I had the pleasure of playing with tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart on Tuesday evening at the Northampton Jazz Workshop. It is interesting our paths hadn’t crossed before, given that Grant and I are both originally from Canada. He’s a really solid player with a firm grasp of the hard bop vocabulary of tenor titans like Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley etc. Despite being situated in the lounge of a Spare Time Bowling Alley, they’ve…

Three mass shootings in one week, not to mention countless other gun related deaths (suicides, domestic violence, homicides, accidents, etc.) — Is this enough to incite change and spur our lawmakers into action?

Even now, after having studied and played jazz music for more than three decades, there’s still plenty I will admit to not knowing about the art form, and the context in which much of it was created. I was drawn to this music in the late 1980’s, as a Canadian teenager who loved what he heard, but who was somewhat oblivious to the ongoing racial strife in America. Sure, I read plenty of biographies and…

Tyler Hornby, a drummer based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, hired me to write a big band arrangement of his composition, “Dig In Buddy.” When it was completed, I decided to adapt it to perform and record with my own 10-piece band. Here is the final version, as it was recorded on my new album “Open Borders,” which is available now through CD Baby. As I listen back to this arrangement, I can hear and am reminded…

Sordid Sort of Fellow will be the second track on my coming album, “Open Borders.” The song includes solos by Josh Evans (trumpet), Sara Jacovino (trombone), Henry Lugo (string bass) and me (piano). I am saving the recording until it’s release in October, but here is a live version to whet your whistle: When commissioned to write a piece for the 2009 Central Massachusetts District Jazz Band, I knew the big band would include many…