Evan Cobb Jazz
Nashville Saxophonist and Oboist, Composer, Instructor

Last night Keith Olbermann commented on Countdown that “if there’s anything worse than your community being hit by a disaster, it’s being hit by a disaster while other and bigger disasters unfold.”

Being from the New York area, I’ve been closely following the attempted car bomb plot in Times Square and last night’s resulting arrest.  This past weekend I also happened to be in New Orleans for jazz fest, but news was dominated by the unfurling oil spill disaster in the Gulf, which continues to pose imminent ecological and economic catastrophes.

Anyways, since many of you who read this are from out of the Tennessee area and the national coverage seems to be a bit lacking, I figured I’ll post some information about the latest happenings here about the Nashville Flood.

Let me start out by saying that I’m extremely fortunate – I returned from NOLA yesterday to my apartment which is both dry and with power.  That is not the case however for many folks.  Just a few miles in either direction down the main road off of which I live, large communities are completely flooded.  A number of our iconic landmarks have been affected, including the Schermerhorn (where the Nashville Symphony plays), Opryland Hotel, the Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena, and LP Field, to name a few.

It’s going to take time for much of the communities here to recover.  As this flood was the result of around 20 inches of weekend rain, this event was not foreseen.  MANY people and businesses do not have flood insurance here, as flooding was not seen as any posed threat.

Jazz-wise, everything is canceled for the time being.  The Nashville Jazz Orchestra is not playing tonight at the French Quarter Cafe tonight, and the Nashville Jazz Workshop has canceled classes.

If you wish to get involved with help, here is a link that organizes many of the local organizations.  You can also text ‘REDCROSS’ to 90999 to donate $10 for relief efforts.

I’ll do my best to keep you updated with stories and efforts as they pertain to this blog.

-evan

The second installment of the revamped Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session is this Sunday, April 18th from 4 – 6 pm with featured guest Mason Embry.  Mason is a terrific pianist and arranger who will be sharing his talents and experience with jazz standards with us.  Be sure to arrive early to get your name on the sign-up list and hear Mason stretch out with a very fine rhythm section.  Did I mention this event is completely free?

Oh and here is a sneak preview of this month’s tune that all attendees will be playing:

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- evan

The Return of the Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session

with special guest Joe Davidian

hosted by the Evan Cobb Quartet

On Sunday, March 21st the Nashville Jazz Workshop Jam Session returns with featured guest Joe Davidian.  The jam session will take place from 4 – 6, is free, and participation is designed for musicians of all ability levels.  The return of the Workshop Jam Session is a bit reformatted.  Besides playing (or singing) a few choice selections, the featured guest artist will be speaking about the songs they selected, learning tunes in general, and their personal experiences with jam sessions.  The host band will also provide the guest artist with a new tune (with copies for everyone in attendance) so that the audience can hear how a professional dissects a chart on the fly while on the bandstand!  All in attendance at the jam will also receive a copy of a tune (most likely a blues) for them to try in just the same manner as the featured guest.  The focus of the workshop jazz jam will be to learn about playing, listening critically, and the process of jam sessions altogether.

-evan