Here, and here:

Antennae Town by uglyrug

More updates coming. Thank you for your patience.

Well, for a tour that began with intimations of disaster (a singer who was forced to drop out at the last minute, a brand-new bass player and trumpeter, a saxophonist with some broken teeth, a late-night brush with Johnny Law, a traffic jam of epic proportions), last week’s jaunt to San Diego actually went pretty damned well. Personnel: Damon Zick (soprano sax), Evan Francis (alto sax), Brian Walsh (tenor sax), Mary-Sue Tobin (tenor sax), Cory Wright (bari sax, piccolo), Dan Rosenboom (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), Josh Aguiar (trumpet), Josh Welchez (trumpet), Ian Carroll (trombone), Mike Richardson (trombone), Tany Ling (vox), Sam Bevan (bass), Dan Schnelle (drums), me.

We played two shows: one at Mesa College, and the other at Dizzy’s (both on Wednesday, November 3). We enjoyed highly appreciative and responsive crowds, a band that is sounding tighter than ever in its new-old incarnation, and a presenter who really took care of us (the one and only Jim Romeo).

After the Dizzy’s gig, a few of us crashed at Romeo’s gorgeous home in the San Diego hills, an experience that made me think that maybe there is a future in this jazz thing after all. Here’s the view we woke up to:

Anyway, a splendid time was had by all, and blah blah blah. Made it back to PDX without incident. Two days later I found myself in the Alberta Rose Theater, listening to the Quadraphonnes (featuring IJG saxophonist Mary-Sue Tobin) perform their much-anticipated “tone-color-melody” concert, a multimedia extravaganza that I was very honored to be a part of. This show was, as Ellington used to say, “beyond category.” You can hear most of the tune I wrote for the Quads (+ marimba, cellos, and rhythm section) in the below clip. (Apologies for the unsteady camera. I swear I wasn’t drunk.)

All in all, a fantastic week.

(Now to start preparing for our trip to Italy.)

Introducing “The Seagull.”

First, live audio from the Hammer Museum show on August 19. The sound of the IJG in a big courtyard, at night. This was in fact the first time we had played this tune in public (I believe the technical term is “world premiere”). The trumpet solo is Dan Rosenboom, the tenor solo is Brian Walsh, and the alto solo is Evan Francis. Jill and Tany do an incredible seagull impression at the end.

(It sounds like someone in the audience breaks a glass at around the 17 second mark. Huh?)

Overall, not a perfect performance, but not a bad one either, and the energy is pretty intense, which I like.

The Seagull by uglyrug

And here’s the same tune the following night, at Dizzy’s in San Diego. You can hear the trumpets a little better in this one, so some of the time displacements might make a little more sense. Video courtesy of Tany Ling / Matt Lichtenwalner.

Greetings from lovely Southern California

To quote Will Ferrell portraying Alex Trebek, I was hoping we could have a fun-filled evening with a “minimum of ethnic slurs.”

I’m not sure how the John Waters came out on the video; I shaved the rest of it promptly after shutting off the camera

things are well in the San Fernando Valley

Better version here.

Via.

Note that I am very close to being “very trustworthy.”