One of the countless blessings in my life is the man known as Uncle G. Uncle G is an inspiration to everyone he comes in contact with. He is filled with wisdom, soul, and kindness. My life is so enriched by his presence in my life. He was always asking about Talia, and also my sister and dad. Happy 90th Uncle G. Love you madly!

Had a fun BWK gig at a super cool home in Battle Creek which I found out was purchased by a friend and she runs the whole place. Fun band fun crowd. Good gig!

I've been playing a few shows with a Paul Simon and Simon and Garfunkel tribute show. They are really nice guys and enjoy my time with them. We also get to do a little bit of traveling and made my first trip to Penn's Peak in the Pocono Mountains. Caleb Elzinga and I drove out. A good time was had by all! I also confirmed that I should never ever get those basketball hoop cage thingy things because I would never get anything else done. LOL We also did a Neil Diamond show the next day. Nice trip! We also stopped at Jim Thorpe, PA. A very unique town. Oh, and....

They sang happy birthday to me! Thanks guys and everybody!

I had the distinct pleasure of celebrating the 90th birthday of Grand Rapids legend on bass, Mr. Elgin Vines. It was so nice of the community to come out and celebrate this great musician and person. Elgin has always been so supportive of me growing up he is such a kind man. Happy Birthday Elgin. A week from today, another 90th birthday celebration! 

This year I was able to add another family! I had the honor of working with another dear friend Cullen McCarthy and the students at Rockford HS. It was so fun to watch their progress throughout the year and have it culminate with another dear friend Mr. Walter Blanding. I've been so blessed to be able to spend time with these 3 schools and let me live out my dream. I am very blessed!

After spending a week in NYC for what I call one of the great family reunions for me, it kind of continued back home at West Ottawa. My 3 "work" families all are having their jazz concerts. Last 2 weeks have been spent with  Marc Townley and my Byron Family both with guest artist Paul Nedzela, and going to their 8th EE. Tonight was spent with two more of my dearest friends Mike Hamann and Marcus Printup! I had the opportunity to play both of my instruments, drums in a combo, and lead trumpet with the kids. I'm very thankful for the opportunity and proud of how far the kids have come. They were playing arrangements that Marcus wrote for the JLCO! So honored to be able to work with all these kids and my dear friends! 

Incredible day 5! The final 3 bands were great, J@LC was great, Wynton's vision after 30 years has and will continue to impact generations. Capped off with some great food! Best family reunion yet! 

Today, the 10 finalist bands played and I was so inspired by all of them and just so impressed by the amount of work that went into their performances and the level of the bands just continues to go up! Oh, the family reunion continued. It really has been so great to see so many friends! 

Day 3 was watching all the rest of the bands. Family reunion continues!

Day 2 was actually our performance! The day started with a great doughnut! LOL The family reunion continued seeing so many loved ones. The band played great and it was really fun to play in the Appel Room ! Had dinner with Marcus & Riza then met up with one of my first musical heroes now friend Mr. Jon Faddis. Also got to meet Phillip Bailey! Long day but really fun!

So this is the 8th time Byron has made it. I've written a lot about this in the past, so I won't recap my thoughts on this other than it is a dream come true. I'm really trying to take this in because it will be my last as I want to give other deserving people a chance to come if the opportunity should ever come again. Marc and staff are so incredibly generous to me and can't express how appreciative I am. This year is super fun being the 30th anniversary of EE so there are some new aspects to the normal routine. First there are 30 bands instead of 15 which has been super challenging for the incredible EE staff at J@LC but in typical fashion they live the nightmare and not us the benefactor of all their hard work. Being in my past similar role at MSU I totally have an empathy for what they all have gone through and we will say thank you a million times over these next few days. Easiest way to describe this is it's one of the greatest family reunions ever. As much as I love the music and the event, I love the people most and love to document all these individuals. I wish I had a hug-o-meter! LOL Next is performance day! 

After many delays, which the kids handled great, we made it to NYC and into our hotel at 2:30am. It was a frustrating day for me because as you may have gathered about me, I love to take pictures and document life. I always get a window seat when I can, which I did get, however, I totally picked the wrong side of the plane. So I missed an incredible sunset in route  to Chicago. I got one from across the aisle through a dirty open window. LOL Then I've never flown into Midway, and so you get to see Chicago up close and missed all those photos. Killed me but I did end well being on the right side of the plane to come into NYC. Normally, I always get a nice view of the city but never fly over. That was pretty cool. I wanted to show what a terrible day it was for photos so here you go! LOL also a rare picture of Times Square with very few people in it! 

A pretty cool day with the eagles. A lot of activity. A juvenile came to disrupt things then an osprey came. Got to see the eaglet and both eagles at the next. 

