Safe at Home

Traveling has been a little trickier lately, especially for musicians who depend on bringing their precious instruments onto the plane. Entire orchestras are canceling tours right now, which is such a shame. There’s plenty more about that at Drew McManus’ blog.

Which makes me all the more appreciative that Brass Ecstasy was able to travel to Italy and hike to Rifugio al Cacciatore, play a concert, and make it home (more or less) OK. This is a great group of players: Ray Anderson and Clark Gayton on trombones, Marcus Rojas on tuba, Marcus Gilmore on drums. I’ve been playing cornet lately and am considering making a switch I’d never ever considered. I conceived of this band as a tribute to Lester Bowie and we play a pretty slamming version of Otis Redding’s Mr. Pitiful if I do say so myself. The usual Missy Elliott and Rufus Wainwright, the Hank Williams that you subscribers know, and originals. I plan to document this group some time soon.

Housekeeping: I linked to the new book of interviews by Lloyd Peterson a few weeks ago, and apparently the link was no good. So here it is. What’s more the book is now out. Music and the Creative Spirit: Innovators in Jazz, Improvisation and the Avant Garde.

It’s worth it if for nothing else than the handwritten letter from Steve Lacy explaining why such a book should never be written, something about butterflies being trampled underfoot in order to be catalogued… Oh, and Don Cherry‘s on You Tube.