Hi Folks, Happy New Year to you all! As you'll see in the press release below, the Quintet's new album hits radio & retail in just under a month, which I'm excited about. We still don't have a venue for a CD release show (RIP Anna's), but are following up on several leads, so you'll be the first to know. In the meantime, here's the official press release announcing the new record:

Ian Carey Quintet to Release Second CD, "Contextualizin'," February 16

Band Led by Trumpeter/Composer Ian Carey also Includes Evan Francis, Adam Shulman, Fred Randolph, & Jon Arkin

January 21, 2010

Ian Carey's 2006 debut, SINK/SWIM, drew some critical attention to the Oakland-based trumpeter's original music and forward-thinking quintet, but his new recording, Contextualizin', is sure to turn heads in the direction of this gifted jazz trumpeter/composer. The new CD will be released by Carey's Kabocha Records imprint on February 16.

"Sometime when I was in my twenties," says Carey, now 35, "I realized that there are so many great, amazing players out there that the context in which I do what I'm doing is going to be how I differentiate myself, and for me that's writing my own tunes and doing my own things within them."

Carey's striking compositions--and one standard, "Just Friends"--are performed by the tight group of improvisers with whom he recorded SINK/SWIM (also on Kabocha) and has frequently worked in Bay Area club settings for the last six years. Saxophonist and flutist Evan Francis is his fiery front-line partner; Adam Shulman switches between piano and Fender Rhodes (playing with "understated virtuosity," in the leader's words); bassist Fred Randolph and drummer Jon Arkin ground and propel the music.

In the CD notes, Carey describes his realization that "What I played would help shape how I played (and vice versa, as it turned out). A song could be a story in itself, or a vehicle to inspire improvisational storytelling. (And sometimes, when everything is happening just right, it can be both.)"

The dropped "g" in the CD's title, Carey adds, "is a play on the high-concept, analytical stuff that people come up with to talk about their music." But when it comes to the music itself, Carey "asks deep musical questions," says composer/educator Bill Kirchner, "and comes up with compelling answers."

Born and raised in a musical family in Binghamton, New York, Ian Carey moved with his family to Folsom, California (near Sacramento) in time for high school, where he was inspired to begin studying jazz trumpet seriously. He studied classical trumpet for two years at the University of Nevada in Reno (also performing with the Reno Philharmonic), then enrolled in the New School in New York City and earned a B.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music.

At the New School Ian studied trumpet with Cecil Bridgewater, Vincent Penzarella, and Charles Tolliver and composition with Bill Kirchner and Maria Schneider, as well as taking small group classes with Joanne Brackeen, Andrew Cyrille, Billy Harper, and Reggie Workman. He also performed with the likes of Eddie Bert, Rory Stuart, and Ravi Coltrane, and at venues such as the Blue Note and Smalls. Carey led his own Brooklyn-based quartet for several years before moving to San Francisco in 2001.

In addition to leading the quintet heard on Contextualizin', Carey has played around the Bay Area with the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, 8 Legged Monster, the Realistic Orchestra, vocalist Betty Fu, and pianists Ben Stolorow and the late B.J. Papa. His main focus, however, has been on composing and performing original music with the quintet. In his CD booklet notes, Carey recalls a meeting with the saxophonist Steve Lacy in which Lacy observed that the trumpet "is a discursive instrument -- you know, it tells a story." With those words in mind, Ian Carey aims to say something with his music. He aims to tell stories.

Media Contact: Terri Hinte
www.terrihinte.com

Hi Listeners: I'd like to officially announce the upcoming release of the Ian Carey Quintet's long-awaited (by me, at least) new album, Contextualizin', on Kabocha Records, February 16th, 2010.

The album, which was recorded last May at Berkeley's Bay Records, features my long-time group of Adam Shulman on piano and Fender Rhodes, Evan Francis on alto saxophone and flute, Fred Randolph on bass, and Jon Arkin on drums, playing a set of eight original compositions, plus a re-imagining of the standard "Just Friends."

The album will be available for purchase and download at CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon.com and other online outlets, as well as in select Bay Area record stores. (Yes, they do still exist!)

Stay tuned for announcements about our CD release show, samples, and other goodies. Have a fine holiday season (please go to some jazz shows!), and I hope to see you in 2010!

