California Here I Come

Now that the spring term is over at Portland State University, I get a little break. My break is in the form of a tour of California! Well, it's three performances. Does that count as a tour?

It's in two different cities: San Diego and Los Angeles. My first stop is at a venue called the Athenaeum in La Jolla. They have an ongoing jazz piano series which I am honored to be a part of. (By the way, San Diego is home to one of the greatest jazz pianists alive, Mr. Geoffrey Keezer.) I will be playing trio with bassist Hamilton Price and drummer Steve Hass. I have never met or played with Mr. Price, but he comes highly recommended( he had a lot of positive ratings on Yelp.com.....). Steve

Hamilton Price

Hass and I worked together a bunch many years ago; we played together with tenor saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, and also did a short tour with vocalist Janis Siegel. He also recorded with me on a CD called Live at Blues Alley which is still available! We have planned to play some original music of mine, but we might throw in some standards as well. I'm also bringing my pocket trumpet for some comic relief. (I'm amazed at how much attention I get when I play the pocket trumpet. People are always coming up to me after the show and saying, " What kind of trumpet is that?" No ever says I

Steve Hass

sounded good, but I think that the oddity of a tiny trumpet really distracts from how bad I sound on it. Wait until I buy a RED pocket trumpet! That will really distract them....)

After two days off in San Diego, I'll drive up to Los Angeles for more music. On June 19th, I will perform a short late set at ArtShare with drummer Tina Raymond. Miss Raymond is a former student of the great Joe LaBarbara has been highly active on the LA scene for a number of years. We are going to play duo(piano and drums) and the set will be mostly improvised. I've never played with Raymond, but I've been checking out her playing on her website, and I think it's going to be a momentous musical meeting.

Tina Raymond

On Thursday, June 20th, at 8pm in Studio City, I will be performing at Vitello's with a fabulous quartet. Hamilton Price and Steve Hass will be joining me again; we will be adding the great Bob Sheppard on tenor saxophone. I've enjoyed listening to Sheppard as a member of pianist Billy Child's band; I'm looking forward to hearing him play my music. I think this is a seriously heavyweight band and I hope that jazz fans in LA will come out

Bob Sheppard

and check it out! Hope to see you there!

(P.S. Here are some youtube clips of Steve Hass and I playing together. One is from my recording "Live At Blues Alley" featuring bassist David Ephross. The second is from a recording with Ravi Coltrane. Enjoy!)