Jason Parker Quartet Tour: Day Eight, Palm Springs

by Jason on July 7, 2010 · 1 comment

in JPQ Tour

The Jason Parker Quartet hit the road for a two-week tour in May 2010. We were equipped with audio, video and cameras to document the whole experience. You can find all posts about the tour here.

JPQ at ACE - Photo by Darrah Parker

JPQ at ACE - Photo by Darrah Parker

The second week of the Jason Parker Quartet West Coast Tour found us waking in San Diego to the wonderful hospitality of my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Norman. We spent a glorious couple days at their pad in Del Mar and felt relaxed and full of home-cookin’ as we left for the short drive down to Palm Springs.

DaVinci - The Fifth Beatle

DaVinci - The Fifth Beatle

Day eight was a day off, so we slept late, ate a hearty breakfast by the pool and then packed up the car for the trip. Our new best friend DaVinci the poodle decided he wanted to come with us and jumped into D’Vonne’s seat in the van…it was touch-and-go there for a minute. But we finally got everyone settled in their rightful place and headed out.

We arrived at our accommodations for the next two days, The Ace Hotel, which is an amazing place to stay! It was H-O-T by the time we got to Palm Springs and all we wanted to do was get into our swimwear and lounge by the pool with drinks in hand. But I had a very important errand to run first: I had to go to the airport to pick up my wife, Darrah, who was flying in for the wedding!

A little backstory is necessary here: the whole reason this tour happened is because I was able to book this wedding in Palm Springs, which helped to finance much of the trip. I got the gig through Darrah, as the bride is an old childhood friend of her’s. Darrah was an honored guest at the wedding, which allowed her to spend a couple day with the JPQ! There was much laughing and bonding…

So I scooped up my lovely wife and we headed to the pool. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen two clumsy kooks like us try to get into a hammock with drinks in our hands!

Here is the video highlight reel from day eight:

And here’s what we listened to in the car today. The drive was only about two hours so there wasn’t much, but it was tasty!

1. Gilbert Castellanos – Underground
2. Irving Flores – Recuerdos
3. Funky mix CD complied by our friend Skerik, featuring James Brown, The Meters, Sly & The Family Stone, and more

Camden Hughes | Learn Jazz Standards July 8, 2010 at 1:23 am

Great choices of music to listen to! Who would be better to listen to when you’re in San Diego than the great San Diego trumpet player Gilbert Castellanos! He’s got a jam at the Onyx Room on Tuesday nights that’s been running for 10 years. That’s amazing to be able to keep a gig that long, especially a jam session-it speaks quite highly of him!

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