Greetings and warm wishes for the new year, which is well in progress by now. January flew by in an instant. We started the month recording a new Yellowjackets project with guitarist Mike Stern as a guest on the majority of the songs. Mike is an incredibly dedicated musician who added an interesting dimension to the 'jackets sound. We plan to tour with Mike later this year. Much of the music has an edge and intensity thanks to the addition of Mike. Yet there can also be found the signature 'jackets compositions and musical interplay that have become the band's trademark over the years. I must say that Russ and Jimmy wrote some stunning material! They really are two of my favorite musicians.

Soon after finishing the recording I left for a three week run in Italy. I’m actually writing this piece from Sassari in Sardinia.  The tour started in Florence with the Giovanni Mazzarino trio. We did 7 dates in mainland Italy and Sicily, with a big band date thrown in the middle with the band of my dear friend Gabrielle Comeglio in Milan. I’ve been working with his band for many years, and it is always a joy. Gabrielle is a great saxophonist, composer, arranger, and all around wise man. There is a great lead (and soloist) trumpet player in the band named Emilio Suona, who plays lead like Snooky Young. Always great to hear that sound! Not too many cats left who can do this.

Last week I did 5 nights at the Alexanderplatz jazz club in Rome with Dado Moroni, Roberto Gatto, and Pietro Giancarlini. A really great rhyhm section! We had a blast. Dado is a veritable encyclopedia of jazz. He plays with such depth and a sense of swing, you can’t help but play your ass off! Roberto and Pietro put some fire under us That was truly inspiring. What a gift to be able to cross the Atlantic and play with great musicians like these guys.

Finally I wound up in Sassari, Sardinia, to work with the Jazz Orchestra del Sardinia, a local big band that has the distinction of utilizing two trombones and two french horns rather than the typical 4 trombone section. The sound of the brass was darker and more delicate this way. It made the band play softer, which usually is a good thing. Big bands that blast give me a headache! The guys in the band were lovely people, and we had a great time hanging and playing. I particularly liked the spagetti ricci (spagatti with sea urchin), which is particular to this region. Beautiful country and beautiful views of the ocean. I did some teaching there, and was very happy to share some New York jazz information with the students.

There’s nothing quite like playing every night to get the juices flowing and the chops warm. In Rome we revisited the great Cole Porter tune "I Concentrate on You". This is a wonderful tune that has a fascinating form and harmonic structure, as well as a beautiful and intricate melody.  It was great to blow on this tune 5 nights in a row. Throughout these three weeks I worked on trying to form improvised solos that had a compositional shape and momentum that was compelling to the ear. My goal was to improvise solos that sounded like someone wrote the notes centuries ago. A tall order, but if one tries for variety and evolution in their improvising, things can happen. I was messing around with playing minor seventh chords a half step above the minor seventh chords in the form of the various pieces we played. (harmonic anticipation). Lots of great improvisers do this (Herbie Hancock, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner). It was nice to work on this several nights in a row.

One thing I realized is that I am in need of finding a few devices that use flurries of notes in an intense way to create a mood of intensity. So before the gigs I would mess around with fast groupings of 5 and 7 notes that might be effective in a variety of harmonic settings. I need to practice these things some more before they work their way into my playing. These things don’t happen by themselves generally. But if one pays attention to his or her playing while checking out the way other great musicians are playing, one can find areas that need some work. At least this is the case with my playing. It is a humbling, yet gratifying scenario to think that we can continue to grow and improve!

I’ve just finished a great book on Jimi Hendrix called Hendrix - Setting the Record Straight, written by John McDermott with Eddie Kramer (the engineer who recorded the majority of the Hendrix Experience recordings). This book provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Jimi Hendrix the musician, and how his creative process was put into action throughout his short, but dynamic career. The book also delves into the business side of the Hendrix Experience. Utterly fascinating! What made this book work so well was the input of producer Chas Chandler, Eddie Kramer, and many of the people on the inside of the organization. There was a very profound message in this book that delves into how an artist’s personal challenges can hamper the artistic progress of that artist, and how producers, recording engineers, and managers come into play in the realizing of the artist’s career and music. There was a nostalgic component to the reading of this book for me as well, being that I had heard Hendrix play live in 1968, and had played with some of the people mentioned in the book, as well as recorded at Electric Lady Studios in NYC back in the 70’s. Jimi Hendrix was a visionary musician who was just getting ready to make a huge statement in the area of mixing blues, jazz, and R&B. The music he left us was truly great, but one cant help but think what might have happened if Hendrix had had the opportunity to hang with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, or Gil Evans. We’ll never know…

I am about to make a huge change in my life. This September my family will be relocating to Los Angeles where I will take a teaching position at the University of Southern California. I will teach jazz composition-arranging, improv, and direct the Big band at USC.  It feels like time to do this at this point. I will continue to tour with the Yellowjackets and my own projects, but generally travel a bit less.  It will be cool to stay in one place and develop some consistant practice and composing habits. The last few years I’ve been traveling roughly 80 percent of the time. You know it’s time to make a change when you come home and your dogs bark at you like you’re an intruder!

So lets see where this goes! Sometimes it is good to stir the pot, head in a new direction, check priorities and make adjustments to the groove.

I wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2008, with lots of new discoveries and new experiences. They are out there. We only need to pay attention and keep the faith.