More music in more places

This is shaping up to be a busy musical week, with three upcoming gigs in three different places

On Wednesday Jan. 25, I’ll be sitting in with the Greater U Street Jazz Collective for their regular Wednesday night gig at the El Golfo restaurant in Silver Spring, MD. I played with the bassist & drummer on New Year’s Eve, and loved what they were doing. Should be a fun evening of straight ahead jazz

On Saturday Jan. 28, I’m indulging the rock ‘n’ roll side I never knew I had, playing keyboards with Jason Mendelson and the Open Doors as we pay tribute to Elvis Costello in a showcase of Classic Albums of 1986, at the Electric Maid in Takoma Park. We’ll be playing highlights from Elvis’ “Blood & Chocolate” release of that year. The suggested donation is $10.

Finally, I’ll be in the house band of the DC Jazz Jam at Dahlak (18th St & Florida Ave. NW) for the fifth Sunday jam on Jan. 29. Will says that we may have some special guests on hand for that session.

Hope to see you at one or more of these events!

Third Friday at the Fox + une surprise française

Hope you can join us this Friday, Jan. 20, for our regular third Friday evening of jazz & cocktails at the Black Fox Lounge in Dupont Circle, with Aaron Myers and the ensemble. As always, there’s no cover charge for the music. The show starts around 9:30 pm.

Looking ahead to February, I will be performing with Aaron and the band at a Valentine’s Day party (or soirée de Saint-Valentin) on February 10, at La Maison Française, the House of France at the French Embassy in DC. You can find more details about that event on their website.

I’ll also be at the Black Fox with Aaron and the band for our regular first and third Friday shows, Feb. 3 and 17.

I’m also working on putting together a gig of my own at the Fox in late March. More info on that closer to the date.

Spreading the word

Just added a musician profile to AllAboutJazz.com, which I will try to keep updated with upcoming gigs and other news. You can find that new profile at this link.

Stand Right!

We had a great first show of 2012 last night at the Black Fox Lounge in Dupont Circle, which included a rousing performance of my tribute to DC Metro etiquette “Stand Right”. The response from the audience was very enthusiastic, so I’m hoping that Aaron will make this part of our regular set list.

I didn’t record last night’s performance, but here’s a recording of a previous rendition of this number:

The lead sheet is available on the web site as well, in case you’d like to try out the tune for yourself.

First Friday at the Fox

Happy New Year! Hope you can join us this Friday, Jan. 6, for our regular first Friday evening of jazz & cocktails at the Black Fox Lounge in Dupont Circle, with Aaron Myers and the rest of the ensemble: Percy White on the bass, Will Stephens on drums, and me on the piano. I think we might be introducing some new tunes this week.

As always, there’s no cover charge for the music. The show starts around 9:30 pm.

MetroSongs: Cleveland Park

I’m happy to report that Jason Mendelson recorded and posted my modest contribution to his ongoing MetroSongs project, a song about Cleveland Park (on the Metro Red Line, in upper Northwest Washington). The song is about holding on to your history in the face of change, a theme that seemed appropriate to this neighborhood.

For more information on that history, you can try some sources that I found useful: Wikipedia (of course) and the local historical society.

Photos by KCIvey and M. V. Jantzen from Flickr

[updated the link to the Cleveland Park song & MetroSongs project Jan. 4]

What am I doing New Year’s Eve?

What am I doing New Year’s Eve? Playing a gig, as it turns out. I’ll be back at the Black Fox Lounge on NYE, this time accompanying CaShandra J as she rings in the new year in Dupont Circle. We’re playing from 10 pm – 1 am.

There’s no cover charge, so please stop on by if you’re in the neighborhood!

Image by TinyTall from flickr

What are you doing (before and after) New Year’s Eve?

Two performances coming up this weekend, on either side of New Year’s Eve itself. On Friday, Dec. 30, I’ll be at the Black Fox with Aaron Myers and the trio for a pre-New Year’s Eve show. As usual, there’s no cover charge for the music, which begins at 9:30 pm.

On the 1st, I will be joining an excellent house band for the DC Jazz Jam (@DCJazzJam) at Dahlak in Adams Morgan, at 18th St and Florida Ave. NW. The session runs from 6:30-9:30, and we hope to start the new year right with a talented group of guest musicians. No cover at Dahlak either.

Hope you can come out and enjoy the sounds!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and musical 2012!

Photo by bernat… from flickr

Bluebeat Boppin’ with Dave Klein

Dave Klein, a local sax player and teacher, invited me to play for a student recital at the Levine School of Music in DC earlier this month, joining two excellent players, Charlie Himel on bass and Kush Abadey on the drums. We had fun playing for the middle- and high-school students, many of whom sounded very confident and mature.

After the recital, we recorded a few demo tracks with Dave, which you can check out here:

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and other related holiday greetings!

And now for something completely different…

I’m excited about an upcoming non-jazz gig, at the Artisphere in Rosslyn on Tuesday December 20. I’ll be part of the MetroSongs band, backing singer-songwriter Jason Mendelson. Jason will be featured in this installment of the “Words and Music” series, where he will talk about his process and perform (alone and with the band) several of the songs from the MetroSongs project.

According to the Artisphere web site, the show starts at 7:30 PM and costs $8 ($6 for seniors). Should be a fun show!