TrumpetBoy

This weekend I’ve taken an unusual step for me - I’ve depped out a couple of shows!! On previous tours I’ve done this hasn’t really been an option so on the Rat Pack 2004 tour I never got around to it. However, in the name of personal sanity, I’ve taken the plunge.

We spent our first week back on tour at the Grand Opera House here in Belfast and we’ve had a good, although busy, time….

Following the previous evening’s disappointing excursion to watch Terence Blanchard, I headed back to SMOKE’s Monday night Jam session in search of something to cheer me up. Tonight, the special guest was another of my favourite contemporary players; Jim Rotondi.

As with the previous week, when I caught Eddie Henderson’s set here, SMOKE proved to me [...]

On a chilly Sunday night we headed downtown towards Times Square. Our destination for the evening was to be the Iridium Jazz Club in it’s most recent incarnation at Broadway and 51st St. It promised to be a special occasion. We were going to watch Terence Blanchard on the last day of his first New [...]

SMOKE is a great although little-known club situated at the southern end of Harlem in New York City. Formerly known as Augie’s, it’s located on Broadway between 105th and 106th Streets. They hold a regular Jam Session on Monday nights as part of a programme of regular events which features the same nights Sunday-Wednesday with different groups headlining on Thursday-Saturday. Each week, as with many similar venues around the world, they feature a special guest artist with the house band. When I arrived in New York on Jan 1st and checked the local listings, I was delighted to see that this week it was Eddie Henderson.