So 2012 has started with quite a bang for New Tricks. We had five great gigs in the New York city area. I find this quite inspiring seeing that January is usually the slowest month for most bands and musicians. We have been working some mew music out on the band stand and we have a couple more tunes to come but we are close to almost an entire new albums worth of material. This months gigs culminated with two important gigs for the band at Smalls, and the New Brunswick Jazz Project. Both of these groups are outstanding examples of individuals taking on the cause of keeping the jazz community alive and vibrant.

Smalls is owned and operated by Spike Wilner and we are ecstatic that he continues to ask us to perform there and participate in the performing community there. Smalls has become the center of the NYC jazz scene, . . . → Read More: New Year, New Music, New Gigs, New Tricks!]]>

So 2012 has started with quite a bang for New Tricks. We had five great gigs in the New York city area. I find this quite inspiring seeing that January is usually the slowest month for most bands and musicians. We have been working some mew music out on the band stand and we have a couple more tunes to come but we are close to almost an entire new albums worth of material. This months gigs culminated with two important gigs for the band at Smalls, and the New Brunswick Jazz Project. Both of these groups are outstanding examples of individuals taking on the cause of keeping the jazz community alive and vibrant.

Smalls is owned and operated by Spike Wilner and we are ecstatic that he continues to ask us to perform there and participate in the performing community there. Smalls has become the center of the NYC jazz scene, if you go there enough you will run in to just about everyone. It is also a place to meet, hang, jam, and party with our fellow musicians and music lovers. The live video stream and audio archive is also a fantastic way for the club to document what is happening there and let the musicians that are playing there be exposed to a wider audience than they may regularly play for. We will let you know when the audio archive from our performance on the 18th is up and we will try to get a little video from the gig as well.

The New Brunswick Jazz Project is something different but equally interesting. This organization is run by three music lovers Michael Tublin, Jimmy Jenihan, and Virginia deBarry. These three individuals live in the town of New Bruswick New Jersey that happens to also house the Rutgers Jazz program (which I happen to be an alumni of). They saw that although they had many great musicians living in the area there was really no place to perform locally. So instead of creating one place to have jazz, they set up a network of several venues that now have jazz every week. They host concerts, jam sessions, restaurant gigs, and now a jazz festival in the fall. They have almost single handily created a scene out of someplace that really did not have one at all before them. That is quite an impressive feet considering the economics jazz music. This is not these people jobs, they do this in their free time out of love for the music. If only all of our musicians loved this music that much. We very much look forward to performing for them again!

As another new year begins for they band and as we continue to grow I think about how New Tricks functions in our lives as band members. With out getting into too many details, one of our members has gone through some fairly traumatic personal strife in the recent and coming months. It has been very rewarding too see our gigs be a catharsis for him. However, it has made me think how the band is that for all of us. This is probably the only musical situation where all four of us can feel completely free to be exactly who we are as musicians. And while being four fairly distinct and strong musical personalities we create a sound that is quite singular. I can say fairly safely that the best all four of us sound as individuals is while we are playing in this band. This kind of freedom is cathartic and I think this may be why we have been able to keep the band continuing forward for 6 plus years.

We are trying hard to put together another tour this spring. It will not be our usual 3 week tour de force, but it will be a small 5 day or so one. There is nothing more I am looking forward to than getting back on the road with these 3 other musicians. We will keep you posted as things come together, so stay tuned.

Ted

We will be welcoming in 2012 with a very busy month of January. We have written a bunch of new music and are looking forward to working it out on the band stand. You can catch us at the following-

1/4 The Brooklyn Lyceum 8pm-11pm $10 cover http://www.facebook.com/brooklynlyceum 227 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215 718.857.4816

1/5 The Pilsner Haus in Hoboken 8pm- 12am. Great beer, german food, atmosphere, and weekly jazz with no cover. http://www.pilsenerhaus.com/ 1422 Grand St. 201-683-5465

1/12 The Garage 10:30pm-2:30am. Come make the late village hang with us!99 7th Avenue South NY, NY (212) 645-0600 http://www.garagerest.com/index.html

1/18 Smalls Jazz Club 11:30-2:00am concert and jam session. 183 West 10th St. NY, NY http://www.smallsjazzclub.com

1/19 Makeda’s presented by the New Brunswick Jazz Project. 338 George St. New Brunswick NJ http://www.nbjp.org/

This year our recent recording “Alternate Side” made a number of “Best of 2011″ lists by some fantastic writers and bloggers. You can check out the articles at the links below.

