I had the pleasure of playing in Toronto this past weekend, in the band of my old college roommate, Jules Estrin. Jules is a very fine trombonist who just completed a Masters degree in jazz at the University of Toronto. We played at the Home Smith Jazz Bar at the Old…
Here’s the 2016 Massachusetts All-State Jazz Ensemble reading Cow Tippin’ in rehearsal. It documents the finished result of hours of work, writing this piece, and I’m pleased with how it turned out. Because of time constraints, we didn’t include this song in our set at Symphony Hall. However, we performed…
Bret Zvacek, the Director of Jazz Studies at the Crane School of Music, asked me and several other jazz educators to: “List 12 (jazz) albums in no particular order that made a lasting impression on you, but only 1 per band.” Here’s my list: Fred Hersch – Forward Motion Jerry…
Two Mansfield (CT) Middle School students interviewed my UConn colleague Marvin McNeill and me for a brief video documentary they created about the origins of jazz. Their video is thoughtfully researched and includes some compelling, historical film footage and photos. They placed second in a regional film competition and went…
A couple of weeks ago, I played a concert with Avery Sharpe as the bass player. I was a bit “freaked out” going in, because Avery was the longtime bassist of one of my piano idols, McCoy Tyner (John Coltrane’s pianist). I had heard Avery live several times with McCoy’s…