Enter 2018: Babies, Bass, Drums, and Website. let's go.

Hey- thanks for reading and stopping by.  

Brooklyn, the cute little baby that keeps popping up in my photos, she just turned two!  We had a fun party at a local kids playroom and many of our good friends stopped by with their kids- what a blast that was!  And next week, we have the ultrasound of our next child.  We are very excited! Also exciting, but in a different way, is my growing fascination with Bass and Drums.  My basement is now set up with a Gretsch Catalina Club, some cool cymbals, and a bass that I'm buying from Rodney Whitaker so I can practice whenever I want! It's set up like a gym with these little stations, so I just walk around and stop at instruments for a little practice session.  I have a lot of work to do, especially on the drum set.  I'm curious to see how this informs my trombone and saxophone playing- they are ALL connected!  

The new CD is out to radio now- glad to hear the positive feedback that it has been getting. The recording, entitled REACHING OUT makes more than a few connections: Generational between veteran and younger talents, under-appreciated compositions by masters Cedar Walton, Kenny Drew, nods to my trombone heroes Steve Turre, Conrad Herwig, plus some material outside of straight-ahead jazz.  This was the the first time that I felt comfortable in recording pop tunes.  When I was younger and in college, reading all the jazz mags, I remember reading reviews where critics just destroyed great musicians for doing that- using works like corny, sellout, etc.  and thinking that playing a pop tune was the kiss of death to artistic sincerity.  Then I started hearing adventurous arrangements of some old pop that sounds like a sonic math problem, thinking to myself, man, is a song A SONG when it is barely recognizable?  Is that the price for original artistry?  Seems like murky waters diving through material like that ... I just didn't know how I felt about recording that music until I heard Ronald Isley sing "ALFIE" and thought to myself- wow... I love these songs too, and I want to play them in my voice the way I hear them and share the part they played in my own story.  It's all so personal, and I see myself as an messenger, an emissary rather than a translator.  And to people that appreciate my small part in the music- also appreciate Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston, Hank Williams Sr., Otis Redding, and in the case of my newest CD, Paul McCartney/Boyz II Men/Extreme, they are part of why I became a musician, play trombone and all the rest.  

If anyone is interested in seeing the complete artist notes that I wrote about each track, leave a comment here and I'll post them shortly.  

I'm going to get back to enjoying my Sunday.  Stay warm, strong and optimistic ya'll. 

Yours with a Hi-Five,

Michael

If you are new here, here's a breakdown of what's on this simple site.

1. Latest CDs are available on the Music Page.  There are more starting back from 2005, and I'll get to adding those one of these days.  

2. Links and Resources send you to more information about my teaching, colleagues and musical gear.  

3.  News and Gigs are about events that I find exciting, and are mostly related to my career- teaching and playing jazz music.  

4.  Lastly, my thoughts and checkins are mostly captured by my twitter/instagram/facebook blurbs on the home and bio page!  Follow me there, or you can check them all when you stop by here.