Well I’m back in Portland after a long two months and traveling and gigging. The European tour with Izzy and the Catastrophics was awesome. I hope to put some footage up of at least one of our shows on my media page, so stay tuned. Also of note, the Great Basin Jazz Camp was another huge success this year, as I had fun and kept busy teaching seven drummers along with a combo and an improv class. I want to thank fellow Portlander Bill Athens for taking over the role of bass instructor this year, too. He did a great job and hopefully he’ll join us again next year.
Now for the future! In my immediate future I’ll be playing the 26th annual Oregon Brewer’s Festival from July 24th through July 28th with The Transcendental Brass Band. There’s no doubt this will be a beer soaked good time of brass band tunes from traditional to contemporary and beyond. In the less immediate future I’ve got gigs booked with Dave Kelly and the Arc Jazz trio, Jeni Wren, my own band, and possibly a percussion gig or two with Three for Silver. Make sure to check in periodically for updates.
Anyway, it feels great to be back in Portland for the summer. I’ll be dividing my time between being out in the sunshine and being in the woodshed for some seriously needed practice time.
In fact I think I’ll go shed some right now…