TT 333: "The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss"

upcoming gigs and a few cute pics

Technically Acceptable is out January 19 on Blue Note Records, when I play at the Village Vanguard with Thomas Morgan and Kush Abadey. Pardon my feeds as they become review heavy at the start of the next album cycle…

The single best thing you can do to support the release is pre-order on Amazon.

The week at the Village Vanguard is also on sale. Thomas, Kush, and I will be playing some originals, but at the moment I am thinking also of playing Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and my favorite selections from the Great American Songbag. Kush and I did some of that at Mezzrow with the wonderful Joe Martin and it immediately felt like a “thing.” Of course Thomas brings vast amounts of personality to any repertoire. At any rate I am really looking forward to playing so much with Thomas and Kush at the start of next year.

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I hope my week at the Vanguard sells out, but I know the March run of Mark Morris Dance Group at BAM will sell out. Tix went on sale for The Look of Love yesterday. Burt Bacharach himself came to the dress rehearsal and gave me his blessing. The songs are sung by Marcy Harriell and the band includes Jonathan Finlayson, Simón Willson, Vinnie Sperrazza, Blaire Perrin, and Clinton Curtis.

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Barry Harris was born on this day. Last year I published commentary and obit in The Nation. Barry is deeply missed; I can feel in my bones his value system is more relevant than ever.

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A few photos from the recent run at Smoke with Billy Hart…

Billy sitting for Jimmy Katz

Rufus Reid and Mark Turner (many people heard Mark for the first time in Rufus’s band)

with David Kikoski