Good guy!

As I write this Monty Alexander is tearing it up on my stage swinging his Jamaican ass off! Its really incredible what he can get out of that piano. Herlin Riley on drums is amazing and Hassan Shakur swings just as hard as the other two. Really awesome. It begs the question why I'm in here posting on my blog instead of out there listening. Simply put: I CAN'T SIT STILL, I HAVE TO BE DOING SOMETHING.

On to the title of this post. As I'm sure a lot of you read either here in my blog or on vancouverjazz.com, the National Jazz Awards have taken the usual beating from the Westerners. I don't think the criticism was unjust at all but as he did the first time I questioned him, Bill King stood up and answered the bell and my respect for him has grown again. Without getting into exact details about everything, there are admittedly flaws in the system but he nor the awards are perfect. An interesting thing that was said was that basically all of the nomination ballots that were sent out to the Western folks, weren't returned so we only have ourselves to blame. I am on the nomination committee and I returned mine.

Basically what came out of it is that I will hopefully be the Westcoast Representative for the NJA's next year. I'm hoping that Bill will agree with what my plans are which is: a) to make sure that all of the information such as who toured in 2006, who put out albums etc. is compiled and that this information gets sent to the Nomination Committee so they can make an informed decision about who to nominate. Hopefully this will eliminate Metalwood getting nominated for anything unless they are active in 2006. b) my second duty will be to make sure that the people in West who are afforded the opportunity to nominate get their forms filled in and sent back to the NJA's. Who knows maybe its all for not but at least we'll have a better chance at getting some more nominations etc.

Thats all I got! The Canucks pulled out a huge one tonight in Calgary. A lot of grit! You gotta love it.

Another good memory

crash dr lonnie 011
Originally uploaded by cweeds.

This was a clinic that Crash did with Dr. Lonnie at Charles Dickens Annex in East Vancouver. My friend Jody teaches there and every year I go with a group and play for the kids. Lonnie was gracious enough to do this clinic with us for nothing and not only did he put on a great show but he stayed and signed autographs for every single kid. It was an unbelievable experience and one that I will never ever forget.

Pictures found

P1010003_1
Originally uploaded by cweeds.

As I was cleaning up my house I came across a bunch of cds that had hundreds of pictures on them. I will be posting them every once in a while. There are some cool ones.

This one is at The Yamaha Saxophone Summitt featuring my two heroes; Campbell Ryga and PJ Perry. Neither look to thrilled with what I'm playing.

Sour Grapes???

Well, I have been contemplating writing this post for quite some time. I will do my best to remain diplomatic and also try to make sure that I don't come across as being upset for selfish reasons. Let me first start by saying I don't do the things I do because I want awards or accolades. Sure, its nice to get recognition but its not the driving force behind the club, the label or musician. As I write this I look at a picture of Tom Harrell playing The Cellar...that's enough for me. I have been an advocate of The National Jazz Awards since its inception. I think anything that celebrates jazz in a large way is only a good thing. I do think the awards however has its flaws and in the past have had some great dialogue with Bill King the founder of the awards. I remember one year, he won Producer Of The Year which I thought was odd because he founded the awards. Isn't that a conflict of interest? We talked about it and it was cool, I felt comfortable that it was a level playing field. Last year my name was conspicuously absent from the Nomination list. I emailed Bill to wish him luck that year and to express my disappointment that I wasn't nominated. I was quickly informed that they 'forgot' to add my name and it was soon added.

This year however I can no longer support the awards in any way. Yes, I'm disappointed that my name is not on the nominees for producer of the year but Cellar Live is nominated for Label Of The Year. Isn't it kind of odd that we get in for Label of The Year but the driving force behind the label is not nominated? Somebody please tell me if I'm missing something.

The West has also once again been completely ignored. Acoustic Group of The Year contains not one group from the West. Hmm, weird that Cellar Live gets recognized for Label Of The Year but not one of its releases gets in for Acoustic Group Of The Year. Album Of The Year, not one album that was made by anyone West of TORONTO was nominated. Cellar Live gets nominated for Label Of The Year but none of its albums get nominated.

