Gosh, February came and went without a column. That’s the way it goes sometimes. I’ve been busy with touring and writing big band music, a piano book, and promoting a new big band CD. Can’t do everything you want sometimes.

I’ve read two great books recently that are worth mentioning. One is Devil in the White City, a novel by Erik Larson. It is somewhat of a gruesome, but well written novel about the 1890’s Chicago Worlds Fair. The story line concerns a deranged killer who preys on women in Chicago, but the far more interesting aspect of the book has to do with all the historical references to the designing and construction of the fair. I couldn’t put the book down! The other book I enjoyed greatly was an autobiography by trumpeter Hugh Masekela called Still Grazing. He discusses his rise to prominence in the music scene in South Africa, and how he ultimately leaves his homeland to become an international star. Having been in South Africa twice last year, and having met several of the characters in the book, it was quite interesting to hear Hugh’s take on the scene in SA under apartheid, and particularly how it affected the music industry. Many similarities to what musicians went through in this country, but times 10! A must read!

Did a weekend with the Yellowjackets in Philadelphia a few weeks ago in a rather nice club called Zanzibar Blue. Bobby McFerrin came down both nights and sang with us. He’s pretty amazing, as I’m sure most of you know. He can sing many of the Jackets' tunes, which are hard to play on instruments! What most intrigued me was the way he would create this whirling frenzy in the music when he soloed on the songs. The combination of the sounds he made with his flowing rhythmical concept was stunning. Listening to him made me realize that it’s really about shapes and flow rather than particular licks and notes. I’ve been trying to translate this a bit to my saxophone playing lately. It just proves what I’ve always thought, which is, you can get some pretty cool information from musicians who don’t necessarily play your instrument. [Webmaster Note: I took some photos at the Friday night show where Bobby McFerrin was there and hope to have them up here soon. It was truly magic watching Bobby and the YJ live.]

I’ve been on a writing tear lately, and it makes me realize that ideas flow more freely if the machine is well-oiled. For me that means listening to lots of music, thinking about what sorts of things I would like to write, for whom, and then following through, and most importantly, listening to the music in my head and trying to sift through it for interesting ideas. I aspire to be able to spin out the ideas the way Robin Williams does in his monologues. He gets on a roll and things start to flow in such a great and hilarious way. Have to keep going! Something tells me it gets better.

Recently got a new tenor and soprano mouthpiece from Freddie Gregory. They are both slammin! Makes me play a little differently. I think there is a bit more resistance in the tenor piece from what I had been playing on. The sound is fatter and I feel like I don’t have to play as many notes o get the point across.

Also started on the new EWI 4000. A great instrument! It responds beautifully, and the module is now part of the controller, so it is easily transportable. The factory sounds are pretty good. Looking forward to tweaking them a bit. This instrument also has allowed me to play differently from the last EWI in terms of response and ease of execution. That’s about that for now. Grateful for each note, moment, breath, encounter, experience, and revelation. Pray for brother Mike Brecker.