Vinny Golia Large Ensemble 4/9/14

Played an incredibly fun, sold-out show with Orkestar MEZE on Friday at Golden Road Brewery in LA. Great crowd, great beer and food, and tons of new music...the proceeds will help us to finish our new album, which will hopefully be out this Summer. You can check out some pics by visiting this link to MEZE's Facebook page. We will definitely be putting on some more shows at Golden Road, so if you couldn't make this one, keep your eyes open for the next one and get those tix before they sell out!

Vinny Golia

On Wednesday, April 9 I'm honored to be joining the Vinny Golia Large Ensemble at the REDCAT Theater in downtown LA. I have been able to play a couple of times at REDCAT (attached to Disney Hall) and it is a fantastic venue. More importantly, performing with Vinny is always a unique pleasure and challenge; he was one of my mentors when I attended CalArts, and a huge part of my development as a clarinet/bass clarinet player. I will be playing clarinet on Wednesday in his Large Ensemble, an amazing semi-orchestral group of over 40 musicians, with Vinny at the helm playing a multitude of woodwinds and the great Marc Lowenstein conducting. You can find all the information here.

Mike Keneally Retrospect

What a month of music for me, definitely a lot to be thankful for! After an incredible "Peasant Funk" CD release party with Orkestar MEZE, it was straight to a week of grueling rehearsals for guitarist/keyboardist Mike Keneally's "The Universe Will Provide". This 50-minute piece for a rock power trio-plus-an-orchestra was set for its US premier on Friday, November 18th at the REDCAT theater downtown, and everyone in the group but Mike was a CalArts student or alumni.  I had my fair share of musical challenges; my part covered alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet, flute, and my first forays into the bass saxophone. A feat in itself, full rehearsals were run Monday through Thursday, and the result was an incredible performance those involved won't soon forget. You can read a lot about the piece and its conception here. The performance was recorded and documented by multiple cameras, so I'm hoping I can direct you to a stream or DVD in the near future. Until then, suffice to say that I am honored to have been included in this performance and am proud of my fellow CalArts denizens for really pulling as much life, blood, and jumps-for-joy out of that music as possible!

Coming soon: my octet, take two. People are on board, music is being written and arranged (including some Placebo and 38 Special), and we'll see an inaugural performance early 2012. Two woodwinds, two trombones, two guitars, bass, drums...here we go!

Gutbucket Chamber Ensemble Press

Some better-late-than-never press about Gutbucket's show at REDCAT in May, which featured myself and 11 other CalArts students/alumni augmenting the quartet:

http://www.sibeliusblog.com/people/gutbucket-rocks-redcat-at-disney-hall-with-a-little-help-from-sibelius/

I wouldn't mind a little Sibelius endorsement too, eh? Eh? Eh? Thanks again Gutbucket, hope to see you again soon!