Warriors and other stuff…

I’ve been sick the last few days…but I’m still busier than hell. I’m starting to book the Warriors for some shows over the next few months. I’ll keep everyone informed as I’ve had many inquiries into when our next show is.

Beside the Warriors I’m still working on my new stuff, but I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had nearly enough to get anything online. The good news is that all of my tools are now in place. I’ve got a fantastic studio setup at my house and I’m ready to go.

On another note, I’m still playing with Crossfire. We had our first real show with our two new vocalists and it went well. We’ll be playing out again for a public show in a few weeks…I’ll let you know.

Finally, I’ve been working hard at learning and writing keyboard parts for Anvil Chorus. I’ll be playing with them on March 5th at the Paradise Lounge in San Francisco.

Change and growth…

The Warriors are going through a transitional period right now, and I expect this time to bring some interesting results.

First let me start off by saying that I love the guys in my band. They are among some of the most talented musicians I’ve worked with. More importantly, we all get along great and enjoy each others company.

Up until now we’ve been working with some of my original material mixed with various arrangements that I was either given or even purchased somewhere along the line.

Over the last several months we have spoken among the band about the direction of the group and where we really want it to go. The final outcome of that conversation is that we’re going to go back to my original vision. A vision which I’ve had for a long time…

I’m once again going back to my love which is a much more edgier and aggressive sound. Over the next several weeks I’m going to be working on some very new material with the group which should bring an entirely new sound.

Think epic.

Busy, busy weekend…thanks!

This was a very busy weekend for me. On Friday I played with the Jazz Warriors for the Sonoma Jazz Society at the Plaza Bistro in Sonoma. Wow! What a great place to play and what a fantastic audience! Jordan was on fire on Friday night and sounded great. Adam Thompson was filling in on bass for Josh and get a great job…especially since he was reading and playing some of the charts for the first time.

Thanks to everyone from the Jazz Society and from the Plaza Bistro…you made it a very special night for us.

On Saturday I played with some of the members of Crossfire and backed a Caesar Young in San Francisco at the St. Francis. David Schrader filled in for Jordan at the gig. (David is my daughters main sax teacher and has been working with her for about two years).

Sunday afternoon I played with A Jazz Thing at Aqus in Petaluma. Tracy Rose, Matt Silve, Eric Isaac, and Jordan Wardlaw played and we had a great time. I’ve played at Aqus quite a few times over the last year and this was by far the best turnout we’ve had on a Sunday.

My daughter, Leah played on a few tunes with us and as usual stole the show.

Finally, Sunday evening I played with Swing 7 at the Hydro in Calistoga. This was a fun gig. The band is lead by Dennis Hubert on guitar and vocals. Dick Shuster plays tenor sax in the group and brings a huge number of arrangements to the band. We were playing out of “one” of his books and there were somewhere around seven hundred charts that he personally put together for three horns! Amazing.

Today, I think I’m going to take it easy. Maybe a little tennis this afternoon!

Recording and upcoming shows

The band has been going strong. We’ve been adding a lot of new material lately and we can’t wait to try more of it out on our fans and friends.

Our shows have been a lot of fun. Each time we play we see an increase in our fan base. Our last show at Aqus we didn’t do a lot of marketing as we were all busy and hadn’t rehearsed in a couple of weeks. I though we’d just have a fairly nice, quiet show. We ended up with a full hose anyway. I was pleasantly surprised and the show was great. We’ve still only played a handful of shows but we can already see where the band is going.

We had a meeting last night to talk about recording and future direction for the group. To be honest, I was a little worried going in that people would be on different pages and have different goals and ideas of the direction we should go. To me, I would be happy doing a lot of work and just letting the shows come. However, all of the guys are pros and I always give myself a guilt trip when they come over to rehearse for free. Well…last night everyone made it quite clear that they were in it for the long haul and want us to really work the material. I couldn’t be happier! The plan is where were going to narrow down what we play and focus on what we’re going to record.

Next week Josh is going to be busy so Adam Thompson is going to be playing with us on November 13th.

The Plaza Bistro
420 First Street East
Sonoma, CA 95476
7-10 pm
No Cover
Dinner reservations are recommended.

Come on down and support the band!

Mr. Whitwell – New Music!

Last night we finished recording Mr. Whitwell. This is a tribute to our friend Michael Whitwell.

When I sat down and started writing this song I wanted to create something that Michael would have enjoyed listening to and playing. Next, I wanted to find a sound that I believe would make everyone remember Michael. I didn’t realize how much I had captured that idea until I listened back to the song. I was nearly in tears while I was mixing this song because it truly made me think about Michael.

I hope everyone enjoys this song as much as I do. I know this is something that will be in my book for the rest of my life.
Mr. Whitwell – by David Prescott

The newest addition – “Mr. Whitwell”

Tonight the Warriors played our newest song – “Mr. Whitwell”. It seems like everyone really enjoyed the new material and Scott Nygard seemed to think Michael would have loved it. It’s a beautiful song and it’s a huge trumpet feature….Michael would have ate it up!

Come and see the Warriors this Saturday at Ace In The Hole. We’ll be debuting a few new songs that night. 7 – 10.

Thanks To The Friends of Michael Whitwell…

This weekend I saw a lot of people get together to celebrate the life of Michael Whitwell. Many of his friends gathered around Catherine for support. I saw a lot of tears along with laughter as everyone reminisced about Michael. My memories of Michael are only over the last few years and I had a great time hearing everyone’s experiences that in some cases have spanned multiple decades.

