Hi folks, I’m happy to announce that after a long hiatus, my quintet will be getting together for a special Saturday afternoon performance in two weeks. We'll be augmenting our long-standing regular lineup with the talented Kasey Knudsen on alto saxophone. (Evan Francis will be covering flute and tenor saxophone for a variety of three-horn combinations.) I’ve been hard at work on an entirely new set of arrangements for the six-piece format, including new works by me, plus some Stravinsky and Ives thrown in for good measure. Sadly, this looks like it will also be the last chance to hear the group before Evan heads to New York (the talent sap claims another victim!), so don’t miss it!Our friend the great drummer Bryan Bowman will be doing his part to fight back against the evils of the live music business by hosting at his Emeryville loft (and allowing us use of his beautiful grand piano) for this special event. Plus, Trader Joe’s-caliber refreshments will be served, so that plus six musicians and two hours of brand-new music is a lot of bang for your ten bucks (and all proceeds go directly to the band's rent, cellphone bills and/or Hulu subscriptions).So please get this on your calendars and come on out to support homegrown musical mayhem!WHAT: The Ian Carey Quintet+1WHO: Ian Carey, trumpet & flugelhorn; Evan Francis, flute & tenor saxophone; Adam Shulman, piano; Fred Randolph, bass; Jon Arkin, drums; and special guest Kasey Knudsen, alto saxophone.WHERE: 1430 62nd Street, Emeryville, CA (Enter the building through the glass door up the ramp located nearest Hollis St. on 62nd., go upstairs to the second floor, walk to the third door on the right and enter 1430.)WHEN: Saturday, April 14, 2:30-4:30pmHOW MUCH: $10-25 donation requested; but no one turned away for lack of funds. (No really--I know it's tax time, so don't let the donation be a deterrent!)

Hi folks, I'm happy to announce an upcoming show for my new-ish trio Takoyaki 3, which I like to think of as the streamlined, street-food-style version of my quintet. It features the talents of my friends Adam Shulman on organ and Bryan Bowman on drums. The book consists of a sizable chunk of original tunes by the three of us, plus select chestnuts from the jazz (BAM!) tradition and even some American Popular What-Have-Yous.We'll be playing at the beautiful Yoshi's Lounge in San Francisco as part of their local talent series. So come on down for some delicious sushi & sake and support live music (by which I mean me)!What: Ian Carey's Takoyaki 3Who: Adam Shulman, organ; Ian Carey, trumpet & flugelhorn; Bryan Bowman, drumsWhere: Yoshi's Lounge, 1330 Fillmore St., San FranciscoWhen: Sunday, March 4, 6:30-11pmHow Much: Free!

Ah, summertime by the Bay--the cold, the rain, the rock-hard peaches. Hope you're all making the most of it. I wanted to drop a line to let you know about some exciting shows coming up in the next month--many of them free!As you may know, and as my wife likes to say, "Ian ran off and joined the circus!" Specifically, I'm playing with the Circus Bella All-Star Band, which accompanies the local independent circus of the same name as they go about their Death-Defying feats of Derring-Do. The band is led by composer/accordionist extraordinaire Rob Reich, and features a fine cast of Bay Area perennials (including the amazing multi-instrumentalist wizard Ralph Carney). The music is an eclectic (I know, but in this case it's true) mix of early jazz, brass band, Balkan, Gypsy, and indie rock influences, chock full of improvisation and surprises.You can catch Circus Bella (& yours truly) at the following dates & places during their 2011 Circus in the Parks series, beginning THIS WEEK! (All free, unless otherwise noted.)

• Thurs 6/30, 5:30pm: Outside Revolution Cafe, West Oakland (preview show)
• Fri 7/1, 12pm: Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco
• Sat 7/2, 12pm & 2pm: Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco
• Sat 7/9, 2pm: Pickleweed Park & Community Center, San Rafael
• Sun 7/10, 12:30pm: SF Sunday Streets, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
• Fri, 7/15, 6pm: Studio One Art Center, Oakland
• Sun 7/24, 12pm: Dimond Park, Oakland
• Sun 7/24, 8pm: CD RELEASE SHOW--SEE BELOW
• Sun 7/31, 2pm: Napa Valley Opera House, Napa ($15)

The band has also recorded a fine new album (click here to sample or purchase) featuring an expanded version of the group, and will be having a CD release show on July 24th (Happy Birthday to me!) at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage at 8pm. There may even be assorted juggling and other unexpected circusness!Finally, with the assistance of my lawyers, I will close by saying, Come one, Come all, one of you should come, all of you should come, to the Greatest Show on Earth! to a very good show on this planet!

