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Boston7/30/2023 I took Amtrak for the first time from NYC to Boston. It took 4 hours. Upon the advice of my friend Marc Townley he advised me to a few things I was considering. I was in a race against time and weather on the first day. I got a lot in and I feel it! LOL I did the Freedom Trail, JFK Museum, Fenway, Berkley, NEC, stopped at an exhibit on women jazz artists and saw a lot of friends represented, and went over to Quincy to see the burial sites of John and John Quincy Adams. I was here back in the summer of 1987 with the McDonalds Band. It was nice to explore this historic city to our nation.
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Jon Faddis @ 70 - Dizzy's7/30/2023 The main purpose of the trip out was to celebrate my mentor and hero Mr. Jon Faddis turning 70. Jon sounded amazing as always along with his group. He once again played the Gillespiana Suite which is one of my favorites and I never get tired of hearing him play it. As he always does, he invited me up to play West End Blues, Although, I never get it perfect, I normally do ok. Not this time. I don't know what happened, maybe too tired, but I really messed it up. Making mistakes I never make. Of course in any setting it's embarrassing but with your hero and amazing band it was even more humbling. I'm still honored for the invite and felt bad I didn't represent his investment in me better but hopefully there will be another time. It was also nice to visit quick with Laurelyn on my way out. Walking back to my hotel who do I see sitting outside at this club but former MSU student Joel Perez. So I listened to a set with the amazing band he played with and all of them couldn't have been nicer and the owner was so kind also!
Louis Armstrong Center7/30/2023 I got up at 2am drove to Detroit, flew to NYC, and went straight to the new Louis Armstrong Center. Just like Louis's time was perfect so was Ricky Riccardi's time. As I got out of my Lyft, Ricky was arriving. I had such an amazing day and Ricky was the most gracious host once again, seeing the archives which include letting me play Louis's trumpets. Ricky is the foremost expert on Louis Armstrong and has a heart of gold. The center also had a concert that day which I got to attend the rehearsals. Everyone at the Center and House are amazing and I will always continue to come no matter how many times I've been there. I saw some old friends and met some new ones. Please if you are going to NYC and specifically Queens, please go to the house and center. You won't regret it! https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org
Hospice Family7/25/2023 I went and visited my hospice family today. Mind you, I only knew these people for a month. These are a few of the staff at Stoneleigh Hospice in Lansing. I didn't know how I'd feel going back to where I spent my last moments with Talia. I've been back a couple of times I think, but as you can see, despite on the one hand what that place represents for me, it also represents some of the most amazing people I've ever met in my life. Yes, this is their job, to care for those in their last days and it's the reality of their jobs, which right then and there should tell you how special these people are. But I really feel they go so far beyond that and they showed such love and compassion to not only Talia but me. I was there 23 hours a day for a month. That's a pretty concentrated time to spend with people. I wish I could have gotten a group photo of everyone that I spent time with there, but as I look at each individual here, in this photo, I can tell you very specific and special moments I had with each one as I can the rest not pictured, and for that, they will be my family forever. I'm sad that they couldn't see the real Talia (except for a few days as described below) . By the time we entered their residence, the tumor had spread to a part of Talia's brain that effected her personality. ( I didn't know this until about 5 minutes after checking in, then everything over the past two days made sense) Even the way that was presented to me was in such love. In a month there spending 23 hours every day, I only had 2 really bad hours which were dealt with immediately with such kindness, swiftness, and integrity. I would say, if that was all, I call that a miracle. These strangers at the time, were a group of individuals placed by God, to help guide me through what would be the most trying time of my life. Nothing can prepare you for the pain I went through. What I learned was these people were not just there for Talia, but they were there for me. I know Talia was thankful for all of them both in a short stay she had when I had to go to NYC for a few days and before the tumor had moved in her brain, and in our final month. I remember calling her from NYC and she was having so much fun. She said it was like she would imagine on a cruise ship, she had a personal chef that asked her what her favorites were, she had someone that was going to help with piano and liked sci-fi, there were Godly women who she could talk to, someone who gave massages, someone who was from AZ, that would sit with her when I was gone for an hour or two, someone who upon entering the room, would grab her hand and massage it while I was talking to the doctors, our home nurse before we entered the facility was such a blessing to Talia and Mia! LOL I could go on and on. These people are truly some of the most beautiful people I've ever met. Even today, the compassion and respect I received was beyond! They met Talia and I where we were at in life and loved us through! I'm sorry I had to meet these people and yet I'm forever grateful I did and consider them all family. Love you all so much and thank you for loving me through the hardest month of my life and showing Talia such love in her final days on this earth! May God truly bless all of you!