David Orthmann

Arnaldo Desouteiro- http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2011/12/dec.html

Nacht Records

Check out this new review in a great local NY jazz Magazine. You can also find the publication in the corner of the bar in all the best NY jazz clubs. Or you can read it online here.

By Mark Keresman In case you needed to be reminded appearances— and preconceptions—are often deceiving. Take the latest disc by the NYC-area quartet New Tricks—two horns, bass, and drums. One might think the contents are going to be post- Ornette Coleman “out” jazz. Wrong—this foursome forgoes the presence of a chordal instrument (like piano or guitar) not to “depart” from a conventional semblance of harmony but to emphasize harmony. So Alternate Side superficially evokes the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet(s) of the 1950s, the style is surging, hard-swinging hard bop a la Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and Art Blakey, with wee touches of free jazz (as defined by Don Cherry, Dave . . . → Read More: “Alternate Side” review in Jazz Inside NY Magazine.]]>

Check out this new review in a great local NY jazz Magazine. You can also find the publication in the corner of the bar in all the best NY jazz clubs. Or you can read it online here.

By Mark Keresman
In case you needed to be reminded appearances—
and preconceptions—are often deceiving.
Take the latest disc by the NYC-area quartet
New Tricks—two horns, bass, and drums. One
might think the contents are going to be post-
Ornette Coleman “out” jazz. Wrong—this foursome
forgoes the presence of a chordal instrument
(like piano or guitar) not to “depart” from a
conventional semblance of harmony but to emphasize
harmony. So Alternate Side superficially
evokes the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet(s) of
the 1950s, the style is surging, hard-swinging
hard bop a la Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, and
Art Blakey, with wee touches of free jazz (as
defined by Don Cherry, Dave Douglas, and Ornette).

The sparse, mournful “Vicenza Days” gives
the horn-gents a chance to shine, but not in any
pyrotechnical manner. Ted Chubb is both brassy
(no pun intended) and elegiac, his crisp, fervent
tone somewhat evoking Booker Little. Mike
Lee’s tenor is velvety yet tart, with blues as the
soft/hard center. Both lads play soulfully, and
while the ambiance is glum it never becomes
oppressive, dull, or dirge-like. Lee’s vocalized
and slightly raspy tone on “Back To Work” flirts
briefly with flurries of free, but he swings mightily
over tumultuous (but not “free”/”out”) bass
and drums. Shawn Baltazor’s rumbles and crackles
with authority and with restraint. “New Dog”
has a wry, blues-tinged swagger (almost Ornettelike,
in fact), and Chubb gets to sear here with
his temperate and punchy, bob-and-weave approach.

New Tricks’ tunes—all originals—have an
immediate, dynamic, and tuneful drive. This
band is big on ensemble work, lots of interplay,
give-and-take. The tracks are fairly lengthy (nine
tunes in almost 70 minutes) but there’s very little
rambling. Alternate Side recalls Blakey’s Free
For All and Hubbard’s High Blues Pressure—
not avant-garde but aware of and valuing its
volatile energy, which gets worked into an edgybut-
accessible hard bop context. Sharp stuff,
this.

Here is the spotlight feature in May’s Hot House magazine on page 25!  We are very proud to be included in this publication.

Click below for the full screen view then click again at the bottom of the page to enlarge our article.

Mike's B-Day at the Flamingo Bowl!

After a great weekend in Kalamazoo at the Union Caberet we got up early on sunday morning for a 7 hour drive to St. Louis.  We played that evening at the “Bistro” with our friends from Webster Grove High School directed by our friend Kevin Cole.  It is amazing to see the amount of kids he can inspire to want to play jazz.  Our set went great and it was a pleasure to play in one our country’s great clubs.  After the gig, we went out to celebrate Mike’s birthday.  After a few libations we headed to the Flamingo Bowl, followed by a sprint through the rain in our suits from the gig.  If Mike is our “Old Dog” he certainly was not that night.  The next afternoon we went to Webster Groves to work with the students and do our “Jazz is a language” workshop.  That evening we . . . → Read More: The Big Push.]]>

Mike's B-Day at the Flamingo Bowl!

After a great weekend in Kalamazoo at the Union Caberet we got up early on sunday morning for a 7 hour drive to St. Louis.  We played that evening at the “Bistro” with our friends from Webster Grove High School directed by our friend Kevin Cole.  It is amazing to see the amount of kids he can inspire to want to play jazz.  Our set went great and it was a pleasure to play in one our country’s great clubs.  After the gig, we went out to celebrate Mike’s birthday.  After a few libations we headed to the Flamingo Bowl, followed by a sprint through the rain in our suits from the gig.  If Mike is our “Old Dog” he certainly was not that night.  The next afternoon we went to Webster Groves to work with the students and do our “Jazz is a language” workshop.  That evening we enjoyed a well needed night off in St. Louis.

