I had the pleasure of playing in Toronto this past weekend, in the band of my old college roommate, Jules Estrin. Jules is a very fine trombonist who just completed a Masters degree in jazz at the University of Toronto. We played at the Home Smith Jazz Bar at the Old…
Here’s the 2016 Massachusetts All-State Jazz Ensemble reading Cow Tippin’ in rehearsal. It documents the finished result of hours of work, writing this piece, and I’m pleased with how it turned out. Because of time constraints, we didn’t include this song in our set at Symphony Hall. However, we performed…
This list came out of a prompt from Bret Zvacek in 2016: “Name twelve jazz albums that made a lasting impression on you—no particular order, one per band.” It was not an invitation to identify the “most important” records in jazz history, nor to assemble a pedagogical checklist for students.…
Two Mansfield (CT) Middle School students interviewed my UConn colleague Marvin McNeill and me for a brief video documentary they created about the origins of jazz. Their video is thoughtfully researched and includes some compelling, historical film footage and photos. They placed second in a regional film competition and went…
A couple of weeks ago, I played a concert with Avery Sharpe as the bass player. I was a bit “freaked out” going in, because Avery was the longtime bassist of one of my piano idols, McCoy Tyner (John Coltrane’s pianist). I had heard Avery live several times with McCoy’s…