Wood Mouthpiece Saga Update
Jay Thomas makes my wood mouthpiece beta sound fantastic. I told him I was working on a v2 with a more stable wood and he told me not to throw this one out 🙂
Latest Entries
Cherry Tree in Yard Now Bench and Table
We had this monster cherry tree in our yard. It had been there 70 or 80 Years. Eventually part of it fell in our neighbor’s yard so we had to take it down. We had to build a special dolly to carry the logs which weighed about 700 pounds apiece Here we go….. Off to … Continue reading
More Sax Mouthpiece Geek Talk Part II
Here’s a recording of the same tune with the Selmer Short Barrel I wrote about in the previous post. It was a C* originally and opened up to a E or and F by a mouthpiece dude here in the Northwest named Bob Carpenter. I can’t remember what the tip opening is. This mouthpiece has … Continue reading
GEEK ALERT: Sax Mouthpiece Talk
Greetings folks, As you may/may not know, I played alto for decades and reached a point about five years ago at which I started to hate everything I played on that instrument. (all my recordings are on alto.) So I switched to tenor and defaulted to the mouthpiece I had on hand at the time, … Continue reading
The Imperfect “Democracy”
For you folks that are tuning in from Canada, Europe, and beyond, let me just say YES, I knew the United States was messed up, but not just how messed up until the unthinkable happened four years ago. Months after the nightmare has ended, I still give thanks every day that the democracy, imperfect as … Continue reading
It Rains Like Just About Every Day in Seattle During the Winter
But I think it’s finally starting to stop Continue reading
Ballads Are Love Songs, But….
…I find the mood of this tune so melancholy that it’s a helpful release for the heartbreak humanity constantly washes over itself. Continue reading
Good Times in the Northwest…
It was like being at the beach after cold, wet Seattle winter. Here’s to herd immunity so we can travel again… Continue reading
Stand Alone Playing
Hey folks, I wanted to share this part of an ongoing avenue of my practice to develop “stand alone” solo playing of both standards and free tunes. This one is actually All the Things You Are with an extended variation on the traditional intro. The goal of course is for it to make compositional sense … Continue reading
New Obsession: drums
I started a covid project of learning “some drums” and thanks to all the fantastic learning tools available that talented folks have offered up on the internet, the project has turned into a full time obsession. Check out this fantastic tutorial on the Elvin groove on Night Has 1000 I’s Continue reading
Lizards Reunion Concert Live Stream
 Hey jazz friends, We got Ty Bailie back for a reunion concert at Jazz Clubs NW which was a real blast. See the stream below where we play a ton of the album tunes from Our Modern Lifestyle and Freebird and Other Jazzy Things.  Unfortunately Dave Peterson could not join us but stay … Continue reading
Chris Fagan Jazz 