Mike and Gill

The next day we drove 5 hrs up to Chicago to do a clinic and concert with St. Charles East.  Mike is long time friends with Gill Wukitsch and Jim Cull the band directors there.  The kids were very responsive to our help and even joined us for a tune on the concert that evening.  It was also great to have some family and a former student and parent from NJ in attendance.  The next morning we went in and worked with Jim’s jazz class.  The kids had been given such a great start with learning jazz language.  It was really something to behold what can be accomplished when given great information on a consistent basis.  These kids were actually playing bebop language.  Our hats go off to Jim and Gill.

Me and New Trick's biggest fan my cousin Drew.

Shawn's drum student Anna Mariani.

That afternoon we went to Wheaton College.  We did an afternoon performance clinic/question and answer with the jazz band there.  This is a beautiful small quaint school and it was refreshing to be on it’s campus.  The jazz director there is Josh Mosier a friend of Mike’s.  We did a joint concert with the jazz band that evening, and played Mike’s big band arrangement of Old Dog with the students.  Josh has really gotten these students to play and sound right out of the jazz tradition.  They were wonderful kids and it was a pleasure getting to know them and share the stage with them.  The hospitality at Wheaton was second to none.

On thursday morning we got up and went into Chicago to have the photographer Jeff Stella take some new band pics of us.  Jeff is a childhood friend of Mike’s and was extremely fun to work with.  He totally understood where the band was coming from musically and was able to express that through the photos.  Check back soon to see all of the photos!  The great trombonist Tom Garling also stopped by the studio to say hello to Mike.  We then drove through the evening to Columbus and stayed at my sister’s house.

Jeff Stella

Waiting for our photos.

Born for the camera.

The view from the stage at The Blue Wisp.

On Friday Mike, Shawn, and Kellen went down to Cincinati and did a clinic at Mike’s alma mater U.C.  I stayed in Columbus and went to my brother in Law’s wedding.  On Saturday I rejoined the guys in Cinci and we had what may have been our best gig of the tour.  We had a packed house at the Blue Wisp to play to.  We were really ready to play again with having had a day off, and we had a nice mix of family, friends, and UC students in attendance.  This all added up to a killer gig.  Expect some video of this to go up soon.

On Sunday we drove 5 hrs up to Cleveland.  Mike always enjoys returning to his home

Kellen, Kevin Mohammed, Shawn, and Ron Godale

town, and I have a connection there as well, being from North East Ohio.  We played at Night Town that evening, and got to unveil the newly penned tune of Mike’s that gets its name from that club.  Many Cleveland musicians came out to support Mike, and we had some special guests from Ashtabula there as well.  We shared the bill with a superb group from Minneapolis called The Atlantis Quartet.  Great players, great tunes and great people.  We look forwarded to playing with them in the future.  We celebrated our final gig of the tour and drove home the next day.

It was a whirlwind three weeks.  There were so many new people that we got to meet and old friends we visited.  The performances went with out a hitch.  And the traveling was smooth.  It is unbelievable to me that this band can take on this challenge so easily and successfully.  It is a testament to our musicianship, friendship and vision of what this band can be that we can make this happen.  Many thanks to all of the people we encountered on the tour.  And even more thanks to Mike, Shawn, and Kellen for being so excited to be on this journey.

Celebrating after our last gig of the tour!

Here is a link to a new radio interview with Mike on WSUM 91.7 FM in Madison WI on Adam Sorber’s show “Out on a Limb”. Check it out!

Beginning this monday I will no longer be a member of the touring company of “Jersey Boys”. It has been a long 4 1/2 years. Jersey Boys has changed my life in a way that it makes it hard sometimes to remember life before it. However, their is no better way to leave such a comfy gig than to be immediately thrown back into the hyper creative music laboratory that is New Tricks.  There have been many ups and downs as I have walked this path, but the ups have been very high and almost make it as if the lows have not existed at all.  With the 21st approaching comes the culmination of years of hard work of using my cushy gig to set up my life, but also mark the beginning of a new chapter. A new chapter and renewed dedication to my art form, my band, my career, and my wife.

The new album we are releasing . . . → Read More: Long Road Home]]>

Beginning this monday I will no longer be a member of