Category: Life

Tour Blog, Fall 2018, Day 1

Hi all! I thought I would try to bring the tour blog back (it’s been years!) Last night/this morning I took a 12:50 am flight to Denver, arriving at 4:30 am by myself. The Polyrhythmics van and trailer were somewhere near there at the time, having left Seattle Thursday morning with a few members in […]

Brian Blade Fellowship

I first heard the Brian Blade Fellowship, now known as Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, in 2003 when they performed at the Ballard Jazz Festival.  I was not familiar with any of the musicians in the band except for Blade, and it was honestly one of the most significant turning points in my musical […]

Junior Walker

My earliest memory of “Shotgun” by Junior Walker & the All Stars doesn’t actually involve the song, exactly.  I remember watching the Cosby Show with my family a lot as a kid, and I thought, when I was younger, that “Shotgun” was the theme song, at least for a couple of seasons.  As it turns […]

King Curtis

A little yakety sax for your Thursday! One of my grandmothers had a bunch of old records that she would let me look through, and one of them was a Boots Randolph album.  Randolph was famous for the record entitled “Yakety Sax”, the title tune of which became the Benny Hill theme song and was […]

Stuck on the Inside

Recently, Grant (drummer for Polyrhythmics) told me that he has been discovering new music primarily from his non-musician friends, rather than other musicians, and that got me thinking about my similar experiences. I would think, logically, that the best resources for music that would be new to me would be my musical and professional peers; […]

Ghost Note Tour

Last month I spent 17 days on the road with Polyrhythmics, having played 13 shows, and on 11 of those shows we shared the stage with the band Ghost Note.  Although the road is always thought-provoking and eventful (in addition to a lot of work), it’s the sharing of the stage that’s prompting this post. […]

Good Things Happen Slowly

I recently read Fred Hersch’s autobiography Good Things Happen Slowly, a beautiful book.   Hersch is a New York-based jazz pianist, although he has played and composed for a variety of different musical styles, and also is an activist and spokesman for AIDS health and awareness causes; the book offers a look into Hersch’s development as […]

Austin Impressions

For my next post, I had planned on asking John Speice, a prolific and very active musician on the scene in Austin, Texas, to do an interview.   Several of the projects Speice is involved in, including Brownout, Grupo Fantasma, Ocote Soul Sounds, and Money Chicha, have been essential music in the Polyrhythmics van for […]