It's a bird... it's a plane... it's... LIVE MUSIC!!

I'd like to start by directing you to my previous blog post. In support of the Black Lives Matter movement I took some time to reflect on the impact Black American culture has had on my life, mainly the tradition and development of Jazz. And I also highlight an organization called The Allstars Project which offers performing arts and professional development courses as after school programs for inner-city youth across the United States. A very inspiring and worthy cause.

My last big day of music was March 1st where I was in the recording studio at Crew Studios in North Vancouver with Bonnie Northgraves (trumpet/voice), Wynston Minkler (bass) and Oscar Reynolds (drums). We recorded the entire album in 1 day! The whole day felt pretty magical because nothing was going wrong! Haha! Everybody was playing at their absolute best and we were just having so much fun. I cannot wait to get this music out to you all. FYI... her first album is available for purchase here: https://bonnienorthgraves.bandcamp.com/releases. This picture seems like forever ago but we've been given an olive branch because in a couple weeks we have 3 gigs that you can come to in-person! Wow!

Wednesday June 24th @ Guilt and Co. (Gastown) 9:30p - midnight

Thursday June 25th @ Bozzinis Restaurant (Chilliwack) 8-10p

Sunday June 28th @ Water St. Cafe (Gastown) 7-9p

More information for all these gigs, including tickets, reservations, and live-stream options, can be found on the calendar events on the main page of my website.

The Water St. Cafe is doing an incredible job getting Vancouver's Jazz musicians back on the stage in the coming weeks. Check out their lineup for the next two weeks and consider going to see a performance live or watch the live streams, including our on the 28th. http://www.waterstreetcafe.ca/events-calendar/

Company B Jazz Band Music Video and New Album!

I had the great privilege of touring India with this amazing vocal trio and they even asked me to play on their new record: "Charmed Bad Luck". They are releasing a new track off this album every Monday but you can pre-order the entire album at this link.

https://companybjazz.bandcamp.com/

They also have this charming music video of one of my favorite tracks from the album: Delighted! Give it a listen and if you like it, buy their album!

As the music scene starts to get its wheels moving again many musicians are looking into a bleak summer. A summer that was filled with Jazz festivals, folk festivals, provincial and international tours, wedding season, and regular local gigs is now pretty much empty with most of these events being cancelled or postponed. We all used to have lots of opportunities to listen to live music in Greater Vancouver (and even I took that for granted) but now it is going to be a rare event. At least for this year. My hope is that music lovers respond by showing up either in person or online the few times that musicians have the chance to perform. We are being creative and trying to come up with new ways to get music into your ears but we need you to buy tickets and albums, watch online, or go for a socially-distanced night out.

Hope to see you in a couple weeks :)