Welp, I was hoping to have NJWcamp back in action for this summer, but the pandemic isn’t far enough in our rearview mirror to hold it safely. As much as I miss getting together with everyone to play music together, I know that we are inching closer to that day. In the meantime, I’m excited that we can hold two more virtual intensives for jazz enthusiasts! Summer Camp 2021 This is our entry level class, good for students of all ages with any experience level. We take macro and micro looks at jazz, dissecting the who, what, how, and why. MCJS – Summer Camp 2021 is scheduled for the week of June 21st. We’ll meet from 10 – 11 each morning to cover the fundamentals …
Synch Licensed
Writing tunes and original music is one of the most rewarding parts of being a freelance musician. The feeling of “creating something” gives a sense of accomplishment and helps drive forward practice ideas and materials. The way you must distill and edit ideas as a composer is also directly translatable to an improvised solo. Best of all, in a time when there seems to be dwindling options for musicians to make a living, having your own works performed and used provides a valuable income stream. If you have Amazon Prime, check out the movie Madtown starring Milo Ventimiglia. Madtown is a bit of a psychological thriller (rated R) that features three of my original tunes. When you steam it on Prime, a couple of shekels …
MCJS Remote Camps
Well the first ever MCJS Remote Camp went great! We had eight terrific teenage students who engaged in call kinds of listening, theory, and ear training with me while we looked through a list of great material. I still learn more about this music every time I study it. So much of the music that I love is based on the simplest of ideas – like the relationship of triads a fourth apart. The subtle restructuring of the those two triads can give so much depth to a chord voicing. Take for instance, the opening two chords of Freddie Freeloader versus the opening two chords of The Sticks. On Freddie, you could call the triads Gm and Fm, OR you could say Bb6 and Fm, …
Looking back, looking ahead
Welp, it’s spring of 2020. The world looks different than anyone could have imagined in late 2019, let alone in 2016 at the time of my last post. What’s new for me? Well, I’m a father of two, now living in Franklin instead of Nashville, enjoying use of my home studio while I try to become at least as passable at Pro Tools as every Nashville grandma. This spring all of my students have shifted to online, of course, something I’m not unfamiliar with thanks to two years teaching college saxophonists in Northern Minnesota while living in Tennessee. Not much at all has changed with Zoom or online video conferencing. It’s still about 2/3 as good as in-person lessons or classes. One thing I have …
Pre-order Hot Chicken!
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this whimsical animation made by Chris Walters, which features a saxophone excerpt from my tune Constriketion. On that note, I’m psyched, thrilled, and basically bedazzled to announce that I’m releasing a new album: It’s hard to believe that my first album Falling Up was released FIVE years ago. I’m so grateful for all of you who have listened and continued to enjoy it, especially on Sirius/XM Radio! But it’s painfully obvious that after half a decade a followup is overdue! My band is headed back to Wildwood Studio this May to record eight new original tunes and one original arrangement (a favorite 90’s rock tune, yeah teen angst!) I’m exited to incorporate some new sounds and inspirations that I’ve gathered in the past five years of being a …
Summer Conclusions
Summers always disappear so fast. Ever since I was little and took summer trips with family, played sports in Maine or studied intently at music camps, summer has been a time for departing from the norm and self-discovery. The summer of 2012 has been no exception. First and foremost, here in Nashville summer 2012 brought on the first ever Summer Jazz Camp at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. We had a great group of over 20 high school kids from the area have fun learning and sharing through jazz. The camp was a great success, thanks mostly to the very hard work of all the people involved, notably Joe Davidian, Jonathan Wires, Larry Seeman, Duffy Jackson, Chester Thompson, Connye Florence, Matthew White, and of course Lori …
Camp!
It’s been a busy spring here in Nashville, although since we hit 90 degrees yesterday it really seems like an early summer. Some recent news to share: This past weekend I had the distinct honor and privilege of playing with The Queen of Soul herself. It was pretty wild to hear all the famous soul tunes that I’ve played at weddings and events countless times being sung by Aretha herself. She completely killed it for 90 minutes and had the audience (and the band!) in the palm of her hand. Yesterday I received some excitement from the mailman (not that excitement, get your mind out of the gutter) – the June issue of Downbeat. When I first became enthralled with the jazz scene as …
Tenor Players Passing Through
It’s been an exciting 2012 here in Nashville so far. Monday nights have been a fun hang since Chester Thompson started leading his trio at the Commodore Grille, and now the Nashville Jazz Orchestra is playing an early set there every Monday at 5:30! Sportsman’s Grille has continued its Wednesday night jazz series, the Charles Walker Trio has been playing many Tuesday nights, Beegie Adair Trio on Thursdays at F Scotts…it’s been a thrill getting out and hearing so many inspiring players. As a tenor saxophonist it’s been an especially thrilling winter. First Bob Mintzer was here as a guest soloist with the Nashville Jazz Orchestra. The band played about 12 of his charts and Bob sounded ridiculous. He’s so incredibly expressive, and his tone …
NY Times
The show with JD Souther was a big hit (despite what Stephen Holden might lead you to believe!). The band played great and JD was totally captivating. There’s a review of the show with a beautiful picture in the NY Times. Also exciting is that this week Falling Up has officially ‘charted’ – reaching number 36 on Jazzweek’s Top 50 Jazz Chart for January 17th. It’s the only album among the top 50 that is self-released! And for future excitement, I just confirmed that I’ll be playing with Cassandra Wilson when she performs with the Nashville Symphony as part of the jazz series on March 2nd. Time to practice! – evan
Falling Up now available!
I’m very pleased to announce that Falling Up is now officially available worldwide. By my count five of the eight tracks have already received air time on terrestrial jazz radio across the country. I’ve compiled a list of stations that have been spinning tracks below – if you’re in the broadcast area don’t hesitate to call in and request a track! The first reviews of Falling Up have arrived as well. I’ll link them here but moving forward I’ll post all of that information on my press page. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the album, there are myriad ways to do so. Falling Up is available on itunes, amazon, CD Baby, emusic, and a number of other internet sources. If you’re …
Recent Comments