| Folks, we had a wonderful run of LA, Palm Springs, Idyllwild, downtown SD, and Rancho Santa Fe a week or so back! Good music everywhere plus enthused and slightly inebriated fans at the inner city, magic burritos at the Indian Reservation on the outskirts of Palm Springs, a vehicle ascension from the desert through the clouds up to sun in the mountains, boogaloo grooves in Idyllwild, elevated enthusiasm in upscale RSF, and finally a suit required hit at Martini’s at 4th to wrap it all up in style.
I rested and relished the empty calendar…  This was the scene last week as Tripp and I drove from the desert floor up to 6000 feet to Idyllwild. We rose through the clouds and then broke into the sun in the mountains just in time to play some jazz! The Jazz Camp at UCSD is kicking into gear this week and I’ll be there professing the good words of jazz along with my other fellow jazz heads. It’s a who’s who collection of LA and SD jazz musos laying out the harmonic do’s and don’ts and it’s always a fun week hanging out with future.  This photo is from last year’s Jazz Camp and Leonard and I led a class in “being kind and playing nice” with jazz vocalists. We had fun sharing the ups and downs, crash and burns, the glory, the magic, the all of it that comes with the sometimes odd pairing of hard-core instrumentalists with singers. This week on Friday night at Ki’s Restaurant in Cardiff it’ll be me with guests Nina Francis on vocals and Tripp Sprague on sax and flute. Nina has been singing up a storm around SD and LA and brings a cool folk and jazz angle to the music. It’ll be a fun night and hope to see you there! Great food too…  Nina Francis and I a few years back playing a show at Tango del Rey. I’ll be joining vocalist Allison Adams Tucker and my brother Tripp on Saturday night at the Westgate Hotel for some samba, jazz, and ballads. This is a great place to hear music, small and intimate, and Allison has a pristine sound and infectious enthusiasm for music. It’ll be good times for certain!  Allison and I setting up a duet piece at Vitello’s in LA a few years ago. There’s a lot of stage between us and that’s because the band left it to us for a couple of tunes. There it is folks and thanks for reading through. All the very best to you… adios, Peter |