National Public Radio just called to invite me to be on Billy Taylor's "Jazz at The Kennedy Center" on Jan. 29, 2001. I am sure most of you know the format of the show. basically, playing in concert with Billy Taylor and his trio and also talking with and answering questions from the audience. I am quite excited about it and am honored that he asked me. I will let everyone know the original broadcast period when they notify me. 

A THOUGHT

One thing I hope this newsletter will help me do is to dispel the perception anyone still may have regarding my current musical activities. Even though I have been away from the studio scene for over ten years now and am performing and working almost exclusively as a touring Jazz soloist, many people still seem to view me as a studio player rather than a serious Jazz musician. I hope I may be able to change that perception as, since 1988, practically all of my musical efforts have been directed in the Jazz performance field. I had many wonderful experiences and enjoyed great success in the NYC studios, and I owe much of my notoriety to that wonderful period of my career. But things change, and, in my case, I believe for the better. I love playing now more than ever and feel I am doing so at the top of my game. To me, this is the most rewarding period of my life both musically and personally. 

NEW THINGS

The website now has been redesigned and here you also can read present issues of Cadenzas, past articles from former issues, find a list of my clinics and workshops, my equipment page, my itinerary, listen to sound clips and much more. 

I am going to continue writing articles of interest and controversy directed toward those engaged fans, educators, and the musical community at large. The web site now features a new page, "In Response" to accommodate those of you who would like to give your thoughts on the issues raised in these articles.  I encourage anyone wishing to express their thoughts and opinions - both in agreement AND in opposition - to do just that. For your convenience, there is an e-mail link from this new page directly to me. While it will be impossible to post every response, I will post those that are thought provoking and meaningful and pertinent to the issues. Feel free also to raise new issues that heretofore have not been broached, ones you feel should be examined. It is my sincere desire that this new format will lead to a vigorous exchange of ideas. Unless you specifically request confidentiality, your name will be posted with your responses. 

For those of you who have mentioned difficulty accessing the area of the Sound Clips, that problem has been corrected and now should present no problem. Please let me know if any of you still experience difficulty in that area of the site. Also, the Schedule page on the site is updated constantly and provides more complete and current information than is found elsewhere. 

NEWS & HAPPENINGS

The past six months have been quite exciting! Because there was so much going on, I'll only touch briefly on the highlights. 

ORCHESTRAS

My new venture, that of performing as a soloist with symphony orchestras, is one about which I am very excited. This season, 1999-2000, I am performing seven concerts, five in the U.S. and two with an orchestra in Brazil. The first concert, which I wrote about in the January Cadenzas, was one featuring the legendary Clark Terry and myself with the Illinois Philharmonic. Sharing the stage with Clark any time is a thrill. My subsequent concerts with the Charlotte Philharmonic and the Wichita Falls Symphony were no less thrilling, and it is always wonderful to experience and know how many great musicians can be found everywhere in this country. 

I have just returned from Brazil where I performed two symphony concerts, one in Tatui and another in Campos De Jordao. Antonio Carlos Neves Campos conducted the orchestra and also arranged three pieces for me. The orchestra, made up of faculty and students from the conservatory in Tatui, performed brilliantly. 

While there, I also added four new arrangements to my library, three written by Brazilian arrangers, A. C. Neves Campos and Hudson Nogueira and a fourth, Jobim's "Corcovado" arranged by Jerry Ascione, former leader of the Navy Commodores and a fine pianist in his own right. He has just released his own big band CD, of which I am proud to be a part, on the Sea Breeze label entitled "Beautiful Love". 

Upon my return, I flew to Chicago to perform another concert, this time with the Northbrook Symphony. The artistic director of this orchestra is Sam Magad, concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony, and conducting this orchestra was William Eddins, resident conductor of the CSO and recent winner of the most prestigious Seaver/NEA Conducting Award for American conductors. Bill Eddins is "somethin' else", great time and wonderful clarity in his conducting. You are going to hear and know much about this man! 

I greatly enjoy working with symphony orchestras. My repertoire is mainly from the standard American songbook by composers Ellington, Kern, Dietz and Schwartz, David Raksin and others; I also have compositions by Jobim and Luis Bonfa. The bulk of my library has been written and arranged by my friend of many years, Jack Cortner, and now have contributions by Jerry Ascione and Manny Albam and my two Brazilian friends. 