Happy 70th Jon7/24/2023 A very happy 70th birthday to my Mentor and Hero Mr. Jon Faddis. I already wrote a blog on Jon which I've included the link here. I've included some photos from the last time I saw him in Washington D.C. at the Blues Alley. Looking forward to celebrating with him on Friday at Dizzys!
https://www.maxcolley3.com/blog/jon-faddis Also here is an interview I did with Jon a few years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdSmLVuIaJM Happy 45th Heavenly Birthday Talia!7/23/2023 Well, today Talia would have turned 45! Seeing as she is with God now, I wanted to be in God's creation today even though I know Talia has much better views. Talia was pretty much a homebody but lived through me so I would always FaceTime her from places and then she said she didn't need to go there because she saw it with me on FaceTime. LOL Miss her dearly and I loved celebrating and still do, the day God gave her life on earth and blessing me with her as my wife. I am looking forward to sharing with you all my tribute recording project to her. I'm excited this week to meet the composer of one of the many special tunes on this project in Boston. There is always a two sided coin to days like today. It's fun to remember good times and great memories and just be thankful for the time God gave me with Talia, but of course makes you miss her even more because you just want it to continue. God is good and Happy Heavenly 45th birthday Talia!
BWK Weekend Gigs7/23/2023
I get to go to some pretty cool places being a musician. Fun gigs this weekend and a beautiful spot in Traverse City. First video is from a party and a close up of the one known as Pace! LOL
Anthony Dominick Benedetto7/23/2023 Life well lived! The video was when I saw him in Indiana. Filled up the whole place with no mic for end of Fly Me To The Moon!
The weekend7/9/2023 First picture is of my lavender I picked, followed by one of my hanging plants , made a visit to my sisters new shop, and of a little arrangement I bought there and all the critters. Then it was so nice to meet up with my long time friend Bridgette for dinner, then went to my friend Mark Byerly and dropped off all the files to start the mixing process for the cd, then went to my HS friend and his family Ken Laberteaux to see Paul Keller and friends, clouds and sunsets, and making some sun tea!
Would have been 6 today7/1/2023 Today would have been our 6 year anniversary. We got married in Cave Creek, AZ It was 112 degrees that day. I was good of course but felt bad for Talia. I've been working on my tribute cd for Talia and hope to have it all completed in a few months. Some pretty exciting things on it, one I'll do a separate post on soon, but I'm honored to once again have my dear friend Randy Napoleon on it and he provided the soundtrack I played to for Talia to come down the aisle, The Way You Look Tonight. It was perfect for us just having part of her family there as neither of us like to be the center of attention. Typically, to celebrate I'd bring Red Lobster home and get her some flowers, although on our 1st anniversary we went down to Ann Arbor to see none other than Randy Napoleon play. Thought that would be a good way to celebrate but didn't quite end up that way. Anyways, so thankful that God gave me Talia for a short time to bring so much joy to my life. Hope this upcoming project will honor her and bring glory to God. I wrote a lot on what would have been our 5th anniversary so here is the link if you want to read that one complete with video. https://www.maxcolley3.com/blog/almost-5-year-anniversary
Recap7/1/2023 Just getting through a really busy couple of weeks! Almost every weekend is with the Blue Water Kings playing weddings. The one had a drone show. Then played with my friend Lisa Sung and I was an adopted Asian for the day! LOL Had lunch with Alain Sullivan who I think is just a great person and musician. Been dealing with wildfire smoke like everyone else. Spent a night in the hospital with Dad but he's doing well now! And Mia holding the fort down!
