Visiting 3 jazz clubs in one night is not a typical thing for me. Yes, I've been hitting things pretty hard since moving to Chicago two months ago, trying to play somewhere at least 4 nights per week. But usually visiting one place per evening is enough. That is, until I get offers from other musicians. Because if you haven't realized this yet about me, if someone new offers me a chance to play somewhere, I'm gonna go for it. As kids (and some adults) say these days: YOLO (You only live once).
So last night I made plans to revisit the jazz jam session at Moe's Tavern, to say hello again to the great musicians I've met there in the past couple of months. Also, an old colleague of mine from Abilene, TX was in town visiting and wanted to hear me play.
But then an amazing sax player in town, Rajiv Halim, invited me to come out to a jam at Norman's Bistro on the south side from 9-midnight. Ok, cool. The jam at Moe's starts at 7pm, so I can definitely make the next jam a little after 9pm. And then hey, I'll be home before 12:30!
But then as I'm driving to Moe's I remember that a past colleague from my grad school days in Cincinnati, Mai Sugimoto (another killer saxophonist), had invited me to the Hungry Brain to hear her group, which might go pretty late (hopefully to 2AM?). So hey, what the heck. Let's do it all!
So the jam at Moe's was great (only got to play on one song, but Gustavo Cortinas's group sounded terrific!), and then meeting my old friend Sam and hearing and sitting in with Rajiv was awesome. I then raced to the Hungry Brain, but alas, not everything can be perfect: Mai's group was packing up their gear as I walked in the doors. However, the happy ending was that I still got to chat with Mai for the first time in over 6 years. Oh, and I have to mention that in the middle of this, my cell phone (AKA road navigator) died and I had to do a little extra driving aimlessly around to find a couple of these places. But I'm still here!
So I guess the moral of this story could be: not everything works out, but if you keep doing stuff, good stuff will be included.
Yeah, you can quote that gem!
P.S. About 40,000 views of my YouTube video (http://youtu.be/8LEuTnykXp4) within one week! I'm blown away by all of the support from you all. Thanks so much! And be on the lookout tomorrow for my next "Tuesday Tutorial" video. Take care!
So last night I made plans to revisit the jazz jam session at Moe's Tavern, to say hello again to the great musicians I've met there in the past couple of months. Also, an old colleague of mine from Abilene, TX was in town visiting and wanted to hear me play.
But then an amazing sax player in town, Rajiv Halim, invited me to come out to a jam at Norman's Bistro on the south side from 9-midnight. Ok, cool. The jam at Moe's starts at 7pm, so I can definitely make the next jam a little after 9pm. And then hey, I'll be home before 12:30!
But then as I'm driving to Moe's I remember that a past colleague from my grad school days in Cincinnati, Mai Sugimoto (another killer saxophonist), had invited me to the Hungry Brain to hear her group, which might go pretty late (hopefully to 2AM?). So hey, what the heck. Let's do it all!
So the jam at Moe's was great (only got to play on one song, but Gustavo Cortinas's group sounded terrific!), and then meeting my old friend Sam and hearing and sitting in with Rajiv was awesome. I then raced to the Hungry Brain, but alas, not everything can be perfect: Mai's group was packing up their gear as I walked in the doors. However, the happy ending was that I still got to chat with Mai for the first time in over 6 years. Oh, and I have to mention that in the middle of this, my cell phone (AKA road navigator) died and I had to do a little extra driving aimlessly around to find a couple of these places. But I'm still here!
So I guess the moral of this story could be: not everything works out, but if you keep doing stuff, good stuff will be included.
Yeah, you can quote that gem!
P.S. About 40,000 views of my YouTube video (http://youtu.be/8LEuTnykXp4) within one week! I'm blown away by all of the support from you all. Thanks so much! And be on the lookout tomorrow for my next "Tuesday Tutorial" video. Take care!