Back from Latvia.  First full day home…its nice to be back sleeping in your own bed no matter what.  Had a long day of traveling yesterday, 12 hours in the air.  Lots of layovers blah blah.  Right hen we came out to baggage claim it was really sweet to see my mom holding my puppy waiting for us.  Asher went bezeeerrk.  I’ve never gotten such an enthusiastic welcome back. Haha.

Getting ready for France in a couple days and then heading to Finland from there.  Looking over some music and chilling out at the house.  Non structured day, but got a lot done.
 
 Some random lyrics…
(inspired while I was waiting at the airport)
 
Sitting at the airport watching people in the line
One woman yelling in her cell phone
Another asking for the time
Another woman has a sarcastic smile on her face
for every opportunity given shes got a sarcastic line to say
 
then two children playing patty cake with their two hands
their laughter fills the air
…..
 
more random lyrics. 
 
 
If you take my hand
You cant go back
We’re following the trail
To another land
Where the water is much bluer
And the sand much more fine
If you cross the line
You must go through with it
Its now
There’s no other time
 
To a place where sadness
Turns into dust
And the sky is always bright blue
A place where there’s no wrong
And there’s something that’s always new
 
No money to be made
No chores to be done
Everyday filled with
Fun, fun, fun
 
Come quick cause the trains about to leave
But remember if you decide to come
You cant bring anything
Your loved ones have to stay
And your memory has to go
You start a new life
But this time there’s no
"no”
 

I can’t believe its July already. Somebody tell me when that happened!! Haha. I am in Frankfurt Germany. Our layover is around 4 hours. Blah. Dad is sleeping…Boston time it’s 1:33 AM but of course its morning here, so its bright outside. I’m really not tired right now but maybe in a couple hours that will change. Had a really nice airplane ride on Lufthansa airlines. We were in their business class which made the flight feel incredibly short. They had those cocoon chairs that would go all the way back if you wanted to fully sleep and of course those distracting tvs with movies and all that stuff. We’re waiting for our next flight which will get us to Latvia (the destination!) Then I believe I play tomorrow night and the following one. So while I wait I decided to write a little bit and listen to some Robert Glasper. Just got back from a fun weekend with the quintet. Sat night we were playing in Marblehead MA at their 25th anniversary fest, sun Saratoga NY, and Monday Dizzys club in NYC. Had one day back home and now I’m back in the airport. But I’m not complaining…i’m loving it.

Some Ideas on Compositions

I wrote this new song recently when I was fooling around on the piano and found a cool A section. I then felt very stuck and couldn’t figure out a bridge. I went through all the old clips of unfinished melodies I had written and found a cool melody. It had never occurred me to put two together. I always thought each song had to have a special inspiration and be completed at one time. I don’t really know why. But you know, it’s all written by me anyways. Greg Osby (great alto saxophonist) was one of my teachers at Berklee this last year. He was the one who gave me the idea. He said it was very common for him to put together different projects together and BAM it works. This happened to be one of those times, I was so excited. They fit together like they were meant to be, go figure. The song was written in about an hour (well the melody at least) Some tentative words. Anways, this was a breakthrough idea for me and I thought I’d share it with you folks who feel "writers block” at this moment.
 

Waiting for our plane. It got delayed to 5:30. Left Taos EARLY in the morning. 7. (That’s early for me!) drove to Santa Fe. Did an interview on KSFR with Arland Asher. John Greenspan and my dad were also on air. Arland asked me to bring a lot of my favorite recordings and we would just freestyle for an hour and a half talking about me, playing recordings etc. It was quite fun. He has such a great voice for radio, very distinctive (along with being an alto player.) John is also great and was the first DJ in Santa Fe to hear about me and interview me on the station. Show last night at the Taos inn was wonderful. It was packed to the ceiling, everyone in the town came out and most people stayed till the end, which was three sets! There was def some magic in the air and Frank Morgan, alto saxophonist and Charlie Parker protege, was def looking over us. I felt his presence and also felt great that at the end of the night I knew I had given my all. I don’t know if it also has to do with the altitude (probably) but I thought I was about to pass out at the end. There felt like there was hardly any oxygen left!! Haha! And that usually doesn’t happen. But we were playing hard and steady. I hope Frank was looking down at us smiling and I’m pretty sure he was.

Yesterday was an amazing day, all around. After having lunch Frank’s ex wife drove up and a bunch of us (friends and family) and had a beautiful ceremony burying his ashes. I felt so close to him at the moment, since he was right there. The day before we did this I was outside on the grass and trying to figure out where to practice. I contemplated sitting right under the big beautiful tree but then thought the benches would be better. However, I settled under the tree. It was up to Frank’s ex wife to pick the place to bury the ashes and at first we all thought it would be in the garden. Well, boy I was surprised (but then again not) when I walked in and saw her burying the ashes in the same exact spot I was sitting the day before. It simply made me smile. Another moment like this happened later that day. We were driving to the record store ( I was supposed to sign some cd’s) and I started humming the tune "Up Jumped Spring.” I walked into the store and a cd of Frank’s was on and he was playing the same exact tune (which I hadn’t known he recorded.) The whole week was filled with incidents like this. The friends and family of his who helped me get there and put this all together became like family to me. They went out of their way to help with everything and take us to special places, we had a wonderful Fathers Day bbq, and it was such a warm loving environment, thank you for everyone to came out to the shows and was a part of making the trip so personally fulfilling and special.
 

I am currently writing from the plane heading to New Mexico. We (my Dad and I) were sitting on the airport floor for a little while since everything got delayed. Now I’m overlooking the desert plains, everything looks so flat…we’re about to land shortly. I love turbulence and going through clouds, some people have given me a weird look when I say that but it’s like a mini roller coaster ride and it usually ends shortly. The only exception to that is when I was flying to Vail Colorado on a tiny jet and it seemed like we were upside down the whole time. That was a bit much.

Drove up to Taos last night. Playing a tribute to Frank Morgan on Monday. Frank is an amazing alto player…one of the most unique and soulful in my opinion. Unfortunately he is not as well known as he should be. He battled with drugs his whole life and was in and out of prison for 30 years. He was Charlie Parkers direct prodigy and one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I was blessed to get to be with him and play with him in the last 6 months of his life. I don’t know if perhaps we met in a past life or something but I the first time I met him I felt this beautiful warmth. Overtime we started talking almost every time and adopted each other as honorary grandpa and granddaughter. He brought me all over, to Milwaukee at the Pabst theatre, CA, and to the Jazz Standard in New York as a special guest. We played 4 nights and on the bill was Billy Hart, Curtis Lundy, and George Cables. You must check him out.