When Marc and I sat down dreaming about what we wanted the program to look like one of those items were to bring in the worlds great jazz musicians. Partly to satisfy our "fandom" of jazz musicians we loved but obviously we understood the educational value to the students to do this. It has been nothing short of amazing to look at everyone that has come in to play and mentor the students. I learn something each time. Marc is also so gracious to let me play a tune or two because he knows what it means to me to play with my heroes and the kids despite stinking up the place! It's also nice to meet the parents after and see old students. Truly a family affair! Thanks for all the love all the time. Next stop NYC and EE@30!

Speaking of heroes, Paul was so amazing with the kids. So kind and encouraging with quick wit. He has such an amazing sound, very reminiscent of one of his mentors. Paul was also so compassionate when I would see him after Talia's passing and not be afraid to ask me how I was doing and I will never forget the love shown to me by him. It is very surreal that I got to share the stage with him. Thank you for that and was also honored to share the moment with my friend Caleb also. I also want to thank Megan and Issac for allowing me to fulfill my dream to teach jazz to youngsters! I also got a little drum practice in for the Marcus Printup concert at West Ottawa concert when I return! More to come....

I have written a lot already about Samara so I won't write much but did want to attend this, what I feel historic, concert. Her first time at Carnegie Hall under her own name. This was my 8th time seeing her. It was sold out and super special. Her family was there, past teachers, her old HS principal brought like 100 students so was a very special event. I'm blessed to be able to witness the beginning of this amazing artist just like I've been able to watch the early beginning of Wynton even though I was only in 7th grade when I first saw him. I love this music and love the people even more. So happy for Samara. I only had one disappointment and that was I thought for sure her dad and grandfather would sing. I've seen her dad a few times and he is so amazing but haven't heard her grandfather sing live. It was great and so glad I attended.  I had an interesting observation which I thought was cool. I thought it was odd that her middle school and high school choir teachers were there. I was wondering why her band directors didn't come. Then I was like, look captain obvious, she's a vocalist, which made me think I've just been seeing her as a jazz musician and her instrument is her voice. All the greats I kind of see that way, Ella, Sarah, ..... Congratulations Samara!

So Trinino was on my flight. Former student at MSU. Was able to share a dinner with Markus and get caught up. Amongst being in Michael Buble's band, he is now playing a broadway show. Met Ralph Lalama and Pete Malinverni who were some of Samara's teachers along with Kenny Washington who we had as a guest at MSU. After the show I walked over to J@LC who was having their gala and ran into Christian McBride and he was like what are you doing here, seeing as it was the 3rd time I had seen him in a little over a week. Love my Jazz Family! 

A very quick 24 hour trip to NYC. I've been to NYC so many times now, I don't really do much sight seeing but still like to walk around. I walked 8 miles and have the blisters to prove it. I mainly go to meet up with friends or hear jazz seeing as it's the jazz capital of the world. I was able to do both. Flights had some turbulence but nothing too alarming. Had some good food. Saw typical NYC chaos. Had a new experience of laying down on a baggage cart in baggage claim. I seriously thought the gates would be open 24 hours but nope. I would have done things a little differently. I'll be back on Tuesday for EE!!!

I don't know why I'm so fascinated with Bald Eagles but I see them all the time. I remember it was a very rare thing to see one. As always here are 5 billion pictures of the same thing. LOL Enjoy

I spent a portion of two days at the Hastings Jazz Festival. I absolutely love this festival because there is not a competitive aspect to it and the whole town really embraces the festival. It was great to see so many friends, musicians, people I went to college with, past students of mine, the Diva Orchestra led by a great drummer and friend Sherrie Maricle, and my dear friends the Billingsley's who I will forever be indebted too!  I also played a few numbers with the Calvin Jazz ensemble. 

It was great to see my friend and principal trumpet Mr. Charlie Lea in the store before I saw him perform on Sat. Brother Rick was great again with some screaming parts and good to see David Robertson conducting who just spent some time I think in London with Wynton and J@LC, then first time hearing Carmina Burana Live. Massive work! 

I went to San Chez for dinner before and had the whole restaurant upstairs to myself reminiscent of when the same thing happened to my Dad and I in Rome. This was the second time I've seen Christian's group Ursa Major. I've already written much about Christian in posts on his music and my love for him as a friend. So thankful for Cathy and Lazaro bringing him in. It's also such a great time seeing so many of my friends from the community who attended the concerts. It was also fun Bragging on Luke to Christian who's dream it is to be a member of his band. I know it will happen!

Spring has taken its time but we're getting there. I love looking at the sky at night. And some fun with chicken pictures! LOL