Hey Toronto! I’ll be heading your way next week for a special 2 night event at the Rex with the Danjam Orchestra. Big news: jazz pianist Nancy Walker will be playing with the band for the first time! We will also be performing a composition by composer Chelsea McBride. So bundle up and come on down to the Rex. See you there!
Date: Tuesday February 4th, & Wednesday February 5th Time: 9:30pm both nights Location:The Rex Hotel (Toronto) Facebook Event:Link
MUSICIANS
Reeds: Nick Morgan, Tara Davidson, Jeff King, Dave Neill, Shirantha Beddage Trumpets: Steve Dyte, Jon Challoner, Mike Malone, Alex Brown Trombones: William Carn, Paul Tarussov, Heather Segger, Alex Duncan Guitar: Nils Weinhold, Piano: Nancy Walker Bass: Dan Fortin, Drums: Ethan Ardelli
If you missed the Edison Jazz & World Music Awards back in November, you can watch a few clips here. Here is a video of guitarist Reinier Baas performing my arrangements of his compositions with the Metropole Orchestra:
Here is a video of me conducting a couple of tunes with the Metropole Orchestra featuring guest soloist Marcus Miller:
I am sad to announce that due to mechanical issues, my flight to Amsterdam has been canceled. There is no other flight available until Monday night which would get me there too late. I regret to inform you that I will be unable to conduct the Metropole Orkest’s new years celebration concert this Thursday, January 9th. However, if you are in the Netherlands, you should definitely attend this event. The music is incredible and I know the orchestra will be on fire!
Many exciting things have happened over the past year in the world of Danjam, so I wanted to take a moment and reflect on some of the highlights as I have been too busy to write regular blog updates.
The most noteworthy endeavour of all was my Coltrane Ballads Project. For those of you who haven’t heard about it yet, I arranged all the music from John Coltrane’s Ballads CD for big band + orchestra. It took me about a year to prepare all the music and it was performed for the first time by the Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam this past May. I conducted the concert – my first time conducting the Metropole – and it featured the endlessly musical Joe Lovano on tenor saxophone. What a great orchestra – I cannot say enough good things about that band! John Riley traveled from New York to play drums for the week. I love working with John because not only does he play his parts ‘correctly’ so to speak, but each take is equally different, creative and fresh. We had 2 days to rehearse, followed by a day of recording, and on the final evening we performed to a sold-out concert hall in downtown Amsterdam. It was a real treat to be able to perform the music acoustically – no microphones in the orchestra! Here are some photos from that week:
Rehearsing with the Metropole
Rehearsing with Joe
Dinner with John and Joe
Rehearsing with Joe
My dressing room
Just before the concert with Joe
During the concert
Post concert celebration
Post concert celebration
Post concert celebration
I am very proud of the work we did that week. It was such a great feeling hearing my music come to life, especially after working on it for so long.
As soon as I got back to New York, I moved to a new apartment (and built myself a new bed – yippee!), and quickly started work on 13 new arrangements for Jeremy Davis’ Equinox Orchestra & the Savannah Philharmonic. I spent most of the summer Continue reading “2013: Looking Back”
