I'm writing this little blurb from London. The Yellowjackets are appearing at Ronnie Scott's this week. Ronnie's is one of the origional jazz clubs where a band can play for a week and really stretch out! It's been a total joy so far. This week is London Jazz Festival week, and lots of cats are falling by the club to say hello. I had a very nice talk with Eric Mc Pherson, a drummer who is here playing with Jason Moran. He brought up the fact that this music has been perpetuated in great part due to the fraternizing of musicians, generally in clubs and at jam sessions. Here the exchanging of ideas would take place and concepts and ideas freely exchanged. This is becoming increasingly more difficult with the lack of clubs where a band can play for a week at a time.

We also touched on the subject of the political mess in the world, as Bushy baby is due to arrive in London today to hang with Tony Blair and make his case to the Brittish public. There have been some terrorist threats lately here in London with the eminent arrival of our president. I've been telling people to hang in Ronnie Scotts to avoid any terrorism. Bush would't dream of going to Ronnie Scotts, so it is safe there. He probably doesnt even know what jazz is.

I urge you all to check out the Michael Moore book, Dude, Where's My Country?. It is absolutely mind boggling! If even half of what he is stating is true (although everything is footnoted and well documented) this is grounds for the current government to stand trial for grand theft, terrorist activities, and all the stuff they are accusing Hussein and Bin Laden of doing. Folks, we've been had, BIG TIME. My advice: Vote the Republicans out of office before they permantly dammage our standing in the world community and get us all killed.

On a brighter note, We've just completed roughly 20 dates with the Yellowjackets, playing every night. The band is firing on all cylinders. There is no replacement for playing with the same guys a lot. It enables you as a player to get to some other stuff that is unobtainable without the support of good musical friends. The last few nights I've been able to do some different things with the time, stretching and condensing, forming arcs of a different tempo over the original tempo, and finding some unusual pattern-like melodies. Another thing that is happening in the band that allows new things to happen is that we are playing much softer and lighter. This allows for all kinds of subtle interplay and permutations of the time and harmony that would not happen if things were heavier and louder. It's much easier to hear one another as well at this volume level. Live and learn!

I'm looking foward to checking some art museums this week in London. There are many inspiring componants to be found in the fine arts that carry over to music. As composers and improvisers we need life experiences and inspiration from all the arts and humanities. Infact all people need this to be well rounded. This is a known and practiced fact in many European countries. I think we could spend a little more time learning from our European friends and less time alienating them with questionable foreign policy..