WHERE AM I NOW?

It’s another summer of travel for me. I got to Japan on the 8th of June and I won’t be returning to my apartment in Brooklyn until August 12th. (I am taking gigs starting the 13th -- I am free from that date for the rest of my life, so don’t hesitate to call...anybody...?) In the meantime, I’ve been having a lot of fun here. I played a couple of weeks with the New York Standards Quartet, a band of good friends that does a tour in Japan every year (and this year we added a tour of Spain that nearly killed me, but that’s another story) and next October it’s Chicago and Texas, so I’ll keep you posted. This is our fourth tour of Japan and we are starting to develop a little momentum. (Our Motto: ‘the NYSQ, changing the world of jazz 30 people at a time’. After this tour we might have to change the motto to ‘changing the world 35 people at a time’!) We have a lot of favorite places that we keep returning to: Lifetime in Shizuoka, Rag in Kyoto, Motion Blue in Yokohama, the venerable Body and Soul in Aoyama, Tao Music Life in Hiroshima and the always energetically supportive Layla in Himeji, plus new additions in Osaka (Mr. Kelly’s) and Okayama (Bird). If you are interested, please check out Gene Jackson’s photo record of our travels including some amazing gardens in Okayama and Kyoto (www.nysq.org).

After that tour ended, I did a couple of clinics in Tokyo then it was off to Holland to teach at the Prince Claus Conservatory in Groningen, NL. As usual, that was an inspiring hang with some great students. I had to leave a day early to travel to Dusiburg, Germany where I played a concert with the great Tom Harrell--Quintet + strings and brass. Tom wrote some amazing music and (in the words of bassist Ugonna Okegwo) opened a can of something on the gig. His playing was astonishing--swinging, focused and as always, profoundly moving. His musical mind is a wonder and any time I get to play with Tom, it’s a lesson and an honor to share the stage with him. 

So now I am back in Japan again, starting a short tour around Tokyo clubs with drummer Shingo Okudaira. We played with Mabumi Yamaguchi at Naru last night. This Ochanomizu club is one of my favorites in Tokyo, run by a very cool Master, Hiro, and Mabumi is another great horn player more people should probably know about. He is a soft spoken guy, but always musical and adventurous. His fondness for Wayne Shorter doesn’t hurt things either. 

So that’s it for now. I am nursing a cold and a pretty debilitating jetlag, but other than that I can’t complain. More in the future...