Time & Style - July 11

Sittin-in Tonight

Went to see/hear the Morgan Fisher/Pascal D'Aboyer photo exhibition/LIVE tonight at Super Deluxe in Azabu. Later, went over to What the Dickens in Ebisu and "sat-in" with Derek Short's band.

Marunouchi Building Gig

Had a fun gig last night with the Jeff Curry Trio at the New Marunouchi Building in Tokyo. It was great playing again in a piano-less trio. No offense to all the piano players I know. It's been a while and felt good. Harmonically, I like that freedom. Also, it felt comfortable to play flugel in that group with the wood bass and wooden drums and in a large open space. Tone of the instruments seemed to match up well. I need to consistently play in a group like that because maybe sometimes I rely a little too much on listening to piano players for the form. When playing in this type of trio I sometimes feel like I get lost in the form or am on the edge. That used to bother me a lot more than it does these days. I just figure if we lose the form, that's how somebody on the bandstand was hearing it and let's go with that. It used to be a source of tension and stress. These days, my thinking has completely changed about those things. I love a quote I heard yesterday...

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."

Ken Robinson

Eddie Henderson at Kamome 6/2/09

Heard Eddie Henderson with "Tiger" Onitsuka's Quintet last night at Kamome in Yokohama. Always great to hear Eddie. One of the true masters on the horn. Looking forward to hearing him a few more times while he is around Tokyo this week.

Great Gig Last Night!

Wow! What a fun gig last night at Kenny's for the Ikebukuro Jazz Festival. 2 shows...both packed...guys in the band playin' their butts off! Thanks to all that came out and especially to the guys in the band. Yoshiko, thank you for this photo!

Practicing.....

Hangin' out at home practicing today. I like practicing trumpet only 10-20 minutes at a time but, several times from morning to night.

Used to see people practicing 2 or 3 hours at a time when I was in school. They always were talking the next day about their chops feeling so bad.....hahaha.