Tri-C Jazz Fest6/23/2023 So after an enjoyable time of fellowship with the Moore's I headed downtown to see some amazing performances at the Tri-C Jazz Fest. This is my 3rd time attending and each time has been amazing. We were actually part of the educational portion of it one year with MSU. First up was Samara Joy and I don't know what else to say. She is captivating, genuine, one of the great voices in jazz, absolutely draws you in, she is an amazing band leader, adventurous, I mean I could go on forever. She really is something special. She got 2 standing ovations in the middle of the concert. I've never seen crowds react to someone like this. I will see her as many times as I can. Absolutely love her. I also know for a fact she does not just rely on her talent but works extremely hard at what she does. Thank you Samara for the Joy you bring! no pun intended. Next up was Christian McBride who as many times as I've seen him never ceases to amaze me as a virtuoso bassist but who is always innovating. He had a new band and they were amazing. A fully enjoyable set and love him so much and he has been so good to me over the years! Last up was Dan Wilson who I met at MSU and instantly fell in love. Tonight he did a tribute to one my favorites Mr. Stevie Wonder. Innovative arrangements, some tunes I did not know, and killer band.
I have failed to mention two other gentlemen who played this evening. Mr. Luther Allison and Mr. Brandon Rose. I love these two brothers and am so proud of them. Not only for the expert musicians they have become but for the men they have become. They treat me so well and show so much love to me. I am so happy for all the great things that are happening for them. I even brought autograph material for them tonight. They get to move on with all the other greats in my books of heroes. All in all a great weekend of music and fellowship. God is good. It has been nuts and it continues for the next few days. Get up early, drive home, change, head to my gig in St. Joseph. Sunday, playing with Lisa Sung in GR, Monday, gig in Grand Haven, Tues lessons, and then some down time in the schedule which will fill up quickly with many to do's and more CD work, and many other projects to start. Be blessed! Love, Blessings, and Swing! Day with the Moore's6/23/2023 I'm still actually processing my Israel trip. For sure it was a pilgrimage and so many amazing moments and our tour guide was unbelievable. But one of the other things that came from it was some nice friendships. One of those being Jeff and Sue Moore. They were so kind to come to the way back and befriend me. It really spoke to their selflessness and we had great fellowship and laughs. I've been wanting to get together with them since the trip and now that the snow has stopped! LOL and I was coming to town for the Tri-C Jazz Fest this was finally the time. They are truly amazing individuals and represent Jesus so well! I have much to learn from them yet but did the heart good to be able to be with them for a little bit. We had a nice walk in one of the metro parks by their house. The end pictures are from our trip and the picture of me floating was by Sue. There is video also but I'll wait for a day that I need a really good laugh to post that one! Thank you for a great time my Brother and Sister!
Yet another sunset6/23/2023 I've included many different tries here of me trying to capture the awe of yet another sunset and yet again I failed in comparison to what my eyes were observing. God is amazing.
Happy 75th Pops6/22/2023 Our family celebrated our Patriarch's 75th birthday yesterday! He always like to say he was born the same year Israel became a nation as I like to say I was born the year they landed on the moon. He also was born on the first day of summer.
