Viewing: Intention - View all posts
2017 RESOLUTIONS
The year of community.
Put down roots. Carve out a niche. Make new friends. Be a good neighbor.
Cultivate relationships close to home. Favor work within the region.
Learn the local ways. Meet the leadership and form alliances.
Age gracefully. Identify elder role models and study how they live.
Embrace the current stage of life while preparing for the next.
Get over the past. Celebrate the present. Practice gratitude.
Develop and maintain good, sustainable health and fitness habits.
Go outdoors. Keep moving! Walk, swim, ride. Play with Scout.
Drink water. Eat vegetables. Take naps. Pace yourself.
Stay in touch with family and friends.
Keep home and horn in good repair.
Tell people you love them.
Make better music.
Stay positive.
JUST DO IT
MISE EN PLACE
A FEW THOUGHTS ON JAZZ & COMPETITION
To my ears, “Jazz Competition” is an oxymoron.
We’re going to have a contest to see who can be the most vulnerable? The most sensitive or sincere?
To find out who among us can best lay bare our soul and play from the heart?
Every year on tour I hear dozens of excellent high school groups, all over the country, investing hours of rehearsal time, polishing the same Duke Ellington charts in preparation for the annual Jazz Hunger Games.
While it’s gratifying to witness Duke’s music being disseminated so widely, I wonder if these young musicians might be better off exploring a larger repertoire of sounds and styles, learning to sight read, listen and improvise.
Of course, there is such a thing as “healthy competition” in the arts. Setting challenges and overcoming them is how we improve.
Competitive, however, is not the correct mindset for quality music-making. This art form is interactive. It’s about listening and openness. Conversation, not competition.
Personally, I don’t feel that I’m in competition with other artists. I’m competing with Netflix, spectator sports, video games, social media and all the other distractions that vie for your leisure time, attention and dollars.
I welcome opportunities to work alongside and learn from my betters. I always try to surround myself with talents greater than my own. Art Farmer said “if you’re the smartest cat in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
One time Nicholas Payton dropped by my gig in San Francisco and schooled me on a ballad. It was like a ten-minute graduate seminar on understatement and grace.
This week I had the opportunity to participate in a tribute to one of my longtime heroes, Tom Harrell, along with Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, Sean Jones, Johnathan Blake, and several other world class musicians, including the man himself, who has never sounded better.
Everyone involved was more capable and experienced than I. It was humbling but thrilling. I learned a lot and felt nothing but love and support in the room. There was no vibe. Everyone was there for Mr. Harrell.
Wynton Marsalis says a cutting session is like a debate. And debates have their place, especially in the classroom. But wouldn’t you really rather have a conversation?
Personally, I think cutting sessions are a drag. Everyone posturing, posing, showing off, going for house. The atmosphere of a cutting session is like a Michael Bay movie full of explosions. I usually end up resenting the audience for enjoying such tripe.
Here’s a challenge: let’s play lower, softer, slower -- with intensity.
Let’s play more soulfully.
Let’s just play.
INVISIBLE, UNPOPULAR AND COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY
NOW I KNOW
THE FORCE WILL BE WITH YOU. ALWAYS.
RAIN DANCE
A GOOD OMEN
2016 is going to be fully loaded and soulfully delicious.
IT'S A THIN LINE
2016 RESOLUTIONS
The year of Scout! Train puppy to be a good home dog and road dog.
Coordinate distribution of Jazz Noir to radio and reviewers.
Prepare fresh DMG sets. Focus touring mostly in the northwest region.
Fewer gigs, higher fees, larger audiences.
Get back to playing long tones every day. Make it a habit.
Continue to eat right, exercise, lose weight and build muscle.
Take good care of Sassy, Scout, Ninji, Boo and the Fortress of Sassitude.
Plant a vegetable garden and a Japanese Maple.
Don’t be afraid. Play your way. Find your voice.
Get out from under the master’s shadow. It’s time.
THE PLAN
TIME IS PRECIOUS
THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF
In the spirit of today’s THANKSGIVING holiday, I want to express my gratitude to all our supporters, friends and fans for helping to make JAZZ NOIR a reality.
Here’s an update:
We’ve finished all four recording sessions (twelve selections in all), and are now mixing the album!
Last night’s downtown photo shoot — under neon lights, in the shadowy streets — was a cinema-worthy thrill.
Soon we’ll ship the music and images to our art director, annotator and mastering engineer so they may begin their creative work.
We’re on track for a February 20 release and can’t wait to share it with you.
Watch our teaser trailer and pre-order yours HERE.
JAZZ NOIR, in the words of Sam Spade, is “the stuff that dreams are made of.”
Thanks for making our dreams come true!
~Dmitri
A NUMBERS GAME
THE APEX
BETWEEN BATTLES
ADVICE FOR BANDLEADERS
AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT
THANK YOU!
THE HARD PART
CHRISTMAS IN JULY!
THE SUMMER DAY
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver