Reuben's Blog

Thursday, October 11, 2007

07 Highlights..

Hey yall......it's been almost a year since i wrote a blog......alot
has happened since then fo sho.
Where do i start??? Well let's see....

Nov.06 - Got a chance to do a whole tour in Norway with Dianne.....we
went to a few cities i had never been to. We got the chace to play in
some tiny towns where everyone and their moms(literally) came to hear
us play.....The Norwegian government sponsored the tour so that made
going to these small markets possible. Loved the trip despite the
cold weather!! :)

Jan.07- Visited Chile for the first time......got to do it with a few
of my long time compadres......A dawg, E and Josh. We played in
Santiago and Vina del Mar.
That was a Fabulous trip....the folks loved the music and treated us
very very nice........Thanks Felipe!! (oh yeah, won some cash at the
casino for the first time also!!! ha ha ha)

Right after that trip i was able to take part in a live CD/DVD with a
Japanese Rock Pop star named Tomoyasu Hotei......
Flew over to Tokyo had 3 days rehearsal and did the show.......man
that was a great time. Everyone was soooo professional.
Thanks Terreon, Simon,Ebony, Luis,Tiffany and of course Hotei!!

Feb.07- Man that was a crazy busy month.....i don't think i had more
than 3 days off!!
It was great to link with my old buddy Eric Reed......we played 6
nights at the Village Vanguard with his group. The line up was Willie
Jones on drums, Stacey Dillard and Seamus Blake on saxes and Eric on
Piano.Every single night was smokin!!!

That month i co produced my first project(that wasn't mine)......it
was for a German/American Vocalist named Stephanie K.
The record came out great!! It featured Aaron Goldberg,Eric
Harland,John Ellis,Ryan Scott and myself. Look out for it!

Mar 07- Had a chance to do some interesting recordings with some
great musicians(and people)....Kate Mcgarry and Keith Ganz + friends.
We recorded 60 2 to 3 min songs for some childrens books over the
course of 3 days.....
It was a challenge to keep everything fresh from song to song....but
i think we pulled it off!!!

Later that month i had the chance to go back hm to St.Thomas and be
featured with the UVI jazz ensemble. I also did a master class at the
University. Thanks to all the kids and (Kids at heart) :) that came
out.....i had alot of fun.

April-May 07- Had a great time playing alot with the great Charles
Lloyd who i have been playing with for the past 3 years or
so......Jason Moran replaced Geri Allen on this tour. Man did J rock
it!!! Turns out that the concert we did in Basel Switzerland is gonna
be a live CD!! Look out for it next year!!!

Thanks to all that came out to support me and my group in NY and
Boston. I finally found sometime to do my OWN gigs!!! They were
Grrrrreat!

Jun-Jul 07 It's great to be playing with my old compadre(and boss)
Joshua Redman again....I was a part of his Quartet from 98 to 01. We
had a nice lengthly run of 7 weeks this summer.
This time around it's just trio with no piano. A nice change of pace
for me.....very challenging context. i absolutely love it.

Aug 07- It was good to link up with my fav trio with Aaron and Eric
featuring Mark Turner for a six city tour of Italy. Goodness they
know how to eat in Italy!! Even roadside truck stops know how to do
it up!!!! I love it!!
Small note: "Mark is truly one of the most original saxophone voices
of our time"...check him out if you haven't.

Which brings us to Now Sept 07...

1.It was a pleasure to record with Dianne Reeves for the 3rd time
earlier this month.....we recorded quite a mixture of songs. A little
something for everyone....look out for it late this year or early
next year.

Also i'm proud to have accepted a position at the University of
Greensboro North Carolina's. Music Dept. Special thanks to Steve
Haines(head of jazz studies) for the invite. Had my first visit last
week....it's gonna be a fun year. :)

I'm writing this entry on my flight back to the states from South
Korea.....was over there with Charles Lloyd.....this timeTrio)no
piano) instead of Quartet!!
My chops better improve in these configurations!!!

Man that was a long ride over there.....to almost not play!! It
rained non stop the evening of our concert.....and it was an outdoor
festival!!!! Ughhhh!
The folks stood in the rain with umbrellas and plastic coverings as
we played a shortened set under a half covered stage(while still
getting wet).
Thanks for trying to brave the weather with us folks!!!

As you can see on my Itinerary page....it's gonna be a crazy busy
fall also. I'm hoping to start writing some music for my next project
threw it all.
Keep you posted on that fo sho......

Can't promise that it'll be soon that i'll write again. But i sure
will try.....forgive me advance ok!! :)

RR