My dear friend from Rome, composer Massimo Nunzi, has given me his original composition, "Un Uomo Disabitato", a lovely piece that evokes special emotions. In 1999, Massimo won the unique prize, "Beaumarchais" in the section "Lyrique" for his opera, "Qui Donc Quidam". This most prestigious of prizes is organized by SACEM, the French equivalent to our ASCAP or BMI.  As well, his friend and librettist, Yann Apperry, won the prize for the libretto to this opera. 

NEW CDs

In the summer of this year, I will be releasing two new CDs. The first, a duo CD entitled By Ourselves, documents my long-time collaboration with pianist Bill Mays and will present eleven tracks among which are "Beautiful Love", "You And The Night And The Music", "Airegin" and Dizzy's beautiful "Con Alma." 

Also slated for release is The Stamm/Soph Project, a quartet CD created with drummer Ed Soph that features Bill Mays once again and bassist Rufus Reid; saxophonist Dave Liebman also guests on three tracks. This disk contains ten compostions including Thad Jones' classic, "Three and One", Miles Davis' beautiful masterwork, "Nardis" and Clifford Brown's eternal "Joy Spring." 

These new CDs, as well as my recent past recordings, Mystery Man and Bop Boy will be available at live performances and on this web site. These two are available now and may be purchased directly by contacting me at my email address. 

THE QUARTET

The quartet has been busy as well. Though the personnel may change at times due to members' availability, it almost always includes Ed Soph, drums; Bill Mays, piano; Rufus Reid or Jay Anderson, bass; and/or Fred Hamilton sometimes augmenting the group on either guitar or bass. 

The group recently presented concerts at the IAJE Conference; two concerts in Denton, one of them at the Univ. of North Texas, and Cezanne, a wonderful Jazz club in Houston. In December, Ed Soph and I also had a great gig at the Green Mill in Chicago with John Campbell on piano and Larry Gray and Kelly Sill splitting the bass chores. I love playing that club and look for any opportunity to return. 

Just before the IAJE Conference, I assembled a quintet for a well-attended concert at the new Woodwind and Brasswind store in NYC. The group included John Abercrombie, guitar; Dave Liebman, soprano and tenor saxes; Jay Anderson, bass and Ron Vincent, drums. Both the concerts at IAJE and at Woodwind and Brasswind were sponsored and supported by Boosey & Hawkes. I design and perform on French Besson trumpets which is owned by Boosey & Hawkes, and they continually are very generous in their support of me and their other artists' efforts in Jazz and music education. I heartily thank them for their support of my efforts. 

TOURING OVERSEAS

I continue to tour worldwide with George Gruntz' select all-star ensemble, the Concert Jazz Band. We just completed a concert tour of Switzerland and Turkey, and the band was wonderful, the players magnificent! The personnel included saxes: Chris Hunter, Sal Giorgiani, Larry Schneider, Donny McCaslin, Scott Robinson; trumpets: myself, Alexander Sipiagin, Matthieu Michel, Kenny Rampton; trombones: Dave Bargeron, Luis Bonilla, Gary Valente, Earl McIntyre; bass: Mike Richmond; drums: Adam Nussbaum; piano: George Gruntz; Turkish percussion and stringed instruments: Bürhan Oçal. 

George is an adventurous composer and arranger who constantly stretches the boundaries of his musical imagination. The CJB performs George's original compositions while also featuring his arrangements of compositions by various band members'. This tour George featured arrangments of new pieces by Dave Bargeron, Donny McCaslin, Bürhan Oçal and myself as well as those of his own. I was knocked out with the arrangement that George did for my original ballad, "Two As One," absolutely beautiful and moving. 

On May 16, I flew to Frankfurt, Germany for five days to perform as soloist with the Frankfurt Radio Band in a concert and radio recording in tribute to Thad Jones. My companion soloist was the wonderful alto saxophonist, Jerry Dodgion. Being together again with Jerry was, as always, a special time. This great musician is also a wonderful person, and we have shared so much of Thad and Mel's music and their persons in the past; this creates a special bond. The band was great, and its leader, Jorg Keller worked extremely hard to bring out all the music inherent in Thad's charts; a terrific group! 

I am also booked for two concerts at the Fribourg Festival in Switzerland in late July; one is with a sextet, the second with a big band. I love being there and feel almost as if Switzerland over the years has become a second home for me. 

