I may have mentioned before that I've been sitting in pretty regularly lately with the excellent vocalist Betty Fu, who performs on Thursdays and Fridays at the Parc 55 Hotel in downtown S.F. I enjoy playing with singers, and don't get to do it very often--plus she usually hires great rhythm sections, so it's a win-win.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Betty decided to give videography a try as well, filming us with her cameraphone during an instrumental. It turned out pretty well, I think.

The short video is below--it features myself on trumpet, Adam Shulman on piano, and Noah Shencker on bass. The tune is "Out of Nowhere." Enjoy!

I'm happy to announce that after a slow spell, I'm going to be performing in three events in the next few weeks for your discerning ears.

The first is an event at the Red Poppy Art House called "JAZZ & THE PETIT CINEMA," which combines a performance by the Adam Shulman Quartet (presenting "all original compositions that draw from the idioms of modern jazz, late 19th century classical and pop rock") with short films from Future Shorts (which takes "the best international films and gathers them into a monthly compilation, featuring some of the most highly acclaimed shorts from around the world"). We're going to be playing music from Adam's new album, as well as at least one brand spanking new composition.

What: The Adam Shulman Quartet
With: Adam Shulman, piano; Ian Carey, trumpet and flugelhorn; Smith Dobson V, drums; and Devon Hoff, bass
When: Saturday, July 14, 9pm (doors open at 8:30)
Where: The Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom St., S.F.
Tickets: $12-$15 suggested donation

I'll also be performing the next two Mondays with the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra at Jazz at Pearl's. The CJO is a San Francisco institution which has featured many of the Bay Area's finest jazz musicians over the years, and features a repertoire of 400+ arrangements from Duke Ellington to Thad Jones to local composers and beyond. This 16-piece big band also regularly plays host to great vocalists such as Kenny Washington, Duane Lawrence and Kim Nalley.

What: The Contemporary Jazz Orchestra
When: Mondays, July 16 & 23, 8pm & 10pm
Where: Jazz at Pearl's, 256 Columbus Ave., S.F.
Tickets: $15

I hope you have a chance to come out to some of these shows and support live jazz in the Bay Area.

First of all, thanks to everyone who came out to last week's shows. We had a great time performing at Anna's in Berkeley—had a good crowd, sold some CDs, ate some carnitas tacos—which was only slightly marred by accidentally leaving our car in the garage past the midnight deadline. (No harm done, though—Linda heroically got up early and rode the BART over to retrieve it the next morning.)

We also enjoyed our Friday show at the Parc 55 in the city (those of you who made it out got to witness my debut on my recently-acquired vintage cornet—something you can tell your grandkids about, I'm sure). We were filling in for the excellent vocalist Betty Fu, who performs there on a weekly basis, and with any luck she may call on us again.

Saturday evening brought a performance at a wedding with the great Mitch Marcus and his big band, which featured the amazing spectacle of old ladies in their best formal finery dancing happily to a 7/4 funk groove (with a 15/8 feel superimposed). God bless San Francisco.

Finally, I wanted to mention that Justin Freitas of the Berkeley Daily Planet wrote an in-depth profile of myself and the quintet, which appeared in last week's edition of the paper. Here's a sample:

When Oakland-based jazz trumpeter Ian Carey was about 14 years old, he experienced something of a revelation. While he was growing up in upstate New York, his family attended church regularly, all singing in the choir. But when they moved back to Folsom, Calif., just east of Sacramento, Carey’s father searched the area in vain for a suitable church with a strong choir. Churches were plenty but choirs were not, and when he couldn’t find one he liked the family’s church-going days were over.

"I had always thought that we were a religious family," Carey says, "but once we got to California I found out we were really a musical family."

Thus one muse was replaced with another and a life-long obsession was born.

For the full article, click here.

That's all for now—hope to have more gig announcements soon.

I'm pleased to announce that after weathering a dry spell, the Ian Carey Quintet is reuniting for our first East Bay show. The venue is Anna's Jazz Island in Berkeley, which is a nice room with a fine piano (and it's next door to some of the best carnitas nachos I've ever had).

Evan Francis, our regular saxophonist extraordinaire, is unfortunately going to be out of town, but the great Joe Cohen (of Jazz Mafia and Cannonball), who was a frequent guest of ours back in the House of Shields days, will be filling in. We'll be playing music from our CD as well as some new originals and jazz rarities.

