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HELLO?
THE FORCE WILL BE WITH YOU. ALWAYS.
MOVIN' ON UP
Q2 PROGRESS REPORT | 2015 RESOLUTIONS
Practice Art Farmer improv method religiously.
Q1—I've been inconsistent in my practice. Will recommit.
Q2 — Doing a little better with this. Teaching helps.
Finish writing Jazz Noir material for 2016 recording.
Q1—Wrote 3 new charts. 2 are keepers. More to come.
Q2 — Now have more than enough material and ready to record.
Create and learn fresh DMG sets: 11 tunes, 2 original.
Q1—Done!
Q2 — Focused on next season’s material now.
Pay health insurance first every month, no matter what.
Q1—So far, so good!
Q2 — Ditto.
Walk or swim daily. Lose 5 pounds monthly, 60 by year-end.
Q1— Down 16 pounds since Jan 1.
Q2 — Cut 36 pounds since Jan 1.
Increase number of workshops nationally from 54 to 100.
Q1—Way behind; only 23 booked so far. Redoubling my efforts.
Q2 — Some progress; 39 booked. Still at it.
Increase touring income by 20% while playing 20 fewer shows.
Q1—Results are mixed: so far I'm working more but making less.
Net income YTD is 43% greater than in Q1 2014, but 40% short of goal,
and per gig average is only 88% of 2014 levels.
Q2 — Still working more, making less...
Bump per gig average by 5% and increase total net income by 27%.
Q1—Not looking good (see above). Imperative that we book considerably more workshops this fall.
Q2 — Ditto.
Eschew cynicism, laugh often and see the best in people.
Q1—They don't make it easy but I'm mostly grateful and happy.
Q2 — Life is good.
When the time is right, get a dog!
Q1—Not yet...
Q2 — Soon!
OZYMANDIAN DREAM
Part One
I'm a young man, proud to be a member of the prestigious Philosopher's Forum.
Our meeting place is a stately hall with white columns, not unlike a Roman temple, perched atop a steep hill.
The names of the great philosophers, our wise elders, are chiseled on the marble wall.
There's a grand salon where the elders speak and an archive where their lectures are recorded for posterity.
Our favorite days are when the elders visit to share their life experiences and ideas.
My friends and I gather in the grand salon, listen attentively and ask many questions.
Afterward we meet in the archive to read the great lectures of the past.
We passionately debate the nuances and meaning of every phrase.
Part Two
It's now decades later.
I'm honored to have been invited to speak at the Forum, but when I arrive, it is not as I remember.
The columns are crumbling and the marble wall is covered in graffiti.
The names of the elders, long dead, are barely legible beneath the chaotic scrawl.
The grand salon has been carved up into dozens of tiny rooms.
There are too many speakers and everyone is shouting.
I struggle to communicate with a restless young audience.
They seem distracted and have no questions.
Afterward, I ask if I may visit the archive.
“Yeah, we don't really have that anymore,” I'm told.
“It's a Chipotle now.”
2015 RESOLUTIONS | PROGRESS REPORT
It's hard to believe that Q1 of 2015 is already behind us.
I set some pretty ambitious goals in January.
Here's where things stand today:
Practice Art Farmer improv method religiously.
I've been inconsistent in my practice. Will recommit.
Finish writing Jazz Noir material for 2016 recording.
Wrote 3 new charts. 2 are keepers. More to come.
Create and learn fresh DMG sets: 11 tunes, 2 original.
Done!
Pay health insurance first every month, no matter what.
So far, so good.
Walk or swim daily. Lose 5 pounds monthly, 60 by year-end.
On track: eating right and walking every day.
Down 16 pounds since the new year.
Increase number of workshops nationally from 54 to 100.
Way behind on this. Only 23 booked so far.
Redoubling my efforts.
Increase touring income by 20% while playing 20 fewer shows.
Fail. I'm working more but making less.
Net income YTD is 43% greater than in Q1 2014, but 40% short of goal,
and per gig average is only 88% of 2014 levels.
Bump per gig average by 5% and increase total net income by 27%.
Not looking good (see above). Need to improve these margins.
Eschew cynicism, laugh often and see the best in people.
They sure don't make it easy but I'm mostly grateful and happy.