It was good to celebrate because it has been an up and down year for Pops health wise. There are things barring a miracle that he will have to deal with but the stuff that really knocked him out for awhile is all good. I am so blessed to call him my earthly father. I know he has touched so many lives and hope that I will be able to do the same. The once sickness as demonstrated in the photo that I don't think he will recover from is being a lions fan. This is the year right! LOL Love ya Pops! Happy 75th! Quite the weekend6/20/2023 Even by my normal standards this was quite the weekend. I was in 5 cities, and played 3 gigs in 24 hours. I left Cincinnati Friday morning drove to Lansing. I quick put my set lists together for 3 gigs, and headed to gig number 1 in Grand Rapids. It was with BWK and was the biggest group I've played with and may ever play with for BWK 14 people. Poor Nate was behind the speaker all night. A place I would have liked to be! LOL. Got a picture with Aaron because without his work on the books I would never be able to play this gig. Got home around 1:30am and had to be out of the house by 8:00 am to be the guest at the Keith Hall Camp in Kalamazoo. He's been doing this like 17 years or something and is such a beautiful camp and so much positivity. All the kids come out playing better and more confident. It's Keith's Birthday today! It was good also to fellowship with so many friends that were there including Lij who went from a student to now teaching at the camp. The it was off to Holland for my next BWK gig. They were a lively bunch which typically is fun. They were on the dance floor all night and I think was the most appreciative crowd towards me that I've ever played for. Nobody got hurt that I know off, lol and they fueled me to play my best! This was a gig Talia would have loved because she would have just camped out in that library. Wish she would have been available for me to text the picture to. She would have loved it. Took a picture with Mark who is always so much fun to play with and a true inspiration to me. Took a walk on my day off. The flowers are my roses that did not bloom last year but are this year despite not being able to get out and weed yet! Lastly, was great to see Larry on my walk who has written for the City Pulse and always did so many nice stories about all the artists we were bringing in to MSU! Always nice to come home to Mia, and Got a Louis Armstrong "doll" I've been keeping my eye on for years. It was time! LOL
Cincinatti6/15/2023 Quick little trip to Cincinnati! Went to the Arc Experience and the Creation Museum. Then walked around the riverfront downtown. Pretty cool city! It was great to catch up with my friend and great pianist Dan Karlsberg. Looking forward to seeing him this evening with Antonio Hart!
How I spent my day6/11/2023 My day was spent kind of how this past season has been for me. I believe I have a good balance of alone time to shed tears and spend time with God and then have good fellowship and play music. I'm on the tail end of getting over a cold that has kind of knocked me out for a few days. I made a trip out to the cemetery where in one of the books I read, they called the burial spot the Heaven portal so that is so fitting for Talia who loved sci fi and her favorite was Stargate who the main dude went through this Stargate (portal) and I know she went to Heaven so it makes going there a little easier thinking of it as not Talia's resting place but her Heaven portal. I laid her favorite color rose there. Then I quick stopped at my sister Chandy's house and her and my sister Sarah got me a flower arrangement of one of Talia's favorite flowers. The thing about it, Sarah didn't know that. Talia loved Tulips so I planted a ton for her so she would have them every year, but one year we were looking at our neighbors yard and they had these allium's and Talia loved them, so I went over to ask what they were and of course our nice neighbors not only told us what they were but gave us a bunch of bulbs to plant. So the last picture is from our yard last year, and this is the arrangement my sister Sarah put together and her and Chandy gave me. A cool Godwink! Here is a plug for my sister Sarah's new business The Little Green Barn:
https://www.instagram.com/thelittlegreenbarn/ I've read so many books on grief during this season and there are many common themes that people have with loss of a spouse despite each situation being very unique. One thing I read that almost everyone has to deal with is life goes on for everyone and there is a bit of a kind of get over it mentality. That is the one thing I do not have in common with anyone that has suffered a loss like mine. Throughout this entire season people are constantly showing love, calls, texts, emails, gifts, etc... I truly am one of the most blessed people on the planet. More than 500 people either sent an emoji of care and love or comment etc.. on Facebook. Two of my dear friends sent this wind chime with a comforting purpose, etc... I also have to say one of the biggest surprises through this season is the Stoneleigh Hospice of Lansing. I have made so many friends there and their care and love for Talia for that month was unprecedented. They will always have