I thought I should sit down and mention the kindness of some folks who’ve been good enough to let me play with them while I’ve been here in Munich.

First up is Rich Laughlin. Rich depped on the Rat Pack show for 5 weeks while Andy Cuss was away. He was about the best 2nd Tpt a Lead player could ask for!!! He was also kind enough to let me sit in with his Big Band – "Scat Max and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra" on Nov 1st here in Munich at the Unterfahrt club. We had a great time with a really good band!!!

My next Munich jazz excursion was with the Harald Rüschenbaum Jazz Orchestra. They let me sit in on Nov 8th and then booked me for their gig on the 15th! We had a really good play although having done Lead on 8 Rat Pack shows in the previous 6 days, my chops were somewhat sore. It was nice to have the resultant meeting with Dusko Goykovich though, who had shown up to see a couple of friends of his in the band. He is a truly nice guy and a WONDERFUL jazz trumpet player! This is certainly one aquaintance I would like to maintain!!

I should also give a shout to the other guys in Harald’s Trumpet section: Nemanja Jovanovic, Florian Jechlinger and Matthias Engel, and of course Harald Rüschenbaum himself. He’s a great drummer who’s been flying the flag for Big Band music in Southern Germany for 25 years. The band were also very helpful in making sure I got all the rehearsal comments translated into English. I got most of it as my German is improving but still greatly appreciated.

I shouldn’t close before mentioning the excellent Jam Session that occurs at the Unterfahrt every Sunday night. Myself and colleagues George Watts, Damien Cooke and Adam Bishop had a fine time playing there last week and we offer our thanks to the very supportive Rhythm Section we met and performed with. It’s truly always a highlight to find a good place to go and jam when you’re on a long tour like this.