Over the past month, I participated in a total of five performances... which was a LOT for me, especially considering that I've still only had a mere SIX gigs this whole year! :( Anyway, the first and last of these involved my now frequent duo collaborator, Ron Heglin, with which I co-lead a 2-voice (only!) project. The occasion for our shows was the release of our album, Duos and Solos, out on Artifact Recordings. These performances went quite well in general, though my solo pieces on these evenings left much to be desired (by me, at least). Both shows were in the SF Bay Area. Between these two "bookends", I had a tour of sorts in NYC, or more particularly, Brooklyn. All of the Brooklyn shows involved drummer Sam Ospovat. The first was the trio of Sam, bassist Kim Cass, and myself; the second was Sam's album release show for Ride Angles out on Chris Speed's Skirl label. This one featured the aforementioned three people, plus Matt Mitchell- piano, Nick Lyons- alto saxophone, and Brandon Seabrook- guitar. I was REALLY happy with how this particular show went, and in fact it may be the very best concert with which I've yet been involved! The third Brooklyn hit featured the trio of myself, Sam, and alto saxophonist Caroline Davis. This was quite fun, as we elected to perform (among other things) compositions by Sam and Caroline which were oriented in the general direction of "structured game pieces". Finally, I hit more than my usual number of jam sessions while I was out there: The Cortelyou Jam at Bar Chord, Kaz George's session at Salem's Hour, the fantastic jam session at The Nest (!!), and the Friday afternoon (invitation-only?) Crooked Trio session at Barbes. I loved ALL of it :)