If You Swing It, They Won't Come: Jazz Isn't Completely Dead, It's Just a Little Dead

How John Coltrane (Almost) Ruined My Life

Subect(ive) to Criticism

The Chris Kelsey 4 at Brecht Forum, Sunday November 29th
Come out and listen! You’ll like it or your money back! (Not really. We keep the money, no matter what. But it’s only $10 for the two bands, so you won’t be out much.) 451 West St (West Side Highway Btwn Bank & Bethune sts) Music starts at 7 pm. We go on at 8 pm.

The First Review Is In
Writer Brian Olewnick, whose tastes generally run to less jazzy fare, nevertheless has some very nice things to say about Not Cool on his blog Just Outside. You can read it here. Thanks, Mr. O!

“Now’s the …” uh, What Was I Going to Say?
Trumpeter/bass-clarinetist Matt Lavelle and I were talking the other day about our shared problem with memorizing tunes. The conversation centered on our both having forgotten most of the Charlie Parker tunes we once knew, back when our cheeks (and prospects) were fuzzy and our musical interests more conventional than they are now.

Additions to the Site: Streams, Liner Notes and Cover Art Downloads
It’s crowded in here. It’s becoming clearer with each passing day that this site is becoming as overstuffed as Union Square on Eugene Debs’ birthday, and that I’m going to have to find a more efficient use of my screen real estate. This WordPress template is pretty and all, but there’s too much wasted space. Anywhoo … The black bar at the bottom of the page is the Streampad plug-in, which allows for the streaming of audio files. Click it and you can listen to a

These Be Takes That Are Short, Arrgh!
The Swine Flu Sow by “Pandemic Pete” Between getting my own new record finished and released, working on a book, taking the kids back and forth to the doctor (first they get H1 N1, then they get vaccinated for it, how whack is that?), and trekking all over trying to get my tenor fixed, I’ve managed to fall behind in my reviewing of new releases. That won’t do, not at all, for I’ve gotten some r