Long time no post

Its been a while since I have posted. Sorry! Its not that there has been a lack of things to write about its just been so much that its been kind of overwhelming!

The club has been busy which is great. We're coming off a great weekend with Dee Daniels that was pretty much sold out for all three nights which is great. Then of course we had 3 smoking nights with PJ Perry and Campbell Ryga....the list goes on and on.

Im excited about the Cellar Live showcase in New York City. On November 9th Ugetsu, The Chad Makela Quartet and I will be heading for the Big Apple to play at The Fat Cat Jazz Club in The Village. If you know anyone in NYC, please tell them to come out as we need all the support we can get. At the very least we're going to have a lot of fun and there will be some great music made for sure! The gigs on on November 10th and 11th. Im staying on in NYC for a few days to put the finishing touchers on the Night Crawlers 'Presenting' record which will be very cool. Ian Hendrickson-Smith is doing the mixing and he is doing it super old school which means its gonna sound like one of those organ records from the 60's!

Jodi Proznick's record is out and boy does it sound and look good. Steve Mynett a relative newcomer to the world of design did a fantastic job and should be commended for his great work! The band....well thats a given. Absolutely killing! Pick this record up now because you're going to love it!

Zapato Negro record is very close to being sent to the manufacturer so we should be planning a CD relese on a Wednesday in December. Stay tuned for that.

Im sure if you haven't heard already that we booked Sweet Lou Donaldson. OH MY GOD! This is perhaps the second biggest bookingof the Cellar's existence besides George Coleman. I don't even know what to say about this. Its going to be freaking unbelievable. Sweet Lou!

Thats it for now!

CD PLAYER

Sorry for my lack of postings. Things as usual have been very very busy. I hope some of you were able catch my Hot Air broadcast last Saturday. My CBC debut. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

I have had the pleasure of listening to a plethora of great records lately and wanted to share some of them with you.

Joe Magnarelli - Hoop Dreams, Criss Cross Jazz
If you like jazz, you have to pick this record up. Its fantastic. The band is Joe Magnarelli (Tp, Flh), Peter Bernstein (G), Gary Versace (P), Paul Gill (B), Tony Reedus (D). For those of you who are not familiar with Gary Versace should make a point of becoming familiar with him because his one of the most original sounding pianists playing today. Some wonderfully creative playing by Versace is the highlight of this CD. Mags is fantastic trumpet player and really sounds great throughout. This is one of these records where everything is just perfect. The playing, the tune selection, the sound. Everything just comes together.

Matthias Lupri - Matrix, Summitt Records
Matthias Lupri - vibes, electronics, compositions, Myron Walden - bass clar., soprano sax, alto sax, Donny McCaslin - alto flute, tenor sax, soprano, Nate Radley - guitar, electronics, Thomson Kneeland - acoustic bass, electronics, Jordan Perlson - drums, percussion. Matthias Lupri has been around a while and you may remember his name from past jazz festivals here in Vancouver. Matthias has composing gift and although all his previous records feature some great musicains, I think this current record is the most cohesive sounding unit that he has put together. There are so many people out there talking about Chris Potter, Mark Turner, Joe Lovano etc. all justified but Donny McCasllin is not often mentioned in the same breath as these aforementioned reedmen. He should be!! He is unbelievable. Once again much like Versace mentioned earlier he is really sounding creative and although not trying to reinvent the wheel he is being so rhythmically and melodically creative. The rhythm section that has appeared on many past Lupri recordings really comes into their own on this record. Check it out.

Charles Earland - The Might Burner, Original Jazz Classics
Charles Earland - b3 organ, Houston Person - tenor sax, Virgil Jones - trumpet, Idris Muhammed - drums and Melvin Sparks - guitar. The Might Burner as he is affectionately known is in fine from on this reissue. I don't have much to say about this reocrd other than its just ripping organ jazz at it finest! Did you know that Charles actually played saxophone first? Even recorded on it!

Hank Mobely - Another Workout, Blue Note
Another great RVG reissue. Hank Mobely - tenor sax, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers - bass and Philly Joe Jones - drums. Does it really get any better than this! Hard hitting, hard swinging, hard bop. I will never understand why Hank remains in the underrated category. Such a lyrical player. This is a great stripped down session with only Hank on the front line and you really get to hear him play.

I have heard some great stuff lately at the club. Young Vancouver vocalist Terra Grimard did a night at the club and sounded beautiful. I really like what she was doing with the tunes she was singing and the band sounded great especially Ian Cox on piano. Very creative which seems to be a theme that I like lately.

Speaking of vocalists Heather Bambrick did a night at the club. I don't know what I enjoyed more, her singing or her in between tune banter. She was hilarious, absolutely hilarious but all joking aside I really enjoyed her singing. The band was Jesse Cahill - drums, Jodi Proznick - bass and Tilden Webb- piano. Another reason why it sounded so good.

Thats it for now.

Getting yourself some
drum lessons can be a good start on the road to sound like some of these guys.