February 20, 2024
Tone Forest is the name for the cooperative trio I’m a part of with Marty Jaffe and Jason Ennis. We’ll be releasing our debut album or original music in late August this year. More details coming soon!
August 10,2022
I recently performed three concerts and did two days of recording with Marty Jaffe and Jason Ennis. It was a blast sharing our original music with audiences in New England and we had two great days of recording at Firehouse 12 studio in New Haven, CT.
July 14, 2021
It was a thrill to perform last night at Second Home in Hollywood with Jeff Parker, Joe LaBarbera and Anna Butterss. One of my first live shows with a full audience in a long time. It was an outdoor show with an appreciative audience including many fellow musicians.
April 2020 - Some favorite music books and musician biographies
A few of my all time favorites:
Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter - Michelle Mercer
African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston - Randy Weston with Willard Jenkins
Harmonic Experience - W.A. Mathieu
The Listening Book - W.A. Mathieu
Some other books on music and musicians that have inspired and informed me:
The Mysticism of Sound and Music - Hazrat Inayat Khan
Notes and Tones: Musician to Musician Interviews - Arthur Taylor
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Time of an American Original - Robin D.G. Kelley
Playing Changes - Nate Chinen
August 2020 (Updated 5/1/24) - Some favorite recordings
Here are a few of my all time favorite recordings.
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis Sextet
Miles Davis - Trumpet, John Coltrane - Tenor Saxophone, Cannonball Adderley - Alto Saxophone, Bill Evans - Piano, Wynton Kelly - Piano (on one track), Paul Chambers - Bass, Jimmy Cobb - Drums
This beautiful and magical recording inspired me to start playing piano (at age 13) and to pursue a career a music. The first song I learned by ear was “So What’” and the first solo I ever transcribed was Wynton Kelly’s swinging solo on Freddie Freeloader.
Ben Webster meets Oscar Peterson
Ben Webster - Tenor Saxophone, Oscar Peterson - Piano, Ray Brown - Bass, Ed Thigpen - Drums
I think I bought this record when I was 15 and I’m still learning from it. Ben’s playing is unbelievably soulful and the rhythm section is as swinging as it gets.
Speak No Evil - Wayne Shorter Quintet
Wayne Shorter - Composer/Tenor Saxophone, Freddie Hubbard - Trumpet, Herbie Hancock - Piano, Ron Carter - Bass, Elvin Jones - Drums
This album is filled with Wayne’s great compositions and everyone in the band plays with incredible passion and intensity. My favorite track might be the ballad “Infant Eyes”, it’s a gorgeous composition and the way Wayne and Herbie interact is truly special.
Now He Sings, Now He Sobs - Chick Corea Trio
Chick Corea - Piano, Miroslav Vitous - Bass, Roy Haynes - Drums
One the records that defined the modern jazz piano trio, this album is a marvel of dynamic creativity and group interplay. After the recent passing of Chick, I’ve been going back and listening to this. It’s still as inspiring as ever.
The Real McCoy - McCoy Tyner Quartet
McCoy Tyner - Piano, Joe Henderson - Tenor Saxophone, Ron Carter - Bass, Elvin Jones - Drums
An incredible record filled with burning group improvisation featuring some of McCoy’s most iconic compositions.
Some other recordings that have also deeply inspired me:
Piano Starts Here - Art Tatum
Head Hunters - Herbie Hancock
Maiden Voyage - Herbie Hancock Quintet
The Piano - Herbie Hancock
Night Dreamer - Wayne Shorter Quintet
Juju - Wayne Shorter Quartet
Alegria - Wayne Shorter
Light as a Feather - Chick Corea and Return to Forever
Live at the It Club - Thelonious Monk Quartet
What is There to Say - Gerry Mulligan Quartet
Saxophone Colossus - Sonny Rollins Quartet
Live at the Village Vanguard - Sonny Rollins Trio
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman - John Coltrane Quartet with Johnny Hartman
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane Quartet
Crescent - John Coltrane Quartet
My Favorite Things - John Coltrane Quartet
Live at the Village Vanguard - John Coltrane Quartet/Quintet
Milestones - Miles Davis Sextet
Miles Smiles - Miles Davis Quintet
ESP - Miles Davis Quintet
Change of the Century - Ornette Coleman Quartet
Tomorrow is the Question - Ornette Coleman Quartet
Pink Moon - Nick Drake
Talking Book - Stevie Wonder
Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Waltz for Debby - Bill Evans Trio
Conversations with Myself - Bill Evans
The Melody at Night with You - Keith Jarrett
Invisible Cinema - Aaron Parks Quartet
Cannonball Adderley and Nancy Wilson - Cannonball Adderley Quintet with Nancy Wilson
Piano Reflections (especially the song “Reflections in D”) - Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington Orchestra - The Nutcracker Suite
Soul Station - Hank Mobley Quartet
Hejira - Joni Mitchell
Getz/GIlberto - Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz
Afternoon of an Elf - Erroll Garner
Concert in the Garden - Maria Schneider Orchestra
Ahmad Jamal Trio - Live at the Pershing
Lee Morgan Quintet - The Sidewinder
Ben Johnston/Philip Bush - Suite for Microtonal Piano
Ben Johnston/Kepler Quartet - String Quartets
April 2020 - New Approach for this blog
In addition to posting about my musical activities I’ve decided to start posting some music theory concepts to this blog for interested musicians.
