I will be writing plenty about the musicians who contributed to the making of the Ripples album, but here I want to give a shout-out to all the other folks whose work on producing the album was essential to bringing it to fruition.
Continue ReadingPete Seeger is gone now. I thought about eulogizing him with a Top 10 list of his songs, but it seems more appropriate to reinforce the reality check that it’s now officially time for us to do it ourselves, to stand up.
Continue ReadingToday’s challenge – pulling together the acknowledgment of Dr. King’s birthday, the passing of a beloved friend, a bad decision and a little Duke Ellington.
Continue ReadingI love Tom Harrell’s trumpet playing, bandleading and composing and have enjoyed exploring his catalog to compile this list of personal favorites.
Continue ReadingYusef Lateef, who recently passed on at the age of 93, has had a profound influence on my music both in terms of the specific sounds in his recorded legacy and on a more conceptual level. In a world in which musicians so often have alliances that imply a certain disdain for “competing” factions, Yusef Lateef’s openness and breadth of skills and interests have been matched by few artists carrying the “jazz musician” label.
Continue ReadingEven better than “Happy New Year,” if I dare say so. My one goal for 2014 is to pass the “pillow test” even more often than in 2013. If that happens (call it the pursuit of a New Year’s resolution, if you will), everything else will fall into place to the greatest extent that I’m able to control.
Continue ReadingA figure as towering as the Duke does not need a schmoe like me to throw out adjectives to pump up his importance or greatness. Instead, my focus on the show was the musical qualities that have left the most indelible marks on me as a composer, pianist and bandleader.
Continue ReadingThis date is unbearably complex. Today I turn 40 and today I join with all those who reflect on the still impossible to understand losses suffered at Sandy Hook Elementary School one year ago today. Love still wins, and now I have the neurobiological data to prove it.
Continue ReadingR.I.P. to Jim Hall, one of my favorite jazz musicians, period.
Continue ReadingThere is no shortage of things we all know we should be thankful for in late November. Here’s a less conventional one: annoyance. When the cable goes out during the game or the cornbread gets burned or Uncle Sheldon shows up late and then tells the SAME boring story he tells every year, let yourself…
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