A few days' labor

It's Saturday of Labor Day weekend. I'm in a Hyatt hotel in Chicago where, among other things, there is a "Romanian Convention" being held. The place is crawling with lovely young Romanian girls. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here for the Chicago Jazz Festival. I'm playing a concert with Bennie Wallace today, a Centennial tribute to Coleman Hawkins. Yes, I managed to write the arrangements that I began earlier this summer, though I procrastinated quite a bit. But there's no denying their quality, so I'm glad of that. The music is fun to play, and quite adventurous. I wrote arrangements for "Body and Soul," "Bean and the Boys," "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho," "La Rosita," and "Disorder at the Border." Bennie Wallace did a great chart on "Honeysuckle Rose." We also play "Under a Blanket of Blue" as a small group number. In the band we have Gilbert Castellanos (trumpet), Adam Schroeder (baritone sax), Jerry Dodgion (alto sax), Ray Anderson (trombone), Donald Brown (piano), Danton Boller (bass), and Herlin Riley (drums). It's a great band, and just a shame that we can't do a full-fledged tour at this point.

Since Kansas City, I've been all over the map... Well... all over the Midwest, at least. A particular highlight was a five-day stay in Chicago, where I diligently wrote music during the days, and went to some amazing restaurants at night. Arun's Thai Restaurant is always a peak experience in Chicago, and our visit there this time was no exception. The food is like no other Thai food you've had, and the people there are gracious and down to earth. Their wine list has some real gems: we had a Garretson Rousanne, a Littorai Pinot Noir, and Sine Qua Non In Flagrante Syrah! What a night.

Then we headed east for a couple of days. Diana Krall's tour ended with a great show in NY at Radio City, and the next day I headed out to Long Island to spend a few days writing and seeing friends. After that, I met up with Bennie Wallace at his home in Greenwich, CT to finish writing the music for the Hawkins tribute. We imported Adam Schroeder from L.A., who helped us with all the last-minute copying of parts. Really rewarding work. We played a show in Mount Vernon, NY on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Bennie, Danton and I rehearsed for a gig the following night at Shanghai Jazz in Madison, NJ. That was a fun show, because we had Victor Lewis on drums. Wow, in one week I will have played with three of the greatest drummers today: Victor Lewis, Alvin Queen (in Mt. Vernon), and Herlin Riley. That's crazy! I'm so lucky! There's nothing I love more than playing with great drummers, and I get to do it all the time.

Tomorrow I head home for 10 beautiful, peaceful days off. After that, it's another heavy round of touring with Diana, this time in Europe. As well, this Fall I will also work with my own band, as well as a couple of recording dates. I'll post the dates for my own gigs soon on the website.

OK... that's a little update. Maybe not too entertaining, but just a rundown of what I've been doing. More to come soon.