Bassist Of The Year - one from the West, Andre Lachance (GO ANDRE)

Clarinetist Of The Year - To be honest, I don't know many of these guys, what I do know is to my knowledge none of these artists live in Vancouver. James Danderfer's CD got rave reviews from all across the country and enjoyed a lot of radio play. I thought a shoe in for someone that pretty much plays the clarinet exclusively.

Composer Of The Year - nothing from the West

Electric Group Of The Year - Its good to see that a band like Metalwood who has not even been together for the better part of 2 years can get nominated. Good for Metalwood, I love them but gimme a break. They haven't done anything in 2005 and its kind of laughable that they get nominated.

Guitarist of The Year - Don't really understand how Bill Coon and Oliver Gannon don't make the list. If I recall correctly Oliver Gannon came out with a great record this year called That's What. Oh yeah, all Eastern based guys made it.

Most of the other awards have some Western representation which is nice to see but I hope that you will agree that there is some absolutely GROSS oversights on the part of these awards.

In addition to that I think if the Jazz Awards are to ever be taken seriously they should alternate cities similar to the Junos. Maybe one year in Toronto and one year in Vancouver.

This is just my two cents worth.

Random Posts

Hi all, sorry for my lack of posting lately. I have to say I haven't been exactly feeling 'inspired' lately. Having said that however there have been some exciting developments that I'm sure you'll be happy to hear about. First off, we are at the beginning of what is an impressive run or crowds for the next ten days. Kate Hammett-Vaughan's Quintet is here and sold out tonight, ESQ Plays Monk is tomorrow night and we're at about 40 for that. Sunday is a little slow but I encourage you to come and check it out. Its pianist Steve Amirault and alto saxophonist Remi Boulduc from Montreal. They are two wonderful musicians. Our Jazz Projections series has been doing quite well and am expecting this Monday to be no different. Tuesday is Valentines day and we're at 70 people so far for Melody Diachun and her band. Wednesday with Denzal Sinclaire is totally sold out. Thursday the 16th should be a great night musically with a new band that vocalist / pianist Jillian Lebeck has put together. Friday is the much anticipated appearance of Chris Potter which is completely sold out. Saturday is the show with Brad Turner doing Wynton Marsalis' Codes which is half full...so as you can see its going to be a busy 10 days which is great.

I have just confirmed a booking for LEGENDARY TENOR SAXOPHONIST GEORGE COLEMAN who with be appearing with another great tenor saxophonist ERIC ALEXANDER. This is a booking coup that I thought I could never pull off but somehow I did it! It should be an absolutely wonderful show. Its in late September though so its a ways away. Another show that Im excited about that isn't 100 per cent confirmed is the return of bassist Chris Tarry with trumpeter Jim Rotondi and drummer Joe Strasser both from NYC, myself on alto, Brad Turner on fender rhodes and a guitar player soon to be confirmed. Its going to be an amazing show and it will hopefully be recorded for future release on Cellar Live.

Speaking of Cellar Live the UGETSU record is pretty much done and will be sent to the manufacturer's at the end of next week. This record sounds and looks spectacular. Japan is particularity excited about this release so it will be interesting to see how many units they take. The release dates are set for March 31st and April 1st here at The Cellar. The Oliver Gannon / Bill Coon TWO MUCH GUITAR disc is coming along slowly but surely and will really be worth the wait. It sounds wonderful.

We started to dump down some of the Gale / Cronin / Childs / Baskin Quartet record and I have to say this is another album Im excited about. I'm particularity impressed with the maturity of the compositions. All of the guys contributed wonderful tunes and this will be a very good album. We're keeping our fingers crossed about getting some FACTOR FUNDING which would be fabulous.

We have gotten clearance from Linton Garner's family to release the trio recording we did here in November of 2003 shortly before Garner's untimely passing. This is a special recording and we're just working out some of the finer details so stay tuned for that announcement.

Cory