Tom Goicoechea

Hi folks. I guess it’s about time for a little fall update in my musical world. Firstly, check out the two new videos I posted on my media page. One is of me playing with my old high school jazz band accompanied by a few other hired hands from this year’s Emil Matys Jazz Fest in Elko, Nevada, circa May 17th I believe. It’s a fun version of “Beulah Witch” from The Buddy Rich Big Band’s book, and sure enough it’s got a drum solo towards the end. The other new one is a little clip of Izzy and the Catastrophics rocking out for a great crowd in Aosta, Italy, June 14th or so. I know, you can’t even see me, but at least it’s from the part of the song where I sing a little bit… And besides, I wanted to post at least some kind of footage with Izzy. So this will do for now until I get something better in the future.

In terms of the future, I don’t have all that many shows booked at the moment, but one I’m definitely looking forward to is just next week with the Jeni Wren band at the Doug Fir. Jeni’s CD release show went great last week and this show promises to be a fun one as well. Also stay tuned for some kind of incarnation of the Eugetet in the not to distant future…

In the meantime I’m keeping busy teaching. This fall I’m having extra fun teaching “The History of Rock and Roll” for PCC Newberg. I feel like with all the research I’m doing for it I’ll probably get more out of it than the students.

Ah the continuing joys of teaching music.

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…

The time has come for my summer travels to begin! In just over a week I’ll be landing in Berlin to tour Germany, The Netherlands and Italy with Izzy and the Catastrophics. It’s going to be a blast. Check out the Show Dates page to get further info on when and where we’re playing.

Before that, though, I’m traveling from Portland to Elko, NV to play in my alma mater high school’s Jazz Festival. I feel honored and privileged that my old high school director, Walt Lovell, who is still the high school band director in Elko, has asked me to partake in the festivities this year. I’ll be playing with some heavyweights the likes of Karen Greene from Atlanta and some cats from L.A who I’m sure it will be a pleasure to meet and play with. Also joining me will be my cohort from Seattle through The Great Basin Jazz Camp, Wayne Bliss on bass. I’m positive the couple days with the kids and the performance itself will be a wonderful experience for everyone involved.

After my return from Italy at the end of June I’ll only have a couple days before the 50th annual National Basque festival! More on this to come later… I probably won’t make a post while in Europe, so watch for an update in early July.

Live music for life!

Hi, everybody. Time for the second ever of Tom Goicoechea’s blog posts! I’m back in Portland and coalescing after the little tour with Izzy and the Catastrophics. It was a lot of fun, and the great news from it is that I gelled well with the group, so Izzy’s going to use me more in the future! What that means specifically in terms of the near future is that I’ll be playing with him in Germany at the end of May and in Italy for most of June. Pretty awesome news really.

In the meantime, I’ll be getting serious about composing the score for Montetre’s movie Holed Up. This is going to be a new and exciting endeavor for me. Right now, I’m sort of using Taxi Driver and Vertigo as muses, by way of Montetre’s suggestions, and certainly only as vague idea lenders.

Also, I’m looking forward to performing with Jenni Wren towards the end of April, at the Star Theatre. This is promising to be a great show, so check it out if you can. Finally, I’ll be returning to good old Elko Nevada to perform with my Alma Mater the Elko High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Walt Lovell. Mr. Lovell has been teaching and inspiring kids there for who knows how long, suffice it to say that not only was I a student of his, but so were both of my older sisters! It’s going to be a fun and nostalgic experience, and I’m very thankful that Mr. Lovell has asked me to come back and do it again eleven years later.

That’s it for now folks. Come back soon to learn more about my European dates.