There's an $8 cover, but that's less than almost anything else you can think of to do (outside) on a Thursday night.

WHAT: The Ian Carey Quintet
WHO: Ian Carey, trumpet; Joe Cohen, saxophone; Fred Randolph, bass; Adam Shulman, piano; and Jon Arkin, drums
WHEN: Thursday, April 12th, 8 p.m.
WHERE: Anna's Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way, Berkeley. Phone: (510) 841-JAZZ
HOW MUCH: $8.

Via Rifftides, Doug Ramsey's excellent blog, here's some incredible recently unearthed footage of the legendary Clifford Brown appearing on the Soupy Sales (of "send little green pieces of paper" fame) television show. Clifford was one of the great bop trumpeters of all time during his short career, which ended tragically early when he was killed in a car accident at the age of 25.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo5giymiLj8]

Clifford's playing was one of my biggest early influences on the trumpet—my first jazz trumpet teacher, Tom Peron (a great improviser in his own right and long-time fixture in the Sacramento jazz community), introduced me to Clifford's music while I was in high school, and I spent many hours fumbling through transcriptions of his solos on tunes like "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "The Blues Walk." A few years later, another teacher, the great Charles Tolliver, wisely recommended ditching the 19th -Century Arban's etudes I'd been practicing and use Clifford solos to develop technique instead. (There's a place for Arban, of course, but I believe his point was that if you want to be a jazz player, you might as well practice jazz as much as possible.)

As I became interested in more modern players, I drifted away from Clifford for a few years, but recently began listening to him again—I particularly like his "West Coast" album, Jazz Immortal (which can be found in this boxed set), and the beautiful Clifford Brown with Strings.

Although I always felt that Clifford's delivery—that is, his vibrato, phrasing, etc.—was a little bit over-expressive for my tastes (just a matter of subjective personal preference, of course), his line construction, harmonic vocabulary, and overall phenomenal chops are unparalleled and should continue to inspire trumpeters (and improvisers on all instruments) for years to come.

It's 2007, and I thought I'd give a little update about what's going on musically for me and my co-conspirators in the new year, as well as provide a little downloadable jazz goodness for you, the listeners. First the update:

• I've been rehearsing regularly with the Joe Henderson Memorial Big Band, led by the excellent trumpeter and Bay Area native Warren Gale, Jr. It's been a great opportunity to play a book of superb arrangements and compositions by Henderson, Woody Shaw, McCoy Tyner, and other greats of the Blue Note era (as well as a chance to hear Warren tear it up on a weekly basis). Performances and a recording are planned for this year, so I'll be sure to keep you posted.
• I've been working on new music for the Quintet, and hope to premiere several new compositions at our next performance, which will be... soon, I hope.
• I've also been attending some fine jam sessions, including the Beep Trio session at Uptown in Oakland (unfortunately no longer happening), and the Michael Parsons Trio session at Octavia Lounge.
• Adam Shulman, the great pianist who has been a member of my Quintet for several years, recently recorded his second album as a leader, which will be released in the spring. It features saxophonist Dayna Stephens, bassist John Wiitala, and Jon Arkin (also an I.C. Quintet member), and I was pleased when Adam asked me to create the graphic design for the CD.
• Fred Randolph, longtime bassist for the Quintet, also released a fine album, New Day, featuring many local luminaries and some beautiful original writing by Fred.
• Rounding out the Quintet-member news, saxophonist Evan Francis released a CD last fall with his outstanding electro/jazz/hip-hop group Spaceheater, which cracked the Top 100 in the Electronic genre in iTunes.
• Finally, I've been listening to a lot of great music, soaking up excellent releases from Jacob Varmus, Scott McLemore, Joe Lovano/Gunther Schuller, and Ron Horton, among others. I also really enjoyed the week-long Bach Festival from WKCR over the holidays—that radio station is a treasure, and I'm glad that, thanks to the internet, I didn't have to give it up when I left New York.

Well, that's just a bit of what's going on. I'll keep you updated about upcoming gigs or other news as information becomes available. I'll leave you with a bonus track from a performance of the Quintet from last March, just before we left the House of Shields' nest for good:

• Groovin' High (Gillespie) Dizzy's bop burner. With myself on trumpet; Jon Arkin, drums; Adam Shulman, piano; Fred Randolph, bass, and Evan Francis, saxophone. Recorded live, 3/14/06.