Music Theory Post #1 - 4/22/20
Recently I’ve been messing around with this scale - C,D, E, F#, G, Ab, Bb (in the key of C). It might look familiar, it’s actually the same as the familiar six note whole tone scale but with the addition of the the perfect 5th (G in this case) This might seem like a small difference but it significantly changes the function and sound of the scale, grounding it in one key and greatly expanding the harmonic and melodic possibilities. Harmonies like Ab Major 7 #5 (C/Ab) and E Half Diminished 7 (natural 9) become available and melodies can find a resting point on the 5th in addition to the tonic. Another interesting possibility is starting the same set of pitches on the 5th (G, Ab, Bb, C, D, E, F#) which produces a melodic minor scale with a flat second.
I've also had fun recently investigating scales that don't contain the tonic. One that I particularly like is D Harmonic Major (D E F# G A Bb C#) over C in the bass (obviously this can be transposed to any key) You can also use the scale over a C major triad or over C7. There's some really nice voicings I've found - like DMa7 #5 over C major (it sounds best if you play the C triad as an open voicing - C - G - E ). Or DMa7 over C7 is also nice. Another interesting (and related) sound is the D six note augmented scale (D F F# A Bb C#) over C.
January /February 2020 - Recording Update
Happy New Year! It was a thrill to record my original music on January 7 and 8 with Josh Johnson, Daniel Rotem, Marty Jaffe, Alex Boneham, Christian Euman and Roni Eytan. The album will be released later this year - exact release TBA.
December 2019 - Going into the studio next month!
I’m gearing up for the recording sessions for my next album. The recording sessions will be January 7 and 8 in Los Angeles with some of my favorite musicians and closest friends - Daniel Rotem, Josh Johnson, Marty Jaffe, Alex Boneham, Christian Euman and Roni Eytan.
October 2019 - Exciting News for 2020!
I’m very excited to announce that I am moving ahead with plans to record my next album. This is a long time coming as my last album “Blue Dreaming” was released back in 2014. The new album will feature my original music and the band is comprised of some of my favorite Los Angeles based musicians including Daniel Rotem (tenor sax) Josh Johnson (alto sax) Christian Euman (drums) and Alex Boneham (bass) and will also feature my long time east coast collaborator Marty Jaffe (bass) We will be going into the studio in early January 2020 with plans for a summer or fall 2020 release. More info coming soon!
September 2019 - Performances and Clinics in Mexico
In late September I had the good fortune to travel to Mexico to perform and teach with Jerome Jennings and his quartet, featuring Dezron Douglas (bass) and Josh Evans (trumpet). Jerome is an incredible drummer and a good friend who I met through Karrin Allyson. While we have performed together many times with Karrin this was my first time performing with Jerome’s band. It was also my first time performing in Mexico and it was a beautiful experience. Jerome, Josh and Dezron are inspiring musicians with deep soul, sound, groove, and endless creativity and it was a joy to perform with them. We performed in Guadalajara and Mexico City in two beautiful concert halls. The audiences were warm and very appreciative of the music. We also attended a local jam session in Mexico City and met many talented local musicians. Everyone gave us a warm welcome and I hope to return to Mexico before too long.
August 2019 - West Coast Shows with my trio and quartet
I had a blast performing three shows with my band in California in Mid August. On August 14 I was at Blue Whale in Los Angeles with Daniel Rotem (saxophone), Alex Boneham (bass) and Christian Euman (drums) and then Christian, Alex and I played trio on August 16 at Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco and at the Sound Room in Oakland on August 17. It was thrill to watch how the music developed and changed each night with these wonderful musicians. I’m making plans to perform more with these guys and all three of them will be featured on my next album, which will be released in 2020. Also the Sound Room posted a video of a portion of the August 17th show and you can see it at: https://www.facebook.com/WelcomeToTheSoundRoom/videos/371285996897407/.