Friday, December 31, 2010

My Jazz Highlights of 2010 #1:
February France & Italy Tour
with the Blue Lake Jazz 5


City Slicker
live at Jazz Club Torino,
February 14, 2010
When the Blue Lake Faculty Quintet (me on alto sax; Tom Stansell, tenor sax; Steve Talaga, piano; Matt Heredia, bass; Tim Froncek, drums) toured France in May 2009, folks from the Altitude Jazz Festival in Briançon heard the group and invited us to play the closing concert of their festival in February 2010, wrapping up a series of concerts that featured Jerry Bergonzi and Kirk Lightsey, among others.

The Altitude gig anchored a weeklong blitzkrieg of a tour that began in Puy l'Evèque and Figeac in southwestern France, then trekked 10 hours westward into the French Alps for the festival and other gigs around Briançon. Finally, the group (rechristened for this tour as "The Blue Lake Jazz 5") crossed into Italy for a Valentine's Day performance at the beautiful Torino Jazz Club.

Jazz Club Torino, February 14, 2010

Introduction

I'll be writing about jazz and posting transcriptions in this blog.