EDUCATION

It has been a busy time working in the educational area as well, and, because of the number of schools, I cannot mention them all but will touch on a few. In November, I worked at several schools in Ohio and Wisconsin. These schools, large and small, have strong programs, and the faculties at these particular schools exhibited much involvement with their students. While in Ohio, I also played one evening in a Dayton club with trumpeter Scott Belck's Jazz Central Big Band, a terrific group that had everyone smiling all evening. Scott is a beautiful lead and Jazz player 

Also in November, I had the great pleasure to spend a week at the Eastman School, working primarily with Jim Thompson and John "Doc" Marcellus and with the Jazz Lab and Jazz trumpet majors. Jim is one of today's great orchestral first trumpeters as well as being a magnificent teacher who is quite involved with his students. "Doc" Marcellus, one of the trombone world's greatest teacher/players and is the head of the Brass, Woodwind and Percussion Department. He is also one of the most creative thinkers and "doers" in the brass and music world. The enthusiasm they generate among their students at Eastman is fantastic, something I wish I experienced everywhere I travel. These two gentlemen are two of the most inspiring teachers I know. Very gratifying! 

December found me in Rome, teaching at the Testaccio School and playing two concerts there, one with a wonderful trio of musicians from Rome and another with a big band. This was all arranged for me through the efforts of my dear friend and Italian brother, Massimo Nunzi, a marvelous composer of symphonic and operatic works as well as being a fine Jazz trumpeter. If you read through the Cadenzas section here, you will find articles about both Massimo and my time in Rome. 

At the IAJE Conference in January, I had the great opportunity to perform in concert with the Univ. of Memphis Jazz Ensemble led by Jack Cooper. This was a real pleasure for me because I have a history with this group. Memphis is my hometown, and I have participated on one level or another with former directors Tom Ferguson and Gene Rush. Jack is a terrific educator and composer/player, and he has truly inspired this group of young musicians; you will hear a lot from them in the future. Jack also has contributed a wonderful article on my web site directed toward helping educators focus their efforts at building the Jazz programs in their schools. Whether you are an educator or a musician who works as I do in this field, you can gain a great deal by reading Jack's article in the "Journal " section of the web site. 

Speaking of hometown things, I would be remiss if I didn't mention two outstanding musical experiences in my home state of Tennessee in early February. At the Univ. of Tennessee/Knoxville, I performed the Horovitz "Concertino Classico" for two trumpets and brass ensemble with Cathy Leach, principal trumpet of the Knoxville Symphony and professor of trumpet at the school. Cathy is a marvelous musician and teacher, and she arranged for my visit there. The ensemble was directed by the excellent conductor, Gary Sousa. On the same concert, I performed with the marvelous faculty Jazz quartet comprised of Donald Brown, piano; Keith Brown, drums, Rusty Holloway, bass and Mark Boling, guitar; great musicians all and a joy to play with. It was terrific to be reunited with Donald, one of the terrific members of the famous Memphis piano group. A set with the UT Jazz ensemble closed the concert. The band, led by Keith Brown, played beautifully for me, a wonderful set! This was really great fun! 

Immediately following were two days at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro presenting workshops and playing with a big band of Nashville area musicians led by pianist/arranger Dana Landry who heads the Jazz program at MTSU. This wonderful group of players roared through my music. Many of these people drive 50 miles to rehearse and perform with the band just for the love of the music. They also use any monies from their performances to support the group and for projects that further benefit others in the community. There is much to be proud of among the music programs in these two schools; they certainly showed me the quality of what they have. 

In January, I also played at the Ohio Music Educators Conference, performing with the Ohio Collegiate All-Stars led by Roland Paolucci and the Youngstown State Univ. Jazz Ensemble led by my dear friend, Tony Leonardi. Both of these bands were fantastic, and both of these directors are great musician/educators. Also, my meeting and hearing young trumpeter Sean Jones was a thrill. They talk about the "young Lions", and frankly, I find something lacking in most of them; but, ladies and gentlemen, this young man is the real deal!!! Sean is one of the most exciting players I have heard in years, and we all are going to hear a great deal from him in the future. 

IN CONCLUSION

This has gone on a bit longer than I had intended, but since this may be the first newsletter some of you have received from me, I thought I would inform you of these many rewarding activities and the many talented people with whom I am involved. I hope that you have found it informative and interesting. I would like to hear your thoughts regarding any of the above or other things that you may feel are of interest. Articles of interest will resume in the next issue.