Despite the fact that today is (likely) Nashville’s coldest day of the year – we won’t hit 30 degrees – I’m feeling charged up about a lot of things happening in our jazz scene.
This weekend was a blast. The quartet had a great show at F Scotts – we played a large mix of new charts, original tunes, and a few standards. Sometimes there’s a tendency to overlook the “band” aspect in jazz and focus on soloists ability, but that’s nearly impossible when playing with Bruce, Jonathan, and Josh.
Prior to the show I had given a lesson to a student alto player. We had had such a good time that I brought my alto to the gig (as pictured above) and ended up playing it on about 40% of the tunes, a first for me. I think this might become a trend. My student was gracious enough to come check out the gig too.
On Saturday night I ventured back out to F Scott’s to hear the Pat Coil Quartet with Don Aliquo, Jim Ferguson, and Derrek Phillips. They sounded ridiculously good – so ridiculous that I noticed saxophonist Rahsaan Barber and I kept shaking our heads in astonishment at the unbelievable playing.
Looking ahead, there’s exciting music coming through town. This Friday the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour plays the Schermerhorn. Next weekend Rodney Whitaker plays at the Steinway Gallery with the Jazz Music City All-Stars. See ya out there!
-evan