Hello folks! Here's an update about some upcoming performances I'm really excited about. Hope to see you at some of them!Nathan Clevenger Group in OaklandThis Thursday night (9/1) in Oakland, I'm thrilled to be playing again with one of my favorite bands—the Nathan Clevenger Group ("includes many of the scene’s leading figures, but he’s created a sound that stands out from the crowd... he makes brilliant use of the many colors at his disposal.” –Andrew Gilbert, KQED). In addition to Nathan's guitar and compositions, this version of the group includes Kasey Knudsen on alto sax, Rachel Condry on bass clarinet, Jason Levis on drums, Lisa Mezzacappa on bass, Tim DeCillis on vibraphone, and myself on trumpet. The show is at Octopus Literary Salon in downtown Oakland, a cozy cafe that's been putting on some extraordinarily happening shows. (The show starts at 8, and the opening act is Bristle, another astounding chamber music-meets-free improvisation unit.) More info about the show here.Ian Carey Quintet+1 at SFMusic DayFor the past few years, the great local arts organization San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music has been presenting an annual day full of free chamber music at the SF Veterans Building, and this year, on Sunday, September 25, I'm very happy to bringing my Quintet+1 to participate (along with a cast of hundreds including heavy hitters like Kronos, Rova, Myra Melford & Ben Goldberg, and many more). We'll be playing a half-hour set at 3:30 in the Education Studio. More info here.Electric Squeezebox Orchestra Meets Brazil!I'm also excited to be playing several times this month with the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra, SF's great original big band, back at Doc's Lab in North Beach after their summer break. Sunday, September 4, I'll be performing with the band, playing their usual (but unusual!) assortment of music all written by members of the band (including me!). The following Sunday, Sept. 11, we'll be joined by special guest the Brazilian saxophonist Spok (aka Inaldo Cavalcante de Albuquerque), performing the music called Frevo, which he has pioneered in Northern Brazil. More about this show here.Also...A reminder that my new album, Interview Music ("an incredible piece of music… a superlative work.” —Brad Stone, The Creative Source, Soul and Jazz Radio), is now available on CDBaby, Amazon, and iTunes.And just because, here's a video of an improvised duet that my friend the great trumpeter Darren Johnston and I recorded before a gig last month at opposite ends of the huge Festival Pavilion building at Fort Mason (with its 8-second reverberation). Enjoy![embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWNTj3xZVOE[/embed]Improvised Duet, Darren Johnston & Ian Carey, trumpets. Festival Pavilion, Ft. Mason, San Francisco, August 21, 2016.

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]

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!

Hello Folks! It's been a loooooong road (including planning, composing, rehearsal, more composing, tweaking, more rehearsal, premiering, more tweaking, more performing, more rehearsing, recording, listening, mixing, more listening, more mixing, mastering, designing, running a crowdfunding campaign, unpacking, promoting, mailing, and more rehearsing), but the destination is finally in sight.I am of course talking about the CD release show for Interview Music, the fourth album from the Ian Carey Quintet+1, happening Saturday, April 9 at 8pm, at one of our favorite venues, The Sound Room, in the bustling downtown Oakland arts district.The show will feature all the music from the album (though not necessarily in order), plus new expanded arrangements of music from our previous albums Sink/Swim (2006), Contextualizin' (2010), and 2013's Roads & Codes ("★★★★½" —Downbeat), performed by my longtime partners in crime Adam Shulman (piano), Kasey Knudsen (alto saxophone), Sheldon Brown (bass clarinet & tenor saxophone), Fred Randolph (bass) and Jon Arkin (drums).Tickets will be $15 advance (available here) or $20 at the door, but will include a free copy of the CD with admission! And rest assured that the great majority of your dough goes directly to this hard-working band (as The Sound Room is one of the most musician-friendly venues around).Also: on Thursday April 7 at 9am, I will be joining Alisa Clancy at our local treasure KCSM Jazz 91 FM to talk about the album (and play some selections), so please tune in if you're up!Finally, here's some more about the album:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UovLNqQiE5UHope to see you at the show!

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!