As 2018 draws to a close, I have found myself not reflecting on the past year, but on all the music I’ve been involved in since 1978 when Mr.Natoli told me I was a trumpet player. I’ll be 49 next year. I’ve spent the last several years researching music when I’m not working on it […]
Long have I been haunted by the cornet. There’s something mystical about them. They contain a human element that is difficult to grasp from a technical perspective. Here’s a horn that plays a vital role in our history, going all the way back to Pops Cornet Chop Suey and Bix Singin’ the Blues. Even further, […]
Sunday. The day of rest. The day you check in with deeper reality, or perhaps reaffirm your spiritual beliefs. Certainly a good day to go see Giuseppi Logan since we both practice the same religion. Music Last time I spent time with him I found his horn hurting. I asked him to let […]
Heartelodics Hear art elodics These past few months I’ve gone right to where in vs.out was born. I’ve gone back and forth from Bird to Ornette, from Warmin’ Up a Riff to Ramblin’. From Klactovestedstene to Endless. I’ve gone back to Cherokee and played over 500 choruses. I’ve spent at least that many […]
Upstate, Kingston New York. 1995. My self-imposed exile from the straight-ahead scene in NYC has taken an unexpected turn. I work for an organization in Ulster County that gets work for and then supervises folks with mental illness. Today my crew is working at a recycling plant. Trucks come and dump recycling into a giant […]
Somehow, I end up getting out to see G right before school starts again. Today he asked me when I would be finished. I said by the end of this year, but I added that I’ve learned more from him than I’ll ever get in school. I wrote a letter to Hildred Humphries back in […]
“Ornette always knew what he was doing. He had it all worked out.” -Denardo Coleman I’ll even go as far as to say that even before birth, Ornette had a plan. His entry point into this world was perfectly timed for him to actualize his life. In other words, Ornette came into this […]
I like to envision being on the Earth where there are no cities, no suburbia, no people and no requirements to live other than to simply exist. The only constant would be the Earth continuing to rotate and orbit. The sunrise and sunset the only barometer of the existence of forward motion. Perhaps what I […]
Dealing with your natural self in music takes courage, honesty, and determination. Sometimes it can take years for you to process just how you relate to the different aspects of what happens when you play an instrument with the intention of being who you are. Of course, singing makes it even more personal with no […]
This past week in NYC I had some recurring problems with my alto clarinet. Back in the day jazz musicians might have been sleeping off the late night hit but I was out the door at 7am so I could take lady alto to my man Perry Ritter, a long time sax and clarinet […]