Hello jazz aficionados, friends, stalkers, and people who stumbled here looking for pictures of "Wynton Marsalis shirtless":First, I'm genuinely stoked (as the kids say) to announce that the new, as-yet-untitled album by the Ian Carey Quintet is nearly finished. (I'm 90% done with mixing, which will be followed by mastering by Bay Area sound guru Ken Lee, then duplication, then...) The disc will feature 8 of my original compositions and one re-invented standard, and I hope to have it out by late fall.I also wanted to tell you about a few shows I've got coming up which I think you'd enjoy. First up is this Friday, when I'm going to be playing with the Ben Stolorow Quartet, on a double bill with his new project with his sister Stephanie called "Stoli Rose" (Get it?!)We'll be going on second, and playing original music by the band, plus a couple of rarely-heard jazz classics. Come on down!WHAT: Stoli Rose + Ben Stolorow QuartetWHO: Stephanie Stolorow, vocal; Ben Stolorow, piano; Ian Carey, trumpet; Noah Shencker, bass; Bryan Bowman, drumsWHEN: Friday, September 18, 8pmWHERE: Square One Yoga Collective, EmeryvilleHOW MUCH: $10 (That's only $5 per band!)Next up is a straight-ahead jazz hoedown at the Epicenter cafe with the great Jack Riordan plus Adam Gay and Bryan Bowman. We'll be hitting the standards/jazz classics shed.WHAT: Ian Carey Quartet w/ Jack RiordanWHO: Me, trumpet; Jack Riordan, guitar; Adam Gay, bass; Bryan Bowman, drumsWHEN: Wednesday, September 30, 6-8:30pmWHERE: Epicenter Cafe, San FranciscoHOW MUCH: Free!

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!

Back when I was living in New York and taking the subway every day, I started making "mix" tapes for myself with stuff I really wanted to absorb; this was based on some advice I got from Dave Liebman that "you're not in the business of listening to music 'for fun' anymore. You need to listen in a focused way."I thought he had a good point, since this was during a time when I was in a literal deluge of sound, from recorded music to live performances to street noise, and narrowing down the variety into more digestible pieces seemed like a good idea. And since it had never been easy for me to memorize recorded solos by ear, I had a certain amount of envy and perplexity toward those smartasses who'd strut by the equipment room at my school singing along with whatever record I was listening to. (Note to music students: this is always annoying. Nobody cares that you can sing Coltrane's solo on "Oleo." Go show off somewhere else.)Anyway, I found that it really worked—I was soaking up these tunes on a much deeper level than I ever could have if I only heard them once every so often and along with all the other cuts on whatever albums they came from. And for the first time, I was able to sing along just like those jerkoffs at school (though I didn't do it in public). And when I felt like I was ready for some new blood (usually after a month or two), I'd make a new one, often keeping some of the cuts from the previous tape that I thought needed more attention.Over the years, the Subway Tape became the Subway CD, which became the Subway MP3 playlist—and even though I don't live on the same coast as the Subway anymore, the idea's the same. So in case anybody's interested, here's what I'm listening to on a daily basis this month (wish I could say I was analyzing these cuts as well, but with the exception of the Tom Harrell solos, I'm mostly trying to learn by osmosis for now):1. Delme Quartet - "Contrapunctus X" (J.S. Bach). Working my way through The Art of the Fugue one contrapunctus at a time.2. Bill Evans - "Five" (Tom Harrell's solo only; from We Will Meet Again). One of my favorite TH solos--learned it last year, but still trying to decipher some of his more cantankerous lines.3. Tom Harrell - "Invitation" (Tom's solo only; from Action). Another classic TH solo from the 70s. Like a textbook on great lines for minor ii-Vs.4. Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd - "Eronel (Take 3)" (from Early and Late). A great, rollicking, recently rediscovered cut from the "School Days" band--one of my all-time favorite front lines.5. Keith Jarrett - "Life Between the Exit Signs" (from album of same name). Phenomenal early Keith with Charlie Haden & Paul Motian, playing changes in his ecstatic, slightly unhinged way. I've been wearing this album out since I discovered it last year.6. Keith Jarrett - "Vapallia" (from Facing You). Short & meditative yet brimming with technicolor creative juice.7. Mark Turner - "Iverson's Odyssey" (from Dharma Days). Just found out about this inexplicably out-of-print CD from a few years back. MT & Kurt Rosenwinkel at their thorny best. (Their lines have that technicolor thing I love so much about early Keith, albeit a little more controlled. I can't really explain it. Just check it out.)8. Horace Silver - "Nutville" (from unreleased 1965 bootleg). I got this from a friend who got it from a teacher, I think--it's the "Cape Verdean Blues" band with Joe Henderson & Woody Shaw, tearing it up with a ferocity way beyond the studio version. Yes, you can have a copy if you want it.9. Miles Davis - "Masquelero" (Antibes, 7/26/69, unreleased). Not sure where I got this, but Miles & Wayne & Chick are on fire. I've been late in checking out this version of the band, but man are they bringing the bag of chromatic ass-kicking.10. Ornette Coleman - "Rise and Shine" (from the Atlantic boxed set). This is really a great tune--I'm surprised more people don't play it. Some great Ornette & Don Cherry.