a special spot in my heart, but the surprise is they are as much here for me as they were Talia. Calls to see how I'm doing, encouragement, and they sent this little bookmark which seems like a small thing but anyone that knows Talia knew her main thing was books! So it was just perfect! Then I finally headed to my gig. It was a large wedding and who showed up other than Sparty. LOL It was so fun to catch up with Dante from MSU and we had 3 Northview Alum represented in Keaton Royer, Me, and Mark Wells, Mitch Meyers was on the gig and I was honored to play on his CD and a friend just posted this week a video from like 15 years ago playing together, and Serena Rae was so kind in understanding the anniversary of the day! I had to include a picture of this kid. This kid was on the dance floor all night and as I watched him his time and moves were impeccable. I hope he becomes a drummer but he made it fun to play for him. I had a good conversation with Talia's Mom and we are happy for Talia being in no pain and going through the library in Heaven but both of us miss her dearly. I closed with some pictures of Talia to which I can hear her saying right now "Unauthorized, Unapproved.... lol" She didn't realize she couldn't take a bad picture. Me on the other hand..... I had to include the one with Mia who was such a good bud to her and now me! She really wouldn't like that I have included one with her after chemo and her hair fell out but I think she looked just as beautiful with or without! Thank you all so much for all your support! I'm blessed in the beyond category! 1 Year6/9/2023 I've thought a lot about what to write as I have reached one year since Talia's transition to Heaven. I remember this day last year similar to today, I was watching the NBA finals. I stayed with Talia everyday in Hospice. After the game was done, I tried to lay down on the couch in her room and was awakened at about 5am on the 10th, by her breathing which was signifying her transition. She fought so courageous and brave and with such humility.
There is so much to reflect on over the last year. I didn't realize how exhausted I was. I didn't realize just how stressful my job was. Everything I knew about Talia has been heightened. I think I love Talia better now then when she was here. I understand her better now. She really was the sweetest person I've ever met. Part of me transitioned with Talia. I think about Heaven all the time. God is truly good. I'm more compassionate for people especially those that have gone through similar circumstances. There are a lot of us that belong to a club none of us wanted to belong to. I'm more grateful than I used to be. I have the most incredible support group ranging from my blood family, Talia's family, co -workers, the jazz community, all the hospice workers, and so many friends from all walks of life. The world needs Jesus Priorities have changed Talia led by example Grief is no joke I got to walk where Jesus walked I believe I'm a stronger person now because of what I've been through I was afraid I wouldn't remember what life was like before she got cancer but thank God as I reflect through a lot of pictures, I remember all the good times! I don't like going grocery shopping anymore It's the simple things that get me I could go on and on. It was very important for me to take this year off. I have to figure out next steps now but as Talia would tell me don't stress about it, pray about it and God will open the door. There were about a billion pictures I could have posted but I decided on this one because it was something we were both proud of, we kept each other accountable to read through the Bible in a year. Because of what the Bible says about how God loved us and paid the price (so yes He gets our pain of loss) and if we accept that as Talia did, there is no death. I've tried not to use the word death because only Talia's body died not her spirit, what a comfort to know I will be reunited with her. I have finished for the most part recording my tribute project to Talia. There are so many special moments on here and so many contributions of love. One very special piece will close this project entitled "Till I See You" by Peter Jonatan. It's a very emotional piece for me because it depicts so well what I envision my reuniting with Talia to be like in addition to being with Jesus also! I'm excited for you all to hear it, and of course will let you know when it's ready to be released. In closing, I could have written so much more but I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for all the love and support through this season. May God bless you all and know how much you are all loved! Wedding season has begun! Most weekends this summer will be playing with the Bluewater kings. I'm very thankful for the work and play with a lot of nice people. Session 4 happened for the CD with more amazing musicians. I got my Psalm 42:1 photo, Mia being a good bud to me, Rowan turned 4, good to play with brother Keith, the moon and sun have been amazing because of the smoke, and session 5 happened for the CD and my nephew Elijiah turned 19 which is unreal to me!
Max Colley IIISpirit Filled Jazz Musician Archives
May 2024
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