A Few Jazztacular Visits

Now, I've gone to two pretty interesting places in the past month. One of them was a visit to Snow College for a Jazz Camp put on by Juilliard's Staff. The other one was a visit to Telluride, Colorado for the Jazz Festival. Both were amazing experiences.

This is the Combo I was in, The Feel Goods, directed by Ben Wolfe

Let's start off with the Juilliard Jazz Camp. There people there from all over the country, and some international cats as well. Three from Costa Rica, one from London, several from New Jersey, and a few from Pennsylvania, and probably quite a few other places. The staff there knew exactly what they were talking about, though they were purely teaching Straight Ahead Jazz, and not much of anything else. Each of them had played with several greats, which I suppose would technically mean they were all greats themselves, but that's not near as important as how much they cared about us learning and us becoming the right kind of person for people to want to play gigs with. It was more than a Jazz Camp, they cared about who were just as much as everything else.

If you're curious, the staff included Carl Allen(Drums, Juilliard), Rich Dixon(Guitar, Snow College), Brandon Lee(Trumpet, Juilliard), Ron Blake(Saxophone, Juilliard), Rodney Jones(Guitar, Juilliard), Ben Wolfe(Bass, Juilliard), James Burton III(Trombone, Snow College), and Benny Green(Piano, Juilliard). In another post I'll share with you some of the stuff they taught, along with their listening lists.

The Voodoo Orchestra on the Main Stage at Telluride (I'm back there on Bass)

Now, I said I went to Telluride Colorado for the Jazz Festival, I forgot to mention the only reason I got to go there, is because The Voodoo Orchestra was lucky enough to get to play on the Main Stage, and I was lucky enough to have a backstage pass for the entire festival. The first day there, Tower of Power played, I didn't talk to them after they played, but I did watch them from backstage for a bit, and partied in the audience earlier.

The next day was Paquito D'Rivera, and Andy Narell. Andy Narell plays the Steel Pan, and he played some shows with the Flecktones. You know what that means? I met my second Flecktone! Even if he's an honorary one, it was nice to talk to him after their amazing concert, I talked to him about the Flecktones, and it was a grand old time.

That night, and the next day, it was the Clayton Brothers. John Clayton being one of the great bass players in the world today, playing with his brother, his son, and a few "adopted" brothers. Terrell Stafford, I must admit, is one of the best Trumpet players I've heard in ages, and it was an amazing couple of concerts!

Now, that day, a few of us also decided to go out and play in the streets, and we actually made a whole $14 as a group. It was for fun, so we just thought it was cool that other people enjoyed listening to us while we played.

And that wraps it up for my recent trips, keep diggin' it!