16 years ago today, Trimmed Naval Beef released our only album. If there has ever been a "you had to be there" band it is us. We never broke up, we just do other stuff. It was a thrill to ride again at my wedding last summer. There's loose talk of releasing this on vinyl....
My quest for stories, photos, and other jazz related artifacts from Newfoundland and Labrador continues. Speaking of NL jazz, there's a special show at the Black Sheep Monday Aug 7. Click here for details. Pianist Ralph Walker was a central figure in jazz and popular music in St. John's especially. Sandy Morris recalls asking Ralph to...
I'd rather be a servant to rhythm than a slave to tonality. Lately, I've working on some ideas I first heard from Kenny Werner and more recently George McFetridge dealing with sequences of random chords. It's time to shake up old habits. There's less excitement for me in progressions that I "know" will work. I think I can hear...
A nation is a collection of stories. Where they overlap, they represent a shared experience and an intergenerational legacy. In their uniqueness, they underscore just how varied our individual lives are. Legacies 150 is a series of interactive photo and illustration essays from the National Film Board reflecting on legacy and inheritance a century and a half into...
Today we Take Five with singer/songwriter Barry Canning. He'll be rocking out at Salmon Fest 2017 Saturday July 15, not far from his hometown of Bishop's Falls, NL. Most recently, Barry has been sharing the stage with Newfoundland compatriots Chris LeDrew, Cory Tetford and Paul Lamb in a series of successful in-the-round concerts. There’s a quote from...
The fine gentlemen in this photo are Buddy Pennington (drums), Ed Goff (tenor saxophone), Rob Mills (electric bass), and Ralph Walker (piano). I got this photo from Rob himself during one of our many chats about jazz music in Newfoundland. These four stars shine bright and are a part of intricate constellation of musicians known...
Pianist/composer Bill Brennan is Canadian treasure. We’ve worked together quite a lot through the years and each time I feel more excited about music and life. If you’re in St. John’s, NL Sunday July 9 you can get a bit of that feeling at the Ship Pub from the Brennan/Bendzsa Little Big Band. This cut is from a...
Like you, I've been improvising for a long time. Improvisation is so ubiquitous that it doesn't actually need to be called anything. Essentially, that's the biggest problem in examining improvised activity. Noticing, seeing, remembering, acting, not-acting, playing, resting, driving, cooking, listening. It's in everything people do. Offering the entire world as one interconnected and improvised...
In these TAKE FIVE interviews, I hope to offer some perspectives from musicians around the world and direct you to some incredible sounds. I plan on offering some longer form interviews with much more discussion too, separate from these short vignettes. Jon McCaslin is a dear friend of mine. We’ve had a lot of crazy adventures...