Summertime

It has already been sweltering here in Oklahoma City, but today we got a reprieve with cooler weather and more rain. It has given me a lot of inside time to reflect on this past year of college, and assess my plans for the future. The main plan is continuing to teach, perform, practice, and compose. Oh yeah, and graduating with my BM in Music Performance in December. After that I am going to audition at a few schools and see where life leads me. I would have no issue staying in Oklahoma City for another year and continuing to shed standards, write new tunes, and gig. So in retrospect, although getting into graduate school is a priority, if I do not make it into University of North Texas, UT Austin, or other music programs, then I will not be too upset by being allowed to further hone my craft.

Playing this Friday, June 13th at Othello's Italian Restaurant in Norman from 9:00pm - midnight. It will be myself on guitar and Jemar Poteat on bass. Jemar is a solid musician all the way around. He is a top-notch drummer and bassist, who I have had the great fortune to work with over the past year or so.

Saturday, Melissa Brumfield and I will be performing at a good friend of her's wedding. We have new tunes to throw down and experiment with for the wedding. Our crop of tunes is still mostly standards, but have thrown in quite a few pop tunes to mix it up. It has been a wonderful and eye opening experience to work with Melissa. I have learned a lot about arranging for duo style playing and how to accompany someone and make it interesting. As always music is an ever evolving thing and this project is definitely something we will continue to see evolve. 

I am hoping to write and record an album about a year from now; pending graduate auditions. I have a few tunes in the works and perhaps a couple lesser known standards to add on. It is hard to commit to recording an album when you constantly evolve. It is hard to say x, y, or z are you best moments when tomorrow brings a whole new set of challenges and surprises. I am trying to commit to it and push forth and record at least 5-7 tunes to showcase my playing. 

As much as I am known for my solo guitar playing, I am really ready to put that on the back burner. It has no been at the forefront for several years, but lately I have played nothing but solo guitar gigs. I love solo guitar. It is part of the reason I really got into jazz - listening to great players like Ted Greene, Joe Pass, George Van Eps, Joe Beck, and countless others - but my perspective has shifted toward ensemble playing. The tunes I have been writing rely heavily on a quintet formation that is popular these days: guitar, piano, bass, drums, and saxophone. I have been listening to Kendrick Scott Oracle, Lage Lund, Will Vinson, Jaleel Shaw, and deriving a similar concept for the tunes I have been working on. I do look forward to putting together a group of players to record an album with and if not now perhaps while in graduate school. It is all settled to go down in the next three years, but I am hoping to record within a year given time constraints.

I will cut it here for now! I need to write updates about new albums I have been listening to and to review the fantastic Comins Guitars GCS-1ES! I will dedicate more time to writing over the summer and less when school starts up again.