Greetings. Hoping your days and experiences are thought provoking, meaningful, and challenging. There is so much to learn about and decipher in this wacky world we live in.

Last Monday my wife and I attended a testimonial concert for a dear friend, Karen Joseph, who is dealing with medical issues. She has been active on the Latin music scene in New York City for 3 decades, and currently plays with Eddie Palmieri’s Band “La Perfecta”. Karen is a wonderful gal and a great musician. We all wish her well, and are keeping her in our prayers and thoughts.

Three of the best bands on the scene performed at this gathering: Orchestra America, a charanga band (violins and flute) that Karen once played in, Eddie Palmieri’s La Perfecta, and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Many of the best musicians in New York were playing in one of these bands, and several others were there to support Karen. The great bassist Andy Gonzales sat in with Orchestra America and brought the music up several notches. The evening had elements of an old-time jam session, but within the context of the wonderful arrangements that each band displayed.

Man, the groove and spirit of this music is incredible! When you dance to this music it is as if you feet don’t belong to you. The grooves that night were so swingin' and subtly colorful, in the way that Afro Caribbean music can be. I urge you all to check out recordings of these bands, and go to hear their live performances. It will be a truly uplifting experience. Latin music is such an important part of jazz and American music!

As an exercise to develop my improvising chops, I’ve been fooling around with various “shapes”, trying to move each shape around in a variety of ways. The challenge is to have the shape in all its variations move through a harmonic progression. A simple example would a 6 eighth note group played over 4/4 swing. The notes could be: C, down to B, down to Bflat, down to F down to E, down to Eflat. The next group might be starting on A (minor 3rd below the original starting C) then down to Aflat, down to G, down to D, down to Csharp, down to C. You can play this shape in many different ways: a whole step apart, minor third apart (above), major third above, etc. See if you can move this shape through a blues progression. The chromatic nature of the 6-note pattern allows one to do lots of different things with it, and it fits almost anywhere you put it.

With all the conflict in the world today I’ve grown curious how past generations handled differences of opinion. Specifically, I’ve been interested in the American Civil War. I’m currently reading a book by Mike Wright called “What they Didn’t Teach You About the Civil War”. An interesting read for history buffs who want to go behind the scenes a bit. What I find most interesting is that in the 1800s, much like now, it was all about family ties and connections in government. Democracy, in many ways, is somewhat of an illusion. The Civil War, much like the Iraq war, was justified based on human rights issues with underlying economic and philosophic considerations being the true motivation. Did you know that the Northern states supported slavery for the longest time prior to the war? In fact, General Grant’s wife kept a slave throughout the Civil War! Say what?! Some pretty serious "do as I say, not as I do".

Anyway, no need to get too dark on the state of human affairs. But it is important to connect the dots in human history in the name of understanding how things operate in the present. Thanks goodness for music!

That’s about it for now. Hope you all find your groove and keep swingin'!