Top 10 Favorite Bonnie Raitt Tracks
Hooboy I loves me some Bonnie Raitt . . .
Continue Reading(Fuzzy Yellow) Full Circle
This weekend I played my first tennis tournament since 1989. It was in a sense no big deal – I played in a division that both represented the lowest skill level offered and was so under-enrolled that, win or lose, I would only play one match – so, in that sense, hardly worthy of acknowledgment, much less celebration. However, as a milestone moment in a longer journey, this was an intense and symbolically loaded experience.
Continue ReadingEDS Awareness Month 2012: Losing Everything
Welcome to installment 3 of EDS Awareness Month Shindig on the Blog. This year: Losing Everything. Fun stuff!
Continue Reading“Jazz Musician” – A Descriptive or Qualitative Term?
What makes someone a “jazz musician?” Is it the content of their music or is it a more complex calculus of experiences and accomplishments and peer recognition? I tend to think the latter . . .
Continue ReadingSimple But Good Kasha (Buckwheat)
In its simplest form, kasha (a.k.a. buckwheat) is a tasty but mild, versatile cooked grain that’s also very high in protein. With the variations here (also fairly simple), you can also make kasha varnishkes, a pretty fancy and centerpiece-worthy dish.
Continue ReadingTop 10 Jay Hoggard Tracks
My Top 10 for Jay Hoggard, jazz composer, educator and virtuoso on vibraphone and marimba
Continue ReadingThe Grand Pizzexperiment Part 2: The Results
Back in the fall I wrote about the experiment Kate and I took on to sample a cheese pizza at every eatery in Middletown, CT where you could get one.
Continue ReadingTop 10 Favorite Wayne Escoffery Tracks
I’m fortunate to have known saxophonist Wayne Escoffery for more than half my life. His new album “The Only Son of One” is out and that provided reason enough to look back at some of my favorite moments in his recorded history at this early stage.
Continue ReadingTop 10 Favorite Solo Jazz Piano Tracks
The legitimate approaches to solo jazz piano are as varied as jazz itself. As I gear up for the CD release concert for my first solo piano record, Turtle Steps here are some of my personal favorites.
Continue ReadingTop 10 Favorite Max Roach Tracks
Max Roach is one of the most “underrated” musicians in modern jazz history, an odd statement about someone widely recognized as THE dominant influence on his instrument. But I stand behind it – here we look at 10 of my favorite tracks recorded under Max’s name.
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