The Cat's out of the Bag

First, I would like to bring to your attention that my group “Smalltown” will be performing next Wednesday at Balliceaux(203 North Lombardy St. Richmond) with our good friends Ombak. The show starts at 9:30. I’m really looking forward to playing with these guys and also playing with “Smalltown”. Our last show back in August, was the debut of our new personnel and addition of the vibraphone. Matt Coyle is an extremely talented musician who has just returned to Richmond after attending University of Northern Colorado and gaining a M.A. in music.

Our performance in August was with another close friend and long time Richmond musician Toby Whitaker. A wonderful review of the performance given by the Toby Whitaker big band as well as a shockingly good live recording can be found at rvajazz. Smalltown also attempted to record that night’s performance but due to the room noise and inadequate microphones on the vibes, the sound was not so great. Maybe this wednesday will be better. If you plan on coming to the show and you have a portable recording device, I engourage anyone to record the performance. Just make sure you send me a copy. Also, should anyone have suggestions for effectively miking a vibraphone, feel free to comment.

If you are unable to attend this Wednesday performance, no sweat because Smalltown will be performing with the Compass Rose Orchestra at Thee Camel (111 N. Robinson St.) on October 11th.

The BIG performance reminder is this coming Sunday, October 2nd. The Scott Clark 4tet will be performing at Thee Camel, opening up the night for The Claudia Quintet. I can not express how awesome this group is. I will in fact not make any further attempt to do so, but I will provide a link to their myspace page. Otherwise, you just have to come to the show. YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPPOINTED!!

My last update concerns a trip I will be taking for the entire month of November. This is a trip that has been in the making for about 15 years.

When I say the “The Cat’s out of the Bag”, it’s not to imply that I have been hiding anything. It’s because I awoke this morning to discover numerous friend request on my Facebook page from musicians in Turkey, and several tags from Yasar University and Hacettepe Caz.

Here’s the details:

In November I will be travelling to Izmir, Turkey to visit with my good friend Emre Kartari. Emre is a professor of drums and jazz at  Yaşar Üniversitesi. Emre and I attended Virginia Commonwealth University together in the mid 90′s, played in a bunch of bands together, then moved to New York City to attend graduate school at New York University. Following that we played in more bands together and eventually went our seperate ways. Emre and I have shared in countless musical and life experiences and my relationship with him is nothing less than a brother. Emre moved to Ankara, Turkey 2 years ago and is responsible for establishing the first state approved Jazz Program at Hacettepe University. He has since moved and taken a similar position in Izmir.

Since Emre’s first trip to Turkey in 1996, we have discussed the idea of travelling there together. Due to busy schedules, lack of funding, and the pursuance of education in the United States, this opportunity never gained traction. Now, the opportunity has again presented itself and its finally going to happen. I am very excited for the opportunity to visit Turkey and play music with my good friend. We will be performing together throughout the month and I will additionally be providing workshops and music lessons at Yaşar Üniversitesi. At the end of the month I will be joining Doug Richards and Howard Curtis, to perform a composition written by Mr. Richards with the University.

I would like to thank Emre, Yasar University, and anyone else who has helped make this happen. I really look forward to the opportunity to visit Turkey, perform wonderful music, and make lots of new friends.

Check out my Dates page and Media page for updated information and sound files.

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