| Friends, I’m just coming off the road today and dove-tailing into a super busy week here at home. First up though, how about a flashback into the last two weeks since we last spoke?
I went through multiple back and forth’s from here to the East Coast and had the good fortune of experiencing some whack-cold weather back there. NYC was nine degrees and even Miami was dipping down below what it’s supposed to be. We had great music with Dianne Reeves and the band, got to visit my cousin Shelley and her son Gabe in Hartford, had a wonderful hang at Rob and Raquel Schneiderman’s warm and cozy apartment in NYC and finally a safe landing back in San Diego. Here are some photos:  Here is the band at the Rose Room at Lincoln Center playing the opening instrumental tune. That’s Peter Martin on piano, Reginal Veal on bass, Terryon Gulley on drums, and me on guitar.  This is Paul Boothe the tour manager and sound man. He makes everything right but you also don’t want to cross him. He’s intense!  I took a trip on a train up to 125th Street to visit Rob and Raquel. Their apartment is one of those off in the distance.  Peter can wear a suit too! Barely! This is me in the dressing room with mirrors and lights highlighting the imperfections.  Here’s Terryon at our Hartford gig striking a very current pose of “what’s the rest of the world doing at this very moment” as reported by the almighty smart phone. From our Jazz at Lincoln Center concert this great review in the New York Times emerged. The Dianne tour morphed into some gigs with the Billy Childs Ensemble. First up was Portland and then last night we shared the sonic revolution with the good folks of Phoenix, Arizona. Super fun times and here you go with a few pics to tell that story.  Arriving in Portland and it’s a super clear sunny Mt. Hood to greet us!  From Portland we traveled to Phoenix and played at the Musical Instrument Museum. Here’s the band with (left to right) Ben Shepard, Peter, Becca Stevens, Alicia Olatuja, Billy Childs, and Donald Barrett.  After our concert they gave us a private tour of the museum and you know I have an interest in double neck guitars. Check out this Ibanez beauty!  And this vintage Duane Eddy guitar!  This isn’t a double neck but it’s one of the first synth guitars ever made and I too once owned one. It was a DOG! You could hardly survive a gig with the way it tracked.  My favorite thing at the museum was this giant upright bass. Oh my! That’s Billy standing next to it to give the whole thing some perspective. Big bottom! Now I’m back home and here for a good chunk of time. As soon as I finish this gig email I’m off to the ocean to catch some waves and attempt to equalize the rigors of the road with a little salt water tonic. But first, an update on this week’s hometown concerts. On Thursday night we’re getting the quartet together to play a hit at Croce’s. It’ll be Tripp, Gunnar, Duncan and myself dipping into the straight up swing and samba songbook. Croce’s has really good sound and for this night they’re having a prefix dinner special. Follow the link below for reservations and details. Hope to see you there!  Quartet music with Tripp, Peter, Gunnar, and Duncan For Friday night at Ki’s Restaurant I’m teaming up with vocalist Nina Francis and my brother Tripp for a night of “Nina Sings the Standards.” Nina has been doing wonderful things back here in San Diego after her four year musical college experience at USC. Lately she’s been focusing on her own music and playing a ton of shows. I love the way she sings jazz too and so upon my suggestion for this gig we’re highlighting the gems in the Great American Songbook, taking a ride where Ella and Sarah have so elegantly gone before. Big fun ahead with jazz, eating great food and gazing out to the wild blue at Ki’s. See you there!
For Saturday night I’m super excited about presenting the Peter Sprague String Consort at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad. This is one of my favorite ensembles and we are thrilled to have cellist Lars Hoefs (back from Brazil) playing the show with us. We have a couple of new songs in the repertoire and judging from how it went a month back at our concert at UC Riverside there’s a good chance the band will achieve liftoff and the follow up show will unfortunately be held on Mars. If you’ve wondered how a classical string quartet intermingles with a jazz guitar trio and what this might sound like, Saturday night at the museum is your chance to hear it live and in person. Look below for the details and see you there!  PS String Consort with Mack, Peter, Bridget, Pam, Jeanne, Lars, and Duncan. Last up for this busy week of music is a show we’re putting together for Sunday night at Dizzy’s focusing on the music of Brazil. Allison Adams Tucker’s group will start out the concert with a set and then it’s on to our group featuring the songs of Djavan, Gilberto Gil, Antonios Carlos Jobim, and this obscure California composer named Peter Sprague. In the band is Leonard singing, Tripp playing the sax and flute, Mack on bass, Duncan on drums and me on guitar. For the very end of the concert we’re putting both bands together for one last tune. Samba until you drop with the beautiful spirit of Brazil guiding your every step. Can’t wait!  Allison Adams Tucker group with me and Tripp too! Also a few others but this is basically one of the ensembles for the Brasil Dizzy’s hit. In between all of this travel I was home for a day to see our daughter Kylie off on a plane to Chile. I also took in a classic Encinitas sunset with lovely Stef.  She’s leaving home for Chile. Kylie at the airport off to wild adventures!  Stef and I taking a walk with the warm light of the Encinitas sunset. There it is folks, a whirlwind blending into some ocean lotion and then finally some homespun jazz. Thanks for taking the ride with me. It’s good to be home and it’ll be fun to see you all soon. adios, Peter |
