NY Times article, new music, new gigs, newly

Hello and thanks for coming to my website.

Today, October 7, there is an article by Ben Ratliff in the New York Times called "New Pilots at the Keyboard" in which he writes about four younger jazz pianists who are playing a great deal around New York: Fabian Almazan, Kris Davis, David Virelles, and me. I feel honored to appear both in the New York Times and in the company of such great pianists. You can read it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/arts/music/four-young-pianists-on-the-rise-in-the-jazz-scene.html?_r=1&ref=music

Today is also notable for me finally putting up some new music on my 'Music Samples' page. There's a good 90 minutes up there now, including some very recent performances as well as some of slightly older vintage. I hope you enjoy listening to them. Please let me know what you think!

on October 28 of this month I'm debuting a new band called Normal Remarkable Persons. We'll be playing the piece that is mentioned in the above article. The band will include Travis Laplante - tenor saxophone, Herb Robertson - trumpet, Tyshawn Sorey - drums, and me. There will also be a possible 5th 'mystery' member if 'circumstances' 'allow'. This will be at 10 pm at the Douglass St Music Collective in Brooklyn. The pianists Jesse Stacken and Landon Knoblock will be presenting bands earlier in the evening and I highly recommend coming for the whole thing.

other upcoming performances:

October 21 and 22
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble plays the music of Kenny Wheeler at the Jazz Standard [NY]
sets at 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 pm each night

November 10
Jamie Baum Septet at Symphony Space [NY] at 7:30 pm

November 11
Tim Berne's Los Totopos at the Stone [NY] at 10 pm

November 18-20
Claudia Quintet +1 +Theo Bleckmann mini tour
11/18 - The Stone 10 pm [NY]
11/19 - The Art Alliance 8 pm [Phila]
11/20 - An Die Musik 7 pm [B-more]

Lastly but certainly not leastly, I'm pleased to tell you that I'm part of the latest Claudia Quintet recording, entitled What is the Beautiful? It features the classic Claudia Quintet lineup with me added, and the great vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Kurt Elling singing and reciting, respectively, settings of the poet Kenneth Patchen. Some of my favorite compositions of John's are on this record and I'm very proud to be a part of it. It will be released October 11 on Cuneiform Records, which you can find here: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

that should do it for now. talk to you again just before December, when Tim Berne is curating the Stone!

thanks for reading.

-m