New Music Strategies plus MOMA concert
Well, it’s definitely the “mutual admiration society”, as New Music Strategies author Andrew Dubber recently posted a link to and about me on his website in response to a question I posed to him about his fantastic and “essential reading” free Ebook, ”The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online”. The book is really the summation of many things I’ve been more and more deeply exploring of late as I dive head-first into this whole Web 2.0 world. It’s amazing how quickly things change, but he’s managed to sum up the state of things nicely and I highly recommend his site.
Other news: Just did a successful performance at the Museum of Modern Art’s “Summergarden” series, featuring a piece I premiered in honor of my 10 month old son, Jarrett Jackson. The concert was originally scheduled to take place outdoors in a very scenic and stately courtyard, but the incessant rain that day turned out to be a blessing in disguise in that we were able to leave the intense humidity in favor of a much more pleasant, indoor, air conditioned setting in the museum proper (and how often does one get the chance to perform in front of an actual Rodin sculpture, the statute peering mischievously over my left shoulder throughout the performance, as I played?)
In this day and age, being able to bring in a dedicated assemblage of 300 people (a sold-out show, with people actually turned away at the door) on a consistent basis is a tremendous achievement, and so I tip my hat to the event's organizer, Melanie Monios, and also to Cat Henry of Jazz at Lincoln Center for her involvement as well.
The group I brought in consisted of myself, Dwayne Burno on bass, Reggie Nicholson on drums, and Sam Newsome on soprano sax, who joined us for a few tunes. I felt a strange manic energy at first, perhaps due to the personal nature of the concert: my father had come down all the way from Ottawa, Canada to attend, and my father-and mother-in law as well as other extended family were all there. Most fascinatingly for me, was the presence, throughout, of Jarrett Jackson, my 10-month old ( held - and handled! - by my wife Elizabeth for the entire concert) who truly seemed old enough to start to grasp that his daddy is a performer, and was definitely watching me with curiosity from the audience for a large part of the concert, occasionally peppering the air with baby squeals (occasionally at amusingly inopportune moments :-))...He particularly seemed to engage himself during "his tune" - a piece I wrote for the occasion entitled "Frantic Explorations" (I'll post excerpts in an upcoming Podcast), in which I tried to musically describe his propensity towards (as Jerry Seinfeld once put it) treating his head like a helmet as he crawled recklessly and adventurously about our apartment.
I also had the unusual but distinct pleasure of having my performances inspire New York-based visual artist Mark Wiener, who apparently was sketching throughout the concert and plans to send me one and show the remaining drawings at a Solo exhibition in October. Much thanks to all who attended!