Wes Montgomery - Full House

If you haven't checked out www.youtube.com you have to do it. There are so many videos of so many cool things. This video is a snippet of probably my favorite musicians of all time, Mr. Wes Montgomery playing 'Full House' a killing tune.

Jazz festival has been fantastic so far. Friday and Saturday were record nights for the club which is fantastic. Ugetsu and Bruno packed em in last night and I have to say that both bands sounded very inspired especially Hubert. He was in a zone last night, a zone that I haven't seen to often. He really played his ass off. Then of course Ugetsu hit the stage and wasted no time in hitting their stride!

On Tuesday night, the Italians were incredible. I wish more people could have heard this show. We will have them back for sure. They sounded wonderful!

Jazz Festival and Summer Time

Wow, its 7:00 the night of the 22nd (our festival starts tonight), we have big event happening and I'm not running around like an idiot. This I think is a first. Im actually just chilling out watching the Jays losing to the Braves and listening to Paul Desmond with Ed Bickert, Don Thompson and Jerry Fuller. What a fantastic album. I'm excited about this years festival simply because I'm not playing at all except for with my dad next Sunday. I know it sounds wierd to be happy that I'm not playing but last year was such a gong show, I don't even know if I stopped to enjoy it so this year I'm excited about actually being able to relax a little bit and maybe even check some stuff out which is something in past years I have been totally unable to do which has kind of been a dragl

Im excited about the next two nights which features a great friend of mine James Danderfer. This guy continues to amaze me with his developing talents. Tonight and tomorrow night see Danderfer paired with Canadian legend Don Thompson. I heard the rehearsal today and its gonna be a very hot two nights of music. Danderfer writes great tunes and DT eatst them up. The are no slouches either. Brad Turner on piano, Sean Cronin on bass and Joe Poole on drums. This promises to be a great couple of nights of music. I have heard that Friday is sold out so if you are unable to make it tonight, they are doing a free afternoon show at CBC Radio 1 Studio at 700 Hamilton Street on Saturday from Noon to 2:00. Should be happening!

Im reading 'One Long Tune - The Life and Music of Lenny Breau.' What a fantastically written book. Ron Forbes-Roberts has done a wondeful job of documenting Lenny's life and his music and laying it out in a way that is not intimidating to read. Very informative and the thing I love about it is he really highlights all the great things that were happening in the late 50's and early 60's in Canada as far as music and jazz go. It makes me wish I was born in a different era! We are selling the book at the club for $32.00 and if you are a fan of jazz you have to read it, its great!

Thats it for now!

Still For Sale but even cheaper.

Just in case anyone is looking for a truck, I'm selling mine. Its a 2003 Chevy Blazer LS, 62,000 kms, cd player, air conditiong. This truck has been fully maintained. Im looking to down size. Im pricing it to sell at $11,000 or someone can take over the payments. There is a little more than 2 years left on the payments. I think about 24 months or so. You can drop me a line if you're interested. My email is cory@cellarjazz.com. Check out a list of people that have been in this truck. Frank Wess, Benny Golson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Charles McPherson, Monty Alexander, Herlin Riley, Chris Potter, Kenny Garrett, Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Ed Thigpen, David Fathead Newman, Red Holloway, Kenny Barron, Ben Riley, Eddie Henderson. Thats pretty heavy. This truck is a must have for any jazz fan. To view picture scroll down to 'For Sale' post.
cory@cellarjazz.com

What up with Crash?

Its kinda funny because as the band gets better and better the crowds get less and less. We started out with a bang back in April with huge crowds and a great repsonse. Unfortunately it was a bit of a 'sub' fest meaning the core members of the band were not on the gig all that much. Musically it suffered, not because the players weren't good but just because it was new music to everyone. The whole band (Kerry Galloway on bass, Scott Sanft on keys, Jerry Cook on tenor sax, myself on alto, Rob Hamilton on guitar and Tim Proznick) have been on the gig for the last three weeks in a row and the band has really taken on a new sound. We have made a committment to trying to keep the material fresh and bring in some new tunes on a regular basis in addition to bringing out some of the old Crash classics like 'LIzard,' 'Fresh Red Snapper' and a few others.