On Friday Peter Welker and his band had some of Mike’s closest friends show up at his weekly gig in Petaluma. I wasn’t able to attend but I was given a huge poster of a picture of Micahel playing trumpet only a few years ago. A lot of Michael’s friends had signed it and asked me to have more of his friends sign it at Aqus. I kept it for both Saturday and Sunday and it was really fun reading some of the wonderful…and colorful comments.

I also heard through the grapevine that on Saturday the CT Cruiser’s dedicated their show at Montgomery village to Michael. Phone calls from his friends all over have been coming in and the word is still just getting out.

It was obvious to me that Michael had touched many lives, and continues to today. What else was amazing to me was the quality of friends that Michael had. Some of the finest musicians and nicest people you will ever find.

Catherine came to both of our shows this weekend and she looked beautiful as usual and it seemed like she enjoyed hearing a lot of these stories and sharing her own with everyone. It was really wonderful.

Anyway, …thank you to everyone that has shown their love and support to Michael and Catherine.

One of the saddest days in my life…

Michael Whitwell passed away early this morning. This is a huge loss to me and I’m sure even more tragic to those around him that have known him far longer than myself.

I’ve only known Michael for several years in which during that time he became a large influence on my life. I’m not just talking about his playing, I’m talking about the man. Sure, he’s played with some of the best musicians in the world and could peel the paint off the wall with his power, but it was something else about him that inspired me,

In most bands there are times that things can get…tense. I’ve played in more bands than I’d like to count over the years and I can say that it has pretty much happened in every band that I’ve played in at one point or another.  Myself, I have a bit of a problem with it and always was quick to display displeasure about what I was hearing if I wasn’t in agreement, thus resulting in me adding to the tension.

I’ve always felt myself being a natural leader and have run many, many bands but knew my weakness. My weakness was never more apparent than when Mike Whitell would be around. No matter what the situation, Mike always had this attitude that simply diffused the situation. Not only did he diffuse the situation, but turned it into something positive. Within seconds we would be laughing, and within a minute or two I’d be thinking how I could have been so petty in the first place.

I’ve only had great experiences playing with Michael and he introduced me to many of the players in the north bay. I will use what I’ve seen him do time and time again, and try to grow from it. If anything, Michael has made me a better person and it was an incredible honor to have known him.

I started working on a song as a tribute to Michael a few days ago:  “Mr. Whitwell” and it’s just about complete. The music should be done as soon as this afternoon. I’d like see if I can have it ready to debut at my shows this weekend.

Too much going on??

I’ve finally decided to have one blog (this one) to share all of my musical words. I’m playing in a bunch of different bands and it’s just become too hard managing everything separately so it’s time to consolidate.

As of know this is going to be my blog in regards to the Jazz Warriors, A Jazz Thing, and for other various side projects.

A Jazz Thing is a new and old project for me. I started the group when I was still based in San Diego. It was my first venture back into the jazz genre and I look back at it’s humble beginnings with very fond memories. The group did fairly well as we did play a fair amount of shows during those days. To say the least it was a great way to get my feet wet.

When I first moved to Santa Rosa I brought the name with me and I started the group up again. I was lucky enough to find Josh Fossgreen, Zach Morris and Joe Hashizume during my first week or two in town and they quickly became my “go to” rhythm section. Little did I know that nearly three years later they would be the back bone of the Jazz Warriors.

After a time I started getting busy with other groups and A Jazz Thing got put on the back burner. The band played mostly jazz standards out of the real book (like a lot of jazz groups). It wasn’t until the Warriors that I went a different direction by writing and arranging more original music that I was really able to change direction and do what I really wanted to do.

My latest incarnation of A Jazz Thing is a group of pros that get together specifically for gigs with little or no practice or rehearsal. The group plays standards geared towards weddings, parties, corporate events, resorts, etc. Bascially, the type of stuff that the Warriors usually avoids.

Within a matter of a couple of weeks of bringing A Jazz Thing back to life I’ve had many opportunities for booking gigs. In fact, it’s been a bit overwhelming.  The group is flexible in that it will typically have anywhere from 3 to seven entertainers, however it can easily also be a solo act up to a ten piece mini-big band.

For more information visit the new site at:  http://www.ajazzthing.com

The Warriors have been busy

It’s funny how things happen. When we first started booking gigs it was a little tough. Although we are all well established pro musicians, no one had heard of the Jazz Warriors. It took us quite a while to start putting some gigs together.

A couple of weeks ago we played our first “real” gig at Aqus in Petaluma and suddenly the world changed.

It didn’t take any time for the word to get out about the group. Within a couple of days the phone started ringing and we’re lining up gigs everywhere. In fact, yesterday while I was playing tennis I received to text messages with offers for two more gigs!

We have a lot of conflicts with shows so we’re in the process of figuring out what shows we can actually play. I’m going to try to update the calendar today so hopefully by this afternoon you’ll see all of the new gigs.

Beside all the new upcoming gigs I’m still working on the new music. I’ve got a bunch of new music I’ve been working on for a while, it’s just slow sometimes.  The new music is a bit more aggressive than some of the stuff I’ve already written and I’m anxious to get the stuff into our set. …hopefully by our next show.

Recording…
We’ve had someone missing from all of our last few rehearsals, and we’re going to be missing someone next Tuesday too so recording will be put off again for a couple of weeks. I’ll keep you posted as to when new tracks will be added.

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