May – gigs in NYC and Chicago coming up!

Happy spring!

I’ve really been enjoying this breath of fresh air in Brooklyn. April has been a great month. It started off with a trip to Chicago to do some gigs playing my music with some of my old buddies, Jeremy Cunningham, Matt Ulery, and Jake Vinsel. I had so much fun playing with these guys again. It had been way too long, and they brought so much energy to the music! I also did a super fun gig with WW Lowman for Bill Lowman’s birthday. Craziness ensued, as to be expected. What a great trip!

After that, I came back to NYC and did a handful of gigs with Lena Bloch’s quartet to celebrate the release of our new album, “Feathery”. Lena knows how to put great bands together, and we had some amazing music with Billy Mintz, Cameron Brown, Putter Smith, and Russ Lossing. Cameron, Putter, and Russ, all played on different gigs, and each brought something beautiful and unique to the sound.

May is shaping up to be busy and rewarding, as well. I’m extremely excited to be playing my new music with a new band featuring Will Graefe (guitar), John Tate (bass), and Jason Nazary (drums). We’ll be playing Shapeshifter Lab on 5/5 and Branded Saloon on 5/11. These will be great, I hope you can make it!

After that, I’ll be playing a weekend (5/16-17) at the Jazz Gallery with Greg Ward and his new large ensemble. Greg was commissioned by the Jazz Gallery to do a residency there and write a set of new music. I can’t wait to dive into this stuff – Greg is an incredible composer and his music is always fun and challenging. Not to mention that he’s one of the best saxophonists on the planet right now!

Finally, I’ll be running back to Chicago (5/19-23) to do some gigs with the inimitable drummer, Dana Hall. I’ll be playing with Dana’s Black Fire band, which performs the music of Andrew Hill, at Andy’s. The next night, Dana has put together a band with John Wojciechowski, Clark Sommers, and me to perform Charles Lloyd’s classic album, “Of Course, Of Course”, at the Jazz Record Art Collective series. This record has been an inspiration to me for many years now, so I jumped at the opportunity to play it live. After that, I’ll be playing with my trio (Dana Hall/Matt Ulery) at The Lighthouse doing a bunch of new music I’ve written over the past year.

*** Just click on PERFORMANCES to get more details about these upcoming  gigs.

Fun times! Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you OUT AND ABOUT!

W.W. Lowman + Thousand record new album in FR/Chicago, I’m coming for you/Patricia Barber dates/V Day cupcakes

I just arrived back in Brooklyn from a week of writing/recording a new album in Marseille, FR with my brothers, W.W. Lowman and Thousand. It was quite an amazing trip and I can’t say enough good things about the residency program we participated in at Montevideo. The staff there are just genuinely good people and took care of us, and everything we needed for the duration of our stay. As a result, all we had to worry about was making music, which is so rare in grown-up life. In the end, we wrote seven really solid songs from scratch, recorded them, and played a sold out show at the end of the week. And, of course, we had some amazing food and wine along the way! Oh yeah, and lots of Pastis. It was truly inspiring experience and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it. Thank you, Montevideo and W.W, Lowman!

Bill and I trying out our new wine koozies

View from our balcony

the band!

Milo soaking it all in right in front of our pad. The recording studio/bar/venue is in the building directly to the right of the frame. Very convenient :).

writing/rehearsing.

One of the many beautiful churches in Marseille.

Looking ahead, I’m really excited about getting back together with John Tate (bass) and Devin Drobka (drums) for a midwestern tour in a few weeks. Here’s the dates:

3/18–Skylark (Chicago)

3/19–Bar DeVille (Chicago)

3/20–914 New Music Festival (914 N. California) (Chicago)

3/21–The Jazz Estate (Milwaukee)

3/22–Tonic Tavern (Milwaukee)

3/23–The Fountain (Madison, WI)

I’ve really missed playing with Devin since he relocated to his native city of Milwaukee, so this is going to be special!

Looking farther ahead, I’ll be touring with Patricia Barber in May and June in North America and Europe. Click on her name for specific dates. I, for one, am very excited about Portugal and Norway! I’ll be touring with Ms. Barber through the duration of 2013, so keep checking back for updates.

In the middle of all this, there are a handful of scattered NYC/Brooklyn dates that I’m very much looking forward to with Swimmer and the Lena Bloch 4tet. Music music music!

Oh yeah, and I thought I’d be festive for Valentine’s Day, so I made these chocolate/cinnamon/coffee cupcake with Nutella buttercream frosting!