I almost never play for free. I believe that as professional musicians we have to have enough self respect and self-worth to charge for our services. We put in countless hours of practice and preparation to get us to each gig and should not take that time lightly. If we don’t think of ourselves as […]
Thoughts
As a gigging musician, my hope is that there will be a huge crowd at every show clamoring for our music. And often this is the case. But there are also gigs where you can hear the crickets. Today was just such a gig. I played a Sunday Brunch with my partner-in-crime Josh Rawlings at […]
In 1958, photographer Art Kane was working for Esquire Magazine. He was asked by the magazine to assemble as many jazz musicians as he could for a photo to accompany a special edition commemorating the “golden age of jazz”. That photo, seen here, became known as “A Great Day in Harlem”, and features an amazing […]
Practice is something that is a big part of my life. It used to be that the term only applied to practicing my trumpet, which I do on a daily basis. As I mentioned in the post First, A Little History, when I was younger I hated to practice. My mom had to pay me […]
I was reading my friend Jason Palmer’s blog earlier today. Jason is a fantastic trumpet player from Boston and he and I have been internet buddies for a few years now. If you want to hear some really cool jazz music check out his album, Songbook. I’ve always dug Jason’s playing and more recently have […]
Yesterday was a funny day. It started wonderfully when my business partner Josh showed up for a meeting with homemade granola and fresh fruit. Now that’s a good partner! Josh’s mom runs Wow Catering and every once in a while I get to reap the benefits too. After our meeting I was off to teach […]
This is what I’ve always said to people when they ask me “How can I become a musician (or photographer, or actor, or painter)?” Simple, right? Today I found a great blog post by Lauren Zettler that says the same thing, only much more eloquently than I ever could. Read the post here: Eff It… […]
One of the most common questions I get asked, by friends and strangers alike, is what does a “normal day” look like for me. I put that phrase in quotes because, simply put, there are no normal days for me. That’s one of the things I like the most about my job. I realize that […]
This is the second in a series of posts detailing how I’ve gotten to this point in my life. Click here for the first part of this series. After deciding not to continue as a Music Major, I went down to the campus radio station to see what was up. I had done a little […]
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