Whirlwind
The last 4 to 5 days have been a complete whirlwind. Im not sure when I last wrote (don’t have internet aceess at the moment) b ut on Monday morning (Oct. 5th) we checked out of our hotel and went to York Univeristy to do an afternoon concert. After the show at around 2:00 we had to get in the van and basically drive as fast as we could to Ottawa. It took us exactly 5 hours to get there. We pulled up at the National Arts Center, 4th Stage and were treated first class by the organizers of the Ottawa Jazz Festival. Bassist Paul Rushka joined us from Montreal and sounded superb! He has been studying at McGill for the past few years and it was great to hook up with him and play with him. He did a great job! After the gig and I mean right after the gig we had to hop back in the van and drive back to Toronto because we had a clinic the next day at 1:00 in Hamilton!
The clinic at Mowhawk in Hamilton was great and from there Jim flew to back to NYC and Ross, Jesse and I began our trek to NYC. We actually did pretty well in that we made it to Kingston (about an hour and a bit out of the city). On Wednesday we were up early and I began my first driving experience in NYC. Oh my god. Not something I would wanna do an a regular basis. I got Jesse and Ross to Rudy Petschauer’s in Brooklyn and then made my way to 125th Street where Ian lives.
I was pretty nervous but very excited about our gig at SMOKE. I have spent many a night at SMOKE in my many visits to the city. It is by far my favorite club in NYC. I got there nice and early and Frank (co-owner) and I had a really great chat about all things business. The gig went really well. The band played great and to get a chance to play with John Webber (bass) again was fantastic. Him and Jesse hooked up beautifully and it was just an awesome night. The only drag is that it was GAME 1 of the ALCS and the Yankees were playing. The crowd was decent but not what we were all hoping for .
The band at SMOKE!
After the gig I took a cab back up to Harlem and went to PERKS where Ian Hendrickson-Smith (tenor sax), Brian Charette (organ) and Joe Strasser (drums) were playing. Band sounded killing and I played a few tunes, had a drink and got home around 3:00 am. I had to be up at 7:00 to make the 2.5 hour trek to Harford, CT where I was doing clinic at the Hartt School Of Music. It was set up by trombonist Steve Davis. Hart is the program that alto saxophonist Jackie McLean started and his legacy lives large in the Jazz Department. I met his sone Rene and a few of the other teachers before doing the 2 hour masterclass. The students really seemed to dig it and had lots of questions about the ins and outs of running a jazz club and label etc. It was a lot of fun. After the clini Stevie D took me out for lunch and we hung out. He really is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. Just a very gracious and generious guy.
Playing with the kids a Hart
After lunch we visited Integrity N’ Music, a very well known record store in Wethersfield, CT. Bought a few things including a 1993 recording of Dr. Lonnie Smith’s called The Art Of Organizing. It’s a great date with Peter Bernstein on guitar and Billy Drummond on drums. It was just released now almost 16 years later because of a ‘technical issue.” Great CD! After that I had to make the dreadful drive back to NYC. I was so tired and actually thought about getting a hotel because I felt myself nodding off. I managed to brave the crazy traffic and made it back to the city at around 9:00. As much as I wanted to go out, I was just too bagged. I was in bed at 11:00! Off to Montreal today.