The unfortunate part about all of this is the crowds have really died down. I don't know if its because of UBC being out or what but round up some people and cmon down. The food is $7 for everything, pints are $3.75 and the cover is only $5.

Finally Recovered

Wow. What a weekend. I think I'm finally just starting to see the light of day now. I don't ususally do that much partying and drinking but I had to make an exception this weekend. What a fun weekend. It didn't start out all that well but I managed to pull it together in the end....I think. Trumpter Jim Rotondi, drummer Joe Strasser, bassist Chris Tarry took the stage with myself on alto, Brad Turner on rhodes and Rob Hamilton for three nights of some pretty funky shit. I have to say I felt a tad out of my league on Friday night but as I mentioned earlier I think I pulled it together for the rest of the weekend. I can't single out anyone for playing well because everyone played their asses off. Strasser and Tarry hooked up so well and really layed it down. Hammer sounded wonderful I thought and Turner played the rhodes like it was a little toy in his hands. I mean he really really ripped it up. There was this tune called 'Mr. Creignos" that has this vamp section at the end that BT just pounded. It was wicked. Rotondi is as happening a trumpet player as they come. For some reason he doesn't get as much play as Jeremy Pelt or Roy Hargrove but make no mistake this man can freaking play.

On Friday night we had a colossal train wreck. It was beautiful. The whole band screwed up and then we just stopped and all kinda of looked shell shocked just all standing there looking at one another for some sense of direction. It was truly a classic moment. What a thrill to be up on stage with Jim, a consummate professional in all aspects. It was also cool to have Ian Hendrickson-Smith up here recording to. As I looked at around the room at the end of the night and say all the guys hanging out it was neat to just look around and see what we had created. Friends from across the country coming together to hang out and make music.

Strasser is one of the funniest guys I have ever met in my life. Im not even going to attempt to tell you why because it just wouldn't translate well in a blog but just take my word for it, he is hilarious. My gut and mouth still hurt from laughing so hard. CLASSIC. It was also neat to see a whole pile of musicians come down to the club and check out what was happening. Mike Allen, Jesse Cahill, Terry Deane, Brandon Davis, Chris Davis, Josh Cole Melody Diachin, Doug Stephenson, Rene Worst, Don Fraser, Steve Mynett etc. Sorry if I missed anyone. Its been a long time since I have seen that many musicians at The Cellar. Thanks guys.

3 Storys High did another wonderful job of helping bring people down and warming the crowd up for us. Thanks guys, as always you sounded wonderful. Most pleasurable of all however was the fact that there were people in the room all three nights which was awesome. It was pretty much a packed house for three nights in a row which was music to my ears and made for a fun recording.

Okay, in the CD player this week some goodies:

Eric Alexander "Its All In The Game" High Note Records - Once again Eric has put out a fantastically solid release. Hard bop at its finest played by one of the best tenor players on the planet. There are a few modal like ditties on this disc that you get to hear Alexander really stretch out on which is cool. A nice arrangement of an R&B standard "Where Is The Love" and a great version of "Ruby My Dear" The only negative thing about this record is that Harold Mabern (piano) is way to low in the mix. I don't know what they were thinking but its a shame because Mabern deserves to be higher in the mix. ****/5

Wayne Shorter - The Soothsayer, Blue Note - Smoking record as it should be with the all star cast of James Spaulding on alto, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums. I bought this record because it has 'The Big Push" on it which we played with Rotondi this weekend. Rotondi's solo changes however were suspiciously harder than the ones that the boys on Soothsayer played over. Hmmm, I will have to ask Rotondi about that one. A beautiful ballad from Shorter's pen called Lady Day is another highlight of the record as well. ****/5

Uri Caine - Bedrock. WOW, Uri Cain is one of the most underrated players of his generation. Bedrock is his funky project if you will and this album is really killing. It features him primarily on Fender Rhodes which is my new favorite instrument. The whole group propelled however by the explosive drumming of Zach Danziger. If you like the funky stuff go and by this record. ****/5

Andrew Hill - Time Lines, Blue Note - Im a little undecided about this record at the moment and it may take a listen or two more to formulate an opinion. There have been some great moments so far but the music is a little bit different. I was eagerly anticipating this album and perhaps my expectations are to high. I will write more on this a little later.