things i
did
in 11.
a moustache-twisting journal of the few things in my life worth mentioning
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took the scotch tour
celebrated a 20th anniversary
The Jazz Protagonists turned twenty in the fall of 2010, but we waited a few months till January of 2011 for the perfect party at the perfect place: the Landing, one of the great epicenters of jazz in America thanks to the legendary Jim Cullum and NPR's "Riverwalk Jazz." With friends coming from far and near, and fans packing the place to the point of crisis, it was a whole night of cloud nine.
celebrated a 15th anniversary
slipped on the ice
I may look back on this as the most important event of the year. One icy night, with Greta packed in her car seat in one hand and luggage in the other, I picked my way over the ice. Ach! I slipped anyway, and in one instant was down on both elbows, poor Greta wailing. (She was fine.) The elbows are temperamental to this day, intermittently hurting like the dickens. Yep, we're there.
finally deployed logic
mastered a chorus
In the spring, the symphony conductor Troy Peters called to say that Jon Anderson, the angelic voice of the progressive rock group Yes, was coming to do a pops concert, and he needed a chorus master who could reliably rehearse a choral group but also knew the rock idiom. Could I do it and would I be interested? Seeing as I knew every note of Yes's oeuvre, and'd had 19 years of experience rehearsing pop choral groups, my answer was a single three-letter affirmative. The concert went off well. I even filled in on some piano and organ parts.
spent april in paris
What to do for our official First Family Vacation? Why, Paris, of course. Our hostess Sarah Beth was the very picture of hospitality,
pontificated
Reverend Chuck Collins, the rector of Holy Trinity Anglican, where I'm doing music, asked if I could preach the sermon one Sunday. Anglican/Episcopalians usually stand so firmly on ceremony and hierarchy that I was taken aback: you sure you want a non-priest, and a Baptist at that? They did, and they must've liked it, because they asked me to do it again later in the year. I liked it, too, the research and preparation as well as the actual experience. Speaking from Scripture to groups of Christians is something I believe I've been gifted to do. What a pleasure to get to do it.
released three albums
finally bought a black suit
In forty years of sartorial splendor, I'd never had a black suit. Over the years, I've considered rounding out my wardrobe with one, but it never happened. They always seemed too black or something. But this summer it was required, because I...
was a groomsman
at my brother-in-law's wedding. Carl and Sarah Beth got married in Nashville, giving tons of mutual friends and family a great excuse to get together and celebrate. Cigars were smoked, scotch was imbibed, and beautiful prayers were uttered for this couple who are embarking on a wondrous journey together.
did studio work in nashville
Only a few weeks after the wedding I found myself back in the great music town to sit in on some sessions. How nice to see the well-oiled machine at work. And how fun to meet and operate with some big names in the world of session work. I watched and learned and thoroughly enjoyed myself. This all came about courtesy of Sea World, for whom I...
did another shamu show
I do stuff for Sea World just about every year, but it's usually for other shows than the Biggie. This one was mainly hard-rockin' arrangements of metal favorites, but there was some original material in there too, and (thanks to Brian and his enlightened team) I had an alarming degree of freedom in choosing the songs and their order and how they flowed. Then I got to sit with a whole stadiumful of people and feel them react to my cadences. Man, I love what I do.
saw greta take her first steps
And a million other firsts. 2011 saw her go from 6 months to 16 months, from toothless to toothy, from wordless to wordsmith. A curious, fearless, life-living personality emerged. What a season this is. Can't wait for more.
lived my 16000th day
I started marking my life by thousand-day increments over 5000 days ago. I've observed each with various activities both monumental and mundane. My sixteen-thousandth was marked by the beautiful wedding of a friend, tons of fun in public and private with Cate and Greta, and an introduction of 8-month-old Greta to dear old friends from my childhood. How very rich I am.
designed another big game
If you've never experienced the Big Game, I pity you. Those who grew up at TBC in the 80s and 90s know all about it: the frustrating and exhilarating clues and puzzles, the wild goose chases, the inevitable volta — Ach!
made passion come alive
became a single dad
Only for a solid two weeks, which was plenty. Catherine's friend in Sweden was having a hard time. She said, "I want to go there and be with her." I said Go. She did, which meant I had Greta to myself. With extra help from the incredible villita of family that always does so much for her, we had a grand time. Just about every day, though, the girl displayed some aimless sense of loss. And sometimes it wasn't aimless: she'd go to a window and look out, a tiny Cio-Cio San, and plaintively say "Mama." Heartrending! But she and I ended up getting through it just fine. In the long run, after all, what will it do to her to have as a mother the kind of true friend who would drop everything and fly across the world? Such women are rarer than red diamonds.
got a week of sores
I clamped down on my tongue in my sleep one night, and the next day had a row of sores on each side. This was tons of pain, folks. Pain, I tell you. Pain. For one week, I talked like Demosthenes, and could only stand to eat a couple of meals. Lost a good ten pounds. Cruciatus Diet not recommended.
chose greta's godparents
typed and tracked
Why did I wait so long to get a wireless keyboard and trackpad to use with my studio rig? For a professional musician who spends so much time at the computer, they make life measurably easier and more pleasant. Every time I sit down to use them I do a little inner dance of pleasure. Good tools make me happy.
