Hi everyone--I wanted to let you know about a radio interview I'll be doing tomorrow afternoon on KCSM, which is America's only 24-hour commercial-free jazz station. Here are the details:

What: Ian Carey interview with Chris Cortez
Where: KCSM 91.1 FM (outside the Bay Area, listen online here.)
When: Tomorrow, Friday, June 30, at 1pm (Pacific)
On-Air Phone: (650) 574-9136

We'll be playing some cuts from our album, and talking about the Quintet's upcoming show at the Octavia Lounge in S.F. on July 8th (that's a week from Saturday). As they used to say, "Tune In, Turn On, and Jazz Out." (OK, that was horrible.) So listen if you can, and feel free to call the studio and critique my public-speaking skillz. (There will be plenty to critique.)

Also: Evan Francis, our saxophonist, will be performing with his group Spaceheater this Saturday 7/1 at Amnesia (853 Valencia @ 19th St., SF) from 10:30pm-12:45am. Check it out.

Hi listeners, hope you're enjoying your springs. Here are a few items to keep you informed about the Quintet, and my music in general:

First, thanks to everyone who turned out for our final performance at the House of Shields, or any of the performances during our several-year-residency, for that matter--it was a good run, and I can honestly say that the band's chemistry would not have developed nearly as quickly without those regular gigs. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to keep building on that base, but that's the nature of the business.

Fortunately, we have some potential quintet shows on the horizon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I'll try and post some audio highlights from the H.O.S. archive from time to time, partly to keep you (the listeners) interested, but mainly because I just think the band makes me sound really good.

There have been some more positive developments for our CD, Sink/Swim:

• David Adler, an excellent writer whose work has been featured in Slate, JazzTimes, and elsewhere, has selected the album as one of his monthly picks for All About Jazz's "New York @ Night" column.
• Speaking of All About Jazz, their featured download of "Thirteen," the album's first track, has been downloaded nearly nine hundred times! Good to know it's getting "out there" (and bringing visitors to this site from Italy to Malaysia).
• The album has also recently received some airplay on KCSM, the country's only 24-hour commercial-free jazz station, which we're fortunate to have here in the Bay Area. If you're a local, consider giving them a call to request it. (And while you're at it, make a donation for their pledge drive.)
• In addition to being available on CDBaby.com, the CD can now also be purchased locally at Groove Yard, a fine independent record store specializing in jazz and blues, which is located at 5555 Claremont Avenue in Oakland. (The selection and prices of their jazz records and CDs are outstanding.)

That's all for now--thanks for stopping by.

All About Jazz, which is an excellent home for jazz reviews, profiles, and articles on the web, has selected "Thirteen," the first track from our album, Sink/Swim, as its Featured Download for today. Click here to listen or download the complete song. (The song will be archived and available permanently at that location.)

Also, for those of you in the Bay Area, I'll be performing tomorrow, Monday the 17th, with the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra at Jazz at Pearl's. The CJO is led by Alex Budman, who sat in with my quintet recently, and on any given Monday, the Orchestra features some of the area's best improvisers, not to mention phenomenal sight-readers. Stop by and soak up some rollicking big band sounds.

Starting in a few weeks, I'll be posting some more highlights from our several-year run at the House of Shields--there may even be a "Best of" live CD-R available if anyone's interested.

Note: You can keep up to date with all the latest info from this site by subscribing to our RSS feed (through a feed-reader such as Bloglines), which will automatically update any time there's new content.

Thanks for listening!