Back from NYC... again

Hello again! This time I am writing just after a very successful trip to NYC in the early days of May, 2018. The primary purpose here was for me to participate in a recording session for drummer/composer Sam Ospovat's first album as a leader since moving to NYC. It featured the core group of Sam on drums and composition, Kim Cass on bass, and Matt Mitchell on piano. I joined on one tune, called Rancune, and two other tunes featured guitarist Brandon Seabrook and alto saxophonist Nick Lyons. I really think that the resulting recording will prove to be a very impressive and important contribution to contemporary music... and believe me, I know EXACTLY how pretentious this grandiose claim of mine sounds!! It's scheduled to be released in October, under the suggestive name "Ride Angles". After the session was done, I performed the very next day with two great NY-based saxophonists, Maria Grand and Caroline Davis, at the Downtown Music Gallery. This was good too, though I'd like another shot at it at some point. And then on the same brief trip I also hit a great jam session led by Michael Vitali in Brooklyn, and I had a great time sitting in on a brunch gig right around the corner from where I was staying with tenor player Kazemde George and bassist Dan Pappalardo. Whew! In other news, I just completed a recording session back here in CA in support of an upcoming album involving (only!) the duo of myself and vocalist Ron Heglin. Though we both feel that the latter selections we recorded were rather beneath our expectations, I am hopeful that enough good material was recorded for us to make a decent ~ 35 minute album out of it. We'll see.

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