It was an honor to bring 9 of my Madison jazz musician friends to Camagüey, Cuba in January 2019 to perform with the amazing musicians of that city. Organized by myself and Ricardo Gonzalez of The Madison/Camagüey Sister City Association, Camagüey Jazz 2019 was a first of a kind project that created unique Big Band Jazz sound that wowed audiences. Check out this news report from Channel 3 News about the project.
On Saturday, June 21 at the 2014 Isthmus Jazz Festival, I had the privilege of being named Isthmus Jazz Personality Of The Year. It was an honor to receive this recognition. Other ‘Personalities’ from previous years include Ben Sidran, Jan Wheaton, Kelly DeHaven and Roscoe Mitchell. The kicker was speaking before the festival headliner Richard Davis’ performance. I used the opportunity to speak on the plight of local jazz musicians in our city and reminded people that, by just simply deciding to go out more to hear live music, they can greatly help improve our local jazz scene. The whole experience was pretty fun and cool…
