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 |  | Project Journal #36- Down Beat Rising Star Categories...
| 6/30/2010 - I just got a call from Bill Charlap who told me that I was voted as a "Rising Star" in the Composition and (Tenor?) Saxophone categories in Down Beat magazine- haven't owned or played a tenor since college, but a nice honor nonetheless. Been mentioned many times in the alto category, I'm guessing that's what was meant this time as well. Just got back from doing a bunch of gigs with Max Weinberg's Big Band. The band is really excellent, all great players ( and fun people to hang out with- really important on the road); and Max has just been a pleasure to work with. Just a really nice, humble guy- and the stories! Bruce, Ringo, Sinatra... I love hearing great stories about musicians, and it's nice hearing them from a guy coming from a rock background. So we played the midwest, got stuck in Chicago trying to get to the Ottowa Jazz Festival ( never made it due to weather), then ended in California at the Hyatt Newport Beach Jazz Festival, Yoshi's in San Fran., and a concert in Petaluma. Tonight I'm playing at Smoke with Bill Mobley's band. I'll be doing a bunch more of those Thursdays with Bill this month, a gig with Bill Charlap at the 92nd st Y as part of the Jazz in July Festival, as well as some gigs w/Max in the middle of the month, and probably a few other things as well. Still getting some nice reviews coming in for the recent c.d. Evolution, including one recently in All About Jazz. Thanks for checking in...
P.S.- I just saw that the great trombonist Benny Powell passed away while I was on tour in late June. He was a great player, a great person and a joy and inspiration to be around. I first met him through Eddie Chamblee at Sweet Basil in the mid 80's when I was sitting in there a lot as a teenager- Eddie loved him, and they often did gigs together in various contexts. He was so kind and supportive when he sat in, or covered the Saturday brunch gig for Eddie. I later played with Benny in a number of different big bands around town, and most recently in the Jazz Nativity. I count myself lucky to have been around Benny. Guys like him have somethin' you can't learn in school. You just have to be around it and hope to get a little piece of it in your music. Playing with Count Basie, as he did for many years, will certainly teach you things about time, phrasing, and taste that you can't learn otherwise. He will be greatly missed- Thanks Benny!
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 |  |  | | | | |  | Danny Bank | | Played a great gig with Anthony Wilson at Smalls last week. Stanley
Crouch hung out at the near end of the bar putting him just about in the
horn... | | |
|  | Project Journal #34 | | Well, I haven't checked in for a while, mainly because I was just including excerpts of recent reviews for Evolution in the previous journal... | | |
| |  | Gene Seymour's Top 10 of 09 | The following is from Jazz writer and critic Gene Seymour's recent list of Top 10 Jazz Releases for 09...
Jon Gordon, “Evolution” (Artist’s... | | |
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| | | | | | | Evolution CD (Mail Order) | | | Welcome to the Evolution CD Participant Offer where it is my pleasure to share the creation of this new work with you through ArtistShare. As a participant, during the course of this project you will have a unique look into the entire... |  |
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