Had my good buddy Matt Wigton in town, and we put on a show at 12th and Porter. What started out as an awesome night ended up taking a turn for the worse, when my saxophone in sound check decided it felt like bouncing on the ground, after hitting the piano AND an amplifier. Needless to say, it was heart breaking…

However, we had a great time on Thursday, and the band sounded great. Derek Stroker and Melany Watson were also fantastic. It’s funny, when you leave Nashville, and tell people you live here, they all think it’s a country town. I equate it with those people that think Canadians live in igloos (YAHOO) and Chinese people eat dog (YAHOO). However, there’s not only a great country scene, but there’s some incredible musicians/non pop folks as well. Derek and Melany are two of those types. You definitely need to check them out.

Played a solo saxophone show last night at an incredible house built on a large hill. It was so high in fact, a shuttle needed to be utilized to achieve the height necessary to party.

Had an interesting conversation tonight about the music industry. Money Vs. Talent. More to come later…

Have a great week everyone!

Had an awesome weekend playing music and writing. Really had a great time with the new band my sister Ashley has put together, playing a bunch of her new music. It encompasses Dave Restivo, and Alyssa Falk along with myself and Ashley. I’d say it’s got an energetic ECM vibe to it, and man can Ashley write. I recorded both nights, and will be sharing some new MP3’s soon.

Saturday, I had a great time writing with the amazing Karen Kosowski. She’s put together a nice little studio downtown Toronto inside of Canterbury Studios. With a beautiful grand piano, you can’t help but write. We ended up writing for well over 10 hours, and finished three songs. Songs I know we’re both excited about. Will definitely be sharing some demos of those once I get back to Nashville and have some time to work on them.

We ended off at Chalker’s on Sunday. A great new venue in northern Toronto. They seem to really support jazz in particular, and with the closing of the Senator and the Bistro, Toronto needs all the places it can get. We did a couple of sets and had Shirantha Beddage sit in on the last tune. He’s back from finishing up his doctorate in the US. Great player.

Just hanging now in TO, going to do some Canadian shopping, and heading back to Nashville on Wednesday. Excited to get to work on the album cover for the new Trio record. It’s looking like it’s due for a September release.

Have a great week. Thanks for reading.

t