April Joy

The title of an incredible Pat Metheny composition, April Joy, seems to sum up my thoughts about this month perfectly. There is a lot of news to share about upcoming gigs!

The first of which happens tomorrow evening with Lee Rucker on trumpet, Aaron Tomasko on bass, and Justin Walke on drums. I cannot express enough gratitude to Lee for inviting me to play with these guys - they are truly the cream of the crop here in Oklahoma City. 

Next week, Melissa Brumfield and I will be performing at Zannotti's Wine Bar in Stillwater from 7 to 9pm on Tuesday, April 29th. Please note the time has changed! We are starting an hour earlier than usual. Then on Friday, May 2nd, we trek up to Enid, Oklahoma to play at The Felt Bird for their First Friday/Jazz Stroll. We are very excited to be playing at both of these occasions! We are grateful to Zannotti's for always having time for us to play, and we also thank everyone at The Felt Bird for inviting us up there! Both of these shows are free, so come on out if you're around!

Also on Friday, May 2nd, I will be performing solo for the Scholarship and Donor Luncheon on campus at the University of Central Oklahoma. I am honored to be asked to play on campus again. 
                                                                                                                                         

This past Tuesday, I was given the tremendous opportunity to perform with the Jazz Composer's Combo at the Jazz Lab. I have been fortunate enough to play with these guys all semester and I could not be more thankful. I have been pushed to lengths I did not know were possible. These guys stretched my concept of jazz and opened up my ears by writing and choosing truly challenging material. This has truly been a highlight of my time at the University of Central Oklahoma. Anyway, I was lucky enough to bring in an original tune entitled Crepuscular Rays for this concert. These concerts are recorded and I hope to be able to share this original with everyone in the coming months.

I just want to thank: Brian Gorrell, Jared Cathey, Eric Upchurch, Collin Ferrell, Stephen Schultz, and Michael Bremo for these past few months of great music. It has been an honor to play with you all.
                                                                                                                                         

It has been a great several months and I look forward to this summer so that I can sit down and woodshed for a few months. I plan on finishing a lot of started transcriptions and relax after a long semester. I am pleased to say that I will finally graduate in December!

I will do my best to keep everyone up to date on my new guitar and the happenings going on this summer. Any new gigs will be posted in the gig section - so stay tuned.