5 for the CD!)

Next, I'm excited to announce the first Bay Area show for the Ian Carey Quintet in many moons. We're going to be playing Anna's in Berkeley (a few weeks after Ben's previously mentioned show). Although Fred, Adam, and Jon (of the original ICQ) are unable to make it, I've put together a heavy-hitting group of all-stars (each of whom has played my music before) to take up the torch--and of course the inimitable Evan Francis will be holding down his usual role as saxophonist/flautist and general inspiration machine. We'll be playing highlights from the Quintet book, as well as plenty of new compositions and arrangements (including tunes by Keith Jarrett, Andrew Hill, Adam Shulman, and Ornette Coleman), hot off the presses for the event. Here's the scoop:

WHAT: The Ian Carey Quintet
WHO: Ian Carey, trumpet & flugelhorn; Evan Francis, alto saxophone & flute; Matt Clark, piano; Kurt Kotheimer, bass; and special guest (direct from New York) Tim Bulkley, drums
WHEN: Wednesday, April 23, 8-11:30pm
WHERE: Anna's Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley (tel: 510-841-JAZZ)
HOW MUCH: $8 (Wednesday cheap!)

Finally, here's some video from an impromptu show last week at the Parc 55, where I filled in for Betty Fu while she recuperated from a little under-the-weatherness. It features me, Noah Shencker on bass, Adam Shulman on piano (unfortunately out of the frame) and the favorite improvising vocalist of everyone I know, Lorin Benedict on the microphone. The tune is "Just You..." Enjoy!

Attention fans of good music:

I'm going to be returning to the Parc 55 this Friday evening to play some jazz classics, original compositions, and standards, with the able assistance of Messrs. Shulman and Farrell.

So come on down and experience the awe and terror of their mighty Christmas tree, which is like 500 feet tall and made out of some kind of green plastic. I dare you not to be filled with Holiday spirit after looking at that thing.

What: The Ian Carey Trio
Who: Ian Carey, trumpet and flugelhorn; Adam Shulman, piano; Lorenzo Farrell, bass
When: Friday, December 14, 7-10 p.m.
Where: The Parc 55 Hotel (we're on the mezzanine level), 55 Cyril Magnin St., San Francisco, just steps from the Powell St. BART station. (415) 392-8000
How Much: No cover.

I'm also going to be playing this coming Monday, December 17th with the outstanding Contemporary Jazz Orchestra at Jazz at Pearl's in their final show of the year. Shows at 8 and 10. Check it out!