BILL KING FACES THE MUSIC

I did my interview with Bill King today and I thought it was absolutely fantastic. We were restricted by time and I could've talked to Bill for easily another 30 minutes at least. I have an mp3 of the interview if anyone would like to hear it I would be happy to email it to you.

Bill answered all of my questions with grace and didn't shy away from answering the tougher questions. King as done a lot for jazz in this country and is very very supportive of Canadian artists from all regions as evidenced by what he plays on his radio show at Jazz FM. Bill made it very very very clear that there is no bias towards Ontario or Eastern artists.

We talked about some of the peculiar inclusions in some of the categories for example Mike Murley in the clarinet category. Apparently Mike asked King to remove his name from that category because he didn't feel comfortable. The NJA's obliged. The same can't be said about METALWOOD. Although he admitted that it was odd that they would be nominated 2 years in a row when they haven't been a band for the better part of 3 years, he did say that through the process they have in place right or wrong they were nominated. If a member from the group requests removal from the list they will remove them.

All in all I thought Bill was great and I have a great respect for how he handled this.

The nominations are over for this year, what we can do now is go to the voting booth at www.nationaljazzawards.com and vote for the Westerners that are up there.

MISH MASH

Long time no blog! Sorry about that. Im still recovering from what was perhaps the busiest 6 weeks of my life. All good stuff but it was busy. Poor Dr. Lonnie didn't end his trip very well here in Vancouver. He got really ill just before our Envision Jazz Festival gig a couple of weeks back and was a trooper. He acutally did the gig but was unable to leave the next morning. He remained ill all day Sunday and then I had to spend 6 hours with him in emergency on Monday. He ended up being okay but was pretty beaten up. He ended up leaving on Tuesday morning only to arrive in Toronto to be told that he could not fly out because of bad weather. He finally arrived in NYC on Thursday in time for his organ summitt gig at SMOKE with Jimmy McGriff and Rueben Wilson. Poor guy.

I would like to send a shout out to Ted Campbell, a new volunteer on my Chasin The Train radio show who will be operating for me. Today was his first day and he did a fantastic job! It was great and I'm looking forward to having him do the show every week with me and you'll also hear his voice in upcoming weeks to as he subs for me from time to time. I will also be doing A TRANE the last Friday of every month starting this Friday so tune in and check out what we'll be playing!

The club has been packed and the label is kicking butt. Im having fun!

PORTLAND ROUND 2

Had a great day walking around the city of Portland today. We went up to Hawthorne Street and made the mistake of going to Crosstown Records. I got out for less than $100 which is impressive for me seeing as at one point I had a stack of about 15 records. I got some great stuff. Harold Mabern, Max Roach, Hank Marr, Joe Carroll, Dr. Lonnie Smith. It was great. We then went to this fantastic Lebanese restaurant and had some Dolmas, Babaganousch and Turkish coffee. It was great.

We headed to the Monk around 730 and the good Dr. was in good spirits yet again. Man he has been unreal! We ate a fantastic dinner. I had the Spaghetti and Meatballs again because they're just to good to pass up. The crowd was a bit bigger and really into it and it was no wonder why. The band more than any other night in the my 40 + gigs with the doctor hit the bandstand running. Holy crap! It was absolutely unbelievable. There was no warming up, easing into the set etc. It was really burning. Bernie continues to blow me away. God he has sounded so good on this tour and I have really enjoyed hanging out with him (we roomed together the whole tour). He is a wealth of knowledge on so many different things. Its great! Off to Tacoma today for the 2nd to last gig.

MUSINGS

The tour with the good Dr. continues tonight in Portland at The Blue Monk. Sorry I haven't been posting. Things have been very very busy. We had a great show up in Cranbrook. The audience was really hard to read and we thought that maybe they weren't enjoying it but judging by how many CDs were purchased I think they dug the show. The 11 hour drive home from Cranbrook was a lot to take but the fact that Dr. Lonnie didn't complain once made it easier. He has always been great to deal with but this tour he has been exceptional especially given some of the nasty drives.

We played in Seattle last night at The Triple Door. This is a first class joint from top to bottom. They really have it together and the band sounded good. It wasn't my best night but all in all it was good and a nice crowd to of about 128 people which is pretty decent. We drove to Portland today and arrived at KMHD Radio in Gresham where Dr. Lonnie did an interview. It was fun hanging out at the station and it was nice to see that they are familiar with Cellar Live and play a lot of our stuff. The director of development Calvin Walker gave the label a very very nice plug which is very cool. We arrived at our hotel at around 3:00 and what a hotel it is. I can't even explain in but check it out on the web at www.jupiterhotel.com. I can't even begin to explain this place but its wicked!

The gig at the Monk tonight musically was happening but crowd wise it was super disappointing. Only about 25 people which is pretty low considering that we hadn't had a crowd less than 85 the whole tour. The folks that were there dug it and I'm proud to say that the band played as if the room was full. We're hoping for a bigger turn out tomorrow and I think it will be. The Monk is a great place and the food is happening. I had the Spaghetti and Meatballs which is a signature Blue Monk dish.

Im feeling blessed to play with these great musicians. Especially Bernie! Man he is really knocking me out more than he ever has. I don't know what it is but he is really sounding wonderful. Bill Coon never ceases to amaze me. it doesn't matter what the situation he sounds amazing! Taggart.....shit, to share the stage with him and constantly having to be on your toes is tough. Basically if you're going to play saxophone with him on the same stage you better make sure you're at your best at all times. I kind of work better under those conditions. Its been great! I counted the time I have shared the same stage with Dr. and its be 41! Wow.

The greatest thing about this tour is its been all jazz all the time. No funk which i have enjoyed. We have been playing On A Misty Night, My Little Suede Shoes, Just Squeeze Me, Willow Weep For Me, Its You Or No One, Billie's Bounce, Body And Soul, In A Sentimental Mood etc. Its my first jazz tour!