Hi folks, thanks to everyone who came out to recent shows in Berkeley and Oakland. I've got another show coming up in Berkeley at Caffe Trieste, home of an array of strange and wonderful coffeemakers worthy of Frankenstein's lab. I'll be joining bassist Noah Schenker and friends for an evening of straightahead cookin' on standards, jazz classics, some originals and other rarities.What: The Noah Schenker QuartetWho: Noah Schenker, bass; Ian Carey, trumpet; Adam Shulman, piano; TBA, drums (but you know it'll be somebody good).When: Tuesday, May 10, 7-10pmWhere: Caffe Trieste,  2500 San Pablo Ave., BerkeleyHow Much: Free!Also, for those of you who weren't able to make it to Takoyaki 3's inaugural show at the Actual Jazz Series last month, series founder Jacob Zimmerman and Theo Padouvas were kind enough to video the entire show, so I thought I'd share two tunes. The first is our take on "How Deep is the Ocean":Next up is our impromptu closer (when we realized our set was running short)--"All Seven Things" (apologies to Jerome Kern):

Hi folks, hope everyone's swinging through spring and enjoying the weather while avoiding giant villainous clouds of pollen. I wanted to let you know about a couple of shows this week, plus give you a few musical snippets to hopefully whet your appetites.First up is a show Tuesday in Berkeley with some longtime musical pals--we'll be playing a variety of tunes old & new to a steady accompaniment of espresso grinding and milk frothing:What: Noah Schenker Quartet Who: Noah Schenker, Adam Shulman, Jon Arkin, Ian Carey Where: Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley When: Tuesday, April 12, 7-10pmNext up, this Sunday will be the premiere of my new group, Takoyaki 3, as part of Jacob Zimmerman's Actual Jazz Series right here in Oakland. For some reason, I described the group this way:

Takoyaki 3 is a streamlined, street-food-style version of Ian Carey’s successful quintet, featuring longtime collaborators Adam Shulman on Hammond B3 organ and Bryan Bowman on drums. The recipe begins with a delicious batter of original composition and improvisation, adds meaty chunks of the jazz tradition, cooks til golden brown, then tops with a generous handful of experimentation and plenty of mayonnaise.

We'll be sharing the bill with the amazing vocaphonist Lorin Benedict who is the curator for the evening and was kind enough to invite us along:What: Actual Jazz Series featuring Lorin Benedict/Sam Ospovat Duo and Ian Carey's Takoyaki 3 Where: Actual Cafe, Oakland When: Sunday, April 17, 5-7pm (My group's going on first.)Believe it or not, both shows have NO COVER! So please come out to either or both of them and support live music. It's what our founding fathers would have wanted!Now as promised, here are a couple of little audio tidbits for your perusal--first, a tune of mine from Takoyaki 3's rehearsal today. In the spirit of adventure, it's not a complete take but gives you a taste of what the group is sounding like:

• "Nemuri Kyoshiro" (Rehearsal take)

And for the real die-hards, here's an interesting Tristano-esque experiment I did recently--I took a playalong of "Cherokee" in a weird key, slowed it to half-time, recorded myself playing over it, then sped the recording back up to normal tempo. The result is strange and kind of interesting and might be a glance at what I could be sounding like some time in the future. Here you go:

• "Cherokee in E" (slow/fast version)

Hi listeners—I wanted to give you a heads-up about a show coming up in a few weeks which I'm excited about—the IC Quintet is returning to Coda (the site of our CD release party and one of our favorite new venues), right in San Francisco's Inner Mission/Duboce neighborhood. (The food and wine are excellent, the Hammond B3 is the real deal, the music is happening, and the stage banter is... well, it is what it is. I'm working on it!)We'll be playing music from our new CD, Contextualizin' ("a digital masters' seminar" —All About Jazz), and 2006's Sink/Swim ("Catchy and original" —Lewis Porter), plus several new original compositions and arrangements of tunes by American heavyweights like Charles Ives, Wayne Shorter, and Neil Young. (That'd be an interesting trio of dinner guests.)So come on by if you can, and please share this with people who like jazz (or could just stand to get out of the house and away from "Jersey Shore" for a few precious hours). Here are the details:WHAT: The Ian Carey QuintetWHO: Ian Carey, trumpet & flugelhorn; Evan Francis, alto saxophone & flute; Adam Shulman, piano and Hammond B3; Fred Randolph, bass; and Jon Arkin, drumsWHEN: Wednesday, October 13, 7-11pmWHERE: Coda Live Music Supper Club, 1710 Mission St., San Francisco; tel: (415) 551-2632HOW MUCH: Just $7Thanks!