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The band as it appeared in Gartner Auditorium. Photo by Darnell McAdams. It took a few months, but I’m excited to finally be able to share video from the concert I’d organized in March, 2023. TLDR: Find here a playlist of eleven incredible collective improvisations from Moor Mother, Lonnie Holley, Lee Bains, and Mourning [A]Continue reading “Videos from “Toward a Different Kind of Horizon” Concert up on YouTube!”

The weeks are flying by and it’s somehow mid-October?! In addition to my full plate at CWRU – which has been pretty pretty great this semester – I’m halfway through playing the three-week, 24-show Cleveland run of the pre-Broadway tour of The Wiz. I’m playing the Reed I book (alto, clarinet, flute, piccolo) in thisContinue reading “No Sleep Club (The Wiz)”

I’m five weeks into teaching a new upper-level musicology course at CWRU and am loving the way it’s proceeding. Let me tell you about it: These last few years at CWRU I learned that many of our brilliant graduate students hadn’t been exposed to the methodological predecessors to contemporary “New Musicology,” nor did they haveContinue reading “New Course: Engaging (Post)Postmodern Music(ology)”

(Where have I been?) I’m quickly realizing I only have a few weeks before being swallowed again by the academic semester. It’s been a blur of a summer and there’s still so much to do. As an exercise in memory and self-narration—and an explanation for not getting to all the things?—I’ll try to remember someContinue reading “It’s August Already!?”

I’m excited about this. Get your FREE TICKETS HERE: Painting and design by Aaron D. Williams I’ve been planning a Cleveland concert event that’s coming up in less than two weeks. Here’s how it started. In April of 2022 I flew to NYC to attend the Time Zone Protocols Unconference at The New School inContinue reading ““Toward a Different Kind of Horizon””

I learned a lot presenting ongoing research related to my “What is this Revenant Called “Jazz”?” project at the Society for American Music 49th Annual Conference this week. SAM is such a great conference – much love and thanks go those in attendance for their generative comments and questions. Check out these links to theContinue reading “SAM ’23 Conference Paper”

In early January I had the flash of realization that this year’s NYC Winter Jazzfest occurred the weekend immediately before classes began at CWRU. This meant that if I was quick about it, I could actually get to NYC for a few days to check out this amazing event for the first time in years,Continue reading “Still Processing NYC Winter Jazzfest”

It’s been a week since the record release party for RA Washington and Jah Nada’s recent album, In Search of Our Father’s Gardens. I’m still buzzing. It was a great party with a good sized listening crowd. Cleveland’s lucky to have a spot like Crobar to host this kind of scene. The band was ledContinue reading “Record Release Recap”

I was digging through a hard drive looking for some stems from an old recording session and came across something unrelated I hadn’t heard in a while. While living in Erfurt, Germany a few years back I became friends with Philipp Hermann, an excellent pianist and composer. We used to play duo a lot, justContinue reading “A 2018 Recording With Philipp Hermann”

Two new records I was fortunate to contribute to are seeing release this season: Soothsayer by Kyle Kidd and In Search of Our Father’s Gardens by RA Washington and Jah Nada. So much love for these folks. So much gratitude to be in this community of artists. Kidd’s Soothsayer (American Dreams 2022) is a bangerContinue reading “Guested on a few recent records: Kyle Kidd, RA Washington & Jah Nada”