We had a fairly relaxing day in Galesburg. We had a great lunch with our wonderful host, Nikki Malley at the Landmark Restaurant. Then we gave a clinic at Knox College. This was one of our best clinics. The guys in the band are really contributing to the clinics and letting me relax a bit. After the clinic we hung around Galesburg, got haircuts (for $11!). Then we drove to Macomb where Mike Stryker and John Cooper from Western Illinois University hosted us for the weekend. Mike is an old buddy and it was great to spend a couple of days with him.
Day 8 – Macomb
with Mike Stryker from Western Illinois University after a great day of clinics.
Here is a video of one of our new tunes Optimistic-Lee by Mike. We had a great time playing in this beautiful 700 seat hall. This has been one of our best gigs to date on the tour! We had a blast.
Yesterday the New New Tricks Van took us deep into the Midwest – the real Midwest! We’ve made it to Galesburg, Illinois. This is the home town of the great jazz drummer/band-leader Matt Wilson. For me it’s probably the 5th or 6th time I’ve been here, but for the rest of the band, it’s a first time thing. A small town in Western Illinois with a love for jazz. Scott Garlock ran the jazz program at Knox College for many years and one of his former students, Nikki Malley, now runs the program.
Shellen at McGillacutty's – Phot by Liz Thomas
We played a restaurant/bar called McGillacuddy’s which was packed by students from Knox. A great show. The student jazz band played a set in between our sets and let us play a few tunes with them. We met Dave Hoffman, . . . → Read More: Day 6 – Long Road to Matt Wilson
Yesterday started in Ashtabula with a trip down to Ted’s Aunt’s local mechanic to check on our car trouble. The guy pointed out that the van was losing power which was only really noticeable on an incline. He thought we’d be ok for the next couple of days. But as soon as we loaded the van and headed to Cleveland the problem got much worse. Now I knew we were in trouble. After calling a mechanic that I knew from 25 years ago, we were referred to a place walking distance from Cleveland Hts High School (the site of our first clinic of the day).
Sure enough the van needed to stay in Cleveland and we needed to rent a van to complete the tour. Ouch! But the band cooperated, Brett Baker, the director at CHHS helped by supplying students to unload the van and load the new . . . → Read More: Day 5 Car Troubles
Ok, we’re a little out of sequence here, but thought I’d recount our first couple of gigs now that I have second to blog.
Saturday March 20th was day one:
Road shenanigans, and this is on day 1!
We got together at my house to do one last rehearsal at around noon, then loaded the van and headed out around 3:30. I-78 to I-76 to I-70 through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and into Ohio where we arrived at Ted’s sister’s house in Columbus. A brief few hours of sleep and off to Cincinnati.
Shawn snuggling with my sister's dog Rasta after crashing at her house.
Sunday March 21st – day two: We arrived at the Northside Tavern in . . . → Read More: Road Notes – Part One
New Tricks did a clinic/concert at Oberlin College today. We were honored to have so many of the great faculty members at Oberlin in attendance. It was great to see so many old friends. Paul Samuels has been such a major influence on my whole musical concept that I can’t imagine having become the musician I am without him. Bob Ferrazza was my running buddy in the old days, when we would sneak in to bars and challenge each other to call out the changes the band was playing. Wendell Logan is the man that has made Oberlin jazz tick since I was young enough to be a “ringer” with the student band. Of course Billy Hart’s presence today gave us all a lift by just being there. But he added more than that by asking more questions than anybody. Billy is the worlds greatest student!
We enjoyed making a lot of new friends with the fantastic students there. It was a rush to work with Paul Samuels’ student ensembles and hear the great talent that is being groomed by this great faculty.
This is from our gig last night at Youngstown State. It will be interesting to chart these tunes over the course of the tour. I’m going to try to post a tune or two from each gig.
It’s been a ton of work. But the New Tricks Midwest Spring Tour is really about to happen. Click on the “Dates” tab above and see if we’ll be near you. Tell a friend about it. This has been a tremendous undertaking. I’ve been really moved by the warm reception of the friends and presenters who have agreed to book this band on our first extended tour.
We’ve been in the shed for the last few weeks, “workshopping” our new tunes. We’ll be playing 9 new tunes in addition to the 11 on our current release.
The band t-shirts with Rob Henke’s fantastic artwork have already started to sell and we’ve hardly told anyone!
I just added the New Tricks fan link on the right. Please become a fan!
