Labor day weekend at the Gorge Amphitheater is the annual three-day concert by the Dave Matthews Band. This year I had the good fortune to play with opening band Dumpstaphunk, an amazing funk band from New Orleans led by Ivan Neville. Here’s a photo of the horn section featuring Skerik and Jeff Coffin from the DMB. FUN!
My newest album, “Urban Folklore” is set to be released this October on Origin Records. Joining me on this new project are some of my favorite musicians (and people!) anywhere: Orrin Evans, Donald Edwards and Eric Revis. Take a listen and learn more about the project by clicking HERE!
On May 24th Tula’s Jazz Club will be presenting it’s 2nd annual Miles Davis show complete with Thomas Marriott (trumpet), Darrell Grant (piano), Evan Flory-Barnes (bass) and Matt Jorgensen (drums). The band will play music from all-eras of Mile’s music.
At the end of May 2014, trumpeters Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott join forces once again for the newest edition of their East-West Trumpet Summit, with pianist (and sometime trumpet player) George Colligan, bassist Phil Sparks and Matt Jorgensen on drums. The quintet is performing May 28th at Bake’s Place, for the 2014 Bellevue Jazz Festival and again May 31st at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center in Arlington, WA. The band will record a new album for release on Origin Records as well. Their previous self-titled release from 2010 saw international recognition as it reached #1 on the JazzWeek radio airplay charts, and the band ventured forth to Europe and North America. It should be a fantastic pair of nights!
On February 7th & 8th, I’ll be joining the Orrin Evans Quartet at Smalls in New York City for a fantastic weekend of music along with Donald Edwards (drums) and Luques Curtis (bass). These are some of my favorite musicians ANYWHERE! If you find yourself in the New York area, please come by and say hello. The gigs will also be streamed on the Small’s website if you really can’t make it out!
R.I.P. 2013 – it was a fantastic year of music! Looking back on all of the wonderful opportunities in 2013, I am sorry to see it go. Hopefully 2014 will be just as amazing!
Some of the highlights from this past year: Night Of The Cookers with Brian Lynch, a week-long run at Jazz Alley with Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Miles Davis Night with George Colligan and Cuong Vu, the East-West Trumpet Summit w/ Ray Vega at the University of Vermont, an AMAZING evening with Joe Locke, 3 nights with Zony Mash plus horns, 2 great shows with Doug Beavers, a life-changing week at Dizzy’s in NYC with Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band paying tribute to Sun Ra, the 5-Trumpets at Tula’s, recorded my 9th album as a leader for Origin Records, the Woody Herman Centennial show, two sold-out performances with Deltron 3030, the premier performance of my first extended work “Urban Folklore” with Orrin Evans, Eric Revis and Donald Edwards, and I became a Yamaha Performing Artist this year.
2013 also saw the flowering of the Triskadeka Band, a slew of great shows with Carlos Cascante y su Tumbao, Flexicon, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, Davy Nefos, Cory Weeds and Phil Sparks.
WHEW! That was a fantastic year! Now – on to 2014!
On Sunday, October 27th I will be joining Doug Beavers’ Conjunto Rovira at the Royal Room for a hot-hot-hot night of Salsa music and dancing. Joining us are vocalist Carlos Cascante, pianist Julio Juaregui, Jeff Norwood on bass, Junior Medina, Christian Pepin and Ricardo Guity on percussion. OH YEAH! See you there!
Last week I had the pleasure of playing the music of Sun Ra with Orrin Evan’s Captain Black Big Band at Dizzy’s Coca-Cola Club in New York. We had a BALL, to say the least! Six stellar shows, 14 amazing musicians and lots of friends in the audience made for an amazing week in New York. Personnel: Orrin Evans (piano), Luques Curtis (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums), Josh Lawrence, Thomas Marriott & August Hass (trumpets), Mark Allan, Troy Roberts, Todd Bayshore, Tim Green, Marcus Strickland (saxophones), David Gibson, Stafford Hunter (trombones).
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