When the time is right, get a dog!
Not yet...
WELCOME BACK
there was always a 45-minute wait at Breakfast Spot #1
but you'd get a table right away at Breakfast Spot #2.
I'm pleased to report that nothing has changed.
And the Yukon Gold Home Fries are every
bit as yummy as you remember.
RESOLUTIONS
THAT COLD BLUE LIGHT
ZERO HOUR
HISTORY
Happy Father's Day
Michigan Tour Diary — Day 8
Music Matters
Institutional Memory
Look Again
Broaden Your Horizons
MANIFESTO
COURSE CORRECTION
This week, Sassy and I have enjoyed the hospitality of some friends who've generously provided lodging for us in their home while I play a few gigs in the area.
Their son (let's call him Freddie) is a very talented young aspiring jazz trumpeter.
Although I regularly give master classes on the road, and have done my share of classroom teaching, spending time with Freddie and his family over the past week has been a powerful reminder to me of what it means to be a serious musician and what an industry jazz education has become.
At the age of 16, Freddie has already taken advantage of more specialized training and travel opportunities than I had in my college years, and he's already twice the player I was in high school.
Freddie's days are so full that I'm actually hesitant to call him an "aspiring" musician. Not yet a high school senior, he's already playing professional gigs, studying advanced concepts and techniques, taking and teaching private lessons, listening broadly and living a decidedly music-centered life.
Freddie studies privately with two teachers: one for trumpet, another for jazz.
He's a veteran of jazz camp, Jazzschool, the Grammy band, SFJAZZ All-Stars, J@LC Essentially Ellington and Monterey NextGen.
He participates in a summer music mentoring program and leads sectional brass rehearsals for his school jazz ensemble. He's won awards in all the regional and national honors programs you've heard of and several that you haven't. And he's already performed on the most prestigious jazz stages worldwide: New York, Monterey, Montreux, North Sea, Umbria.
I never practiced like this kid, not even at Interlochen. He hits it hard for hours every day. Each morning I awaken to the sound of Freddie's horn, methodically working its way through James Stamp warm-ups, Clarke etudes, Clifford Brown turnarounds, articulation and lip flexibility exercises and chord scale after chord scale. Every afternoon he has a rehearsal or two with this or that band. Every evening he practices again.
When I was Freddie's age, my bedroom was a shrine to Lindsay Wagner and Spencer's Gifts. I had only just begun to take private lessons and didn't take them very seriously. I loved to play but hated to practice.
Freddie's room is a hardcore crucible of brass: his chair, music stand and horn are at the center, surrounded by stacks of lead sheets and method books. His walls are festooned with festival posters and images of great jazzmen. On his desk a laptop computer is open to an overstuffed iTunes library. Two speakers face the practice chair.
I spent a couple of hours trading riffs with Freddie, and am astonished by his proficiency on the horn and his familiarity with the nuances of the jazz language. He's already familiar with every classic recording I mention, and he seems to own nearly all the available Aebersold and music-minus-one collections of standards. He has a remarkably sophisticated ear for modern harmony and can toss off bebop clichés over complex changes at bright tempos. He listens to all the same jazz heroes I do, plus the latest recordings by Alex Sipiagin, Ambrose Akinmusire and Billy Buss. He already knows the tunes, licks and lore that I learned in my five years at Berklee.
The other night I invited Freddie to sit-in with me and the band on "Invitation." The audience was knocked out. He played a mature solo, including some very creative motivic development. After the set, Freddie was appropriately gracious and grateful, pausing to individually thank each member of the rhythm section. He even possesses enough charm to balance all that swagger.
After 30 years in music, I'm now at an age when I think it's important to pay it forward. It's been my belief that I have a responsibility to share what I've learned over the course of my life and career, and to mentor and encourage the next generation of musicians.
But if they're at all like Freddie, I don't have the time.
I need to practice.
— D.M.
THIS MOMENT
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
—John Lennon & Paul McCartney
OATH
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.
— J.R.R. Tolkien
MAL DU PAYS
Remembering our beloved Doggie (later King) Diner at 10th & Mission in San Francisco, where the jazz warriors and even the late, great Tony Williams enjoyed 24-hour grease burgers. Gone but not forgotten. ~DM