Yesterday we reached over 15,000 cases of Corona here in NYC. We’re now the epicenter of the virus. Why wouldn’t we be? It’s certainly nothing to be proud of. Long term NYC dwellers and survivors sometimes find unity looking at all the things we’ve gone through as a group. Tragically that always leads us back […]
Power and Transformation: The Astrology of Eric Dolphy
King Eric For me, Eric Dolphy is the Louis Armstrong of the bass clarinet. I’ll never forget the first time I both heard and saw him for the first time. I had a John Coltrane videotape I rented from the library in the late 80’s. Trane was reaching down into the molten core of […]
Giuseppi Logan and the Big Picture
I recently received the word that my buddy G had a new round of health adversity. The stars lined up for me to head on out to check on him. I reached out on social media to see if I could assemble a squad to join him in person to lift his spirits. The only […]
Evolve or Die
In my earliest days in NYC I used to haunt Smalls. After hearing me play, Jimmy Lovelace sat me down and told me to quit music because I just didn’t have it inside me. He insisted he was stopping me for my own good. I was shook but I came back the next night and […]
Giuseppi Logan Saves the World
I got the call from the universe, or a feeling from deep inside, that it was time to go see my buddy Giuseppi a few days ago. I tried to get other folks to join me, but it looked like it was me and G again. I found him in his room wearing a fly […]
Soaring With Bird. The Astrology of Charlie Parker
Looking deeper into the astrology of Ornette Coleman inevitably led me to the astrology of Charlie Parker. Bird is where Ornette started. Thanks to Massimo Magee who asked me when I would do Eric Dolphy’s chart. That idea made me realize I had to go to Bird first. Looking closely at Bird’s cosmic relationship with […]
49
49 trips around the sun is not just a quick skip through the park. My older friends are quick to tell me that I’m still young. It seems that as long as someone is older than you, then you’re still young. It goes right to the top. My father, in his mid-70’s, was telling me […]
Natural Music, Part 2 (Eagles and Snakes)
Just a few weeks past, the Universe had me walking across town in NYC with none other than Pharoah Sanders. When you’re around someone imbued with that much spiritual power, you can sense something present that’s beyond the energy that you’re used to, especially in such a twisted environment as Times Square. The weather was […]
Reflections
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 […]
Cornet Karma
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, […]
