Coco66

Coco66, a venue in Greenpoint Brooklyn asked me to curate a evening of music…  I jumped at the offer!  This sort of thing is right up my alley.  This will be a night of solid, no-cover music starting at 9pm.  A central stage is conducive to creating the good-summer vibes perfect for a Friday night in NYC! (…my favorite night to play :)

Here was my thought process in choosing these groups:

Each bandleader is a great composer: Corey King (Trombone/Composition) writes some awesome music inspired by jazz history both past and current, and is a formidable sideman in here in New York, having performed with Dave Binney, Mos Def, Ludacris, and Jason Moran to name a few.  And Kenny Warren (Trumpet/Composition) writes for his band in the style of a Balkan dance party!  On top of that, he stretches the music to it’s primitive, creative, most transcendent essence…

Curtis Macdonald & Friends Part I

Corey King’s Band:
Kyle Wilson – Tenor Sax
Hayden Hawkins – Drums
Peter Schlamb – Vibes
Clay Schaub – Bass
Corey King – Trombone/Tunes

The Curtis Macdonald Group:
Adam Jackson – Drums
Chris Tordini – Bass
Jeremy Viner – Tenor Sax/Clarinet
Yours Truly – Alto Sax/Tunes

Kenny Warren’s ‘Hala Hala’:
Ila Cantor – Guitar
Greg Chudzik – Bass
Jeff Davis – Drums
Kenny Warren – Trumpet/Tunes

a bootleg clip from the road

Here is an audio clip from a mini-tour I put together alongside co-leader Travis Reuter.  We called ourselves “The Vacant Project” a title that was inspired from one of Travis’ tunes, entitled “Vacancy at 29″ (see below).  We played gigs in Rochester, NY; Ottawa, ON; and Toronto, ON.  Five nights, Five gigs, all of which were warmly received and enjoyable to play.   Greg Chudzik was playing bass and Max Goldman was behind the drums.

This is an excerpt from Travis’ composition ”Vacancy at 29″:

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Tea Lounge

Here it is, y’all!  The Debut of a new project Travis Reuter and I started!