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What a year. Dedicated to the glory of God.
so, what did you do?
23 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 09 | 08 | 07 | 06 | 05 | 04 | 03 | 02 | 01 | 2000 | 99 | 98 | 97
Several of us had had the experience of tasting a single malt Scotch and then another some time later, and not really having a sense of how they compare. So, one fine evening, we gathered and tried a bunch side by side. Conclusions: Laphroaig isn't for everyone (though I love it!); the Macallan is awfully smooth; the Dalmore was the delicious surprise of the evening. A great time with some fun guys. Let's do it again.
That same night, before the show, we broke out a 15-year-old Macallan (chosen on the above-mentioned tour) to drink to fifteen years of playing with Greg Norris, the bassist for the Protagonists. He's soulful, intelligent, spiritual, swinging, immensely educated, and intensely musical, and leavens it all with a left-field sense of humor that can still catch me by surprise. It's an honor to be his colleague.
Logic Studio Pro, that is. It's music software. I was possibly the world's last Vision holdout. You read that right; I was still using the 80s-90s music software in 2010. (3.1 at that.) Finally, finally, I broke down and got this cutting-edge music software. I still have a bit to go before being able to leap and swim in it like I did in Vision, but it's a blast wielding powerful new tools. Here's to stretching the brain. Here's to new things.
good nature, and helpful connections, graciously sharing her beautiful place in the posh 14th Arrondissement. Parc Montsouris, recreating at the stunning Hotel de Ville, Sacré-Couer on Palm Sunday, coffee with fashion designer Marisol Deluna at (where else?) Les Deux Magots, and afternoons and evenings of people-watching from sidewalk cafes —Êman oh man. Greta proved herself a good little traveler; she now has a stamped-up passport. We have heartfuls of priceless memories. Count Basie was right: the only proper response is "One more time."
More: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Pictures
Live At Luna was the CD we gave away to everyone at our anniversary shindig. It's a bunch of original songs, some from Blizz Blazz, some from our forthcoming studio album, and some sui generis, in live versions recorded at the popular music club back in 2006.
Sixties Night we released in the summer. It's taken from the archives of the Protagonists Jazz Party, our radio show. This one was Sixties music, but Coltrane and Davis and Brubeck were left aside in favor of Bacharach, Lennon & McCartney, Herb Alpert, Dionne Warwick, Michel Legrand, and James Bond. It's all music outside the jazz canon, re-imagined as straight-ahead jazz journeys in the Protagonists style.
Rest came in October. I'd been working on it a couple of years, off and on, as a side project. It's an hour of contemplative music for relaxation, with harp, piano, flute, guitar, and electronic ambient textures. Each piece is precisely ten minutes long, so you can easily time your study or exercise or meditation or prayer or massage session to end cleanly. I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. And it's sold a bit too.
Click the CDs to find out more
How could we have missed it!? — that brings it all together. I was fortunate to design three Big Games at TBC in the 00s; last year I did one for FWC, Catherine's church, a dedicated bunch of intelligent, competitive players worthy of any challenge. It was different: for one thing, they weren't all teens, so no midnight campus-wide rummages. We pitted Harvard PhDs against 9-year-olds. The youngest was 6; the oldest was 82. But it was still very fairly matched, and everyone dug in well. I'm glad to be able to boast that this iteration ranks right up there. (Big Game aficionados, get in touch and I'll tell you all the juicy details!)
My solo CD from 1999, that is. "Passion" was a studio project, never intended to be played live. But I got the itch last year, put together some top players, and we recreated the album at a club. It got a huge plug in the paper, the club was packed, and the musicians were pleased. We'll do it again.
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Wanted: a smart, fun, conservaliberal, empathetic, challenging couple to be the adults-who-aren't-your-parents that every kid needs: Sean and Kathy McMains were an obvious choice for Greta, and, fortunately, they accepted. We're excited to see how Greta will influence and be influenced by her godparents in the various stages of her life.
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