My new album, Sunday, by my long-standing band Apocryphal with Loren Stillman, Brandon Seabrook, and Eivind Opsvik, has gotten some great notices, for which I’m very thankful:
Peter Margasak’s enthusiastic review on his great Substack Nowhere Street is here;
Jim Macnie had some supportive and perceptive words about the album;
And I deeply appreciate Richard Williams’ take.
Thank you gents!
If you haven’t yet heard or bought the album, please visit my Bandcamp. For paying subscribers, I’ve included PDF charts of all the tracks on Sunday at the bottom of this post. These are the charts we used on the session, and some are handwritten— forgive my scrawl.
Ethan Iverson has been an important mentor and friend for many years. I’m honored to be a part of his newest Blue Note album, Technically Acceptable. The bulk of the record is a trio of Ethan, bassist Thomas Morgan, and the great Kush Abadey on drums. I’m honored to be on two tracks, Ethan’s cover of “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, and an original, “The Feeling Is Mutual”. On both tracks we’re joined by Simòn Willson on bass, our comrade from the Mark Morris Dance Group.
It’s a great album, and getting a lot of attention. When I hear it, I’m sort of like “wow, am I really on this?” Here’s one of my favorites with Kush:
Ethan Iverson: “It’s Fine To Decline”
And here’s one I’m on:
At the risk of over-tooting my horn:
Ethan and Nate Chinen, the former New York Times critic and author of Playing Changes, whose own Substack is an essential part of my reading, recently had a two-part interview discussing Ethan’s album, the state of jazz, and music criticism. Here’s Part 1, and here’s Part 2.
The interview is great— big ideas are simply stated, with a wide frame, placing the new record and our current moment in a larger context. But I was pleasantly surprised that in Part 2, both Ethan and Nate had kind things to say about my Substack. Chinen even called it a “must-subscribe, must-read”.
Whoah! I’ll say it again— thank you Mr. Chinen, and thank you Ethan.
I’m involved in a lot of independent jazz projects. It can be challenging to juggle the schedules, but it’s worth it for the music. As we all know, the best jazz is made by bands.
Charlotte Greve is a saxophonist and composer from Germany who I met at a jam session in Brooklyn years ago, while Chris Tordini, a leading bassist in NYC, I’ve known since the Bush administration. Together, we are The Choir Invisible, as much a family as a band, and our second Intakt album, Town Of Two Faces, will be released on Friday Feb 16th. Our first, self-titled album can be heard here.
Here’s an adorable picture of us with vocalist Fay Victor:
And here’s our first single, Fay joining us for a a cover of David Lynch’s “In Heaven”, heard in Eraserhead.
When I moved to NYC after college, I met a coterie of older musicians who were immediately supportive and welcoming, becoming close friends and helping me find work. Khabu Doug Young, Brian Drye, Bob Bowen, and clarinetist/composer Mike McGinnis were the core of this crew. We lost Bob in 2010, and Khabu lives in Colorado, but Brian and Mike and I work together when we can, most recently in Mike McGinnis’ latest Sunnyside release by his 10-piece band, Outing: Road Trip II.
Music creates community. “The Gospel of Bone Drye” is both a beautiful composition and a tribute to the personal and musical connections that have sustained us throughout the decades.
Posi-Tone Records is run by Marc Free and Nick O’Toole, both on the West Coast. Over the past decade, they’ve built up a big catalog of high-quality “straight forward jazz”, as they like to call it.
I got to play on a recent Posi-Tone release called Swing and Soul, featuring all tunes by Duke Pearson. Here I am doing my best Mel Lewis and Art Blakey on Pearson’s “ESP” with a great band: tenor saxophonist Diego Rivera, pianist Art Hirahara, and bassist Boris Koslov.
I appreciate this session for the fantastic players and great tunes, of course, but also for the chance to play my version of Blakey, Mel, and the cats.
It’s when I try to play in their style that I really feel in my body how brilliant they were, fueling my listening and writing here on Chronicles.
More and more, my daily tasks involve work for this Substack and keeping the bands rolling. I didn’t anticipate this, but playing, writing, and teaching all feel like the same project. Mine is a lucky existence, a privilege and honor. None of this would be possible without your support, and I sincerely thank you.
Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to directly support independent writers and musicians. If you appreciate my writing, highlighting the contributions of drummers to our strong, meaningful, and shared musical heritage, consider becoming a paid subscriber through Substack.
Bandcamp continues to be the only internet music service that treats musicians as stakeholders and pays accordingly. If you believe in a viable music community, please support artists on Bandcamp by downloading a digital album or buying a physical copy of the music. Nothing contributes to a better music ecosystem like paying for a recording.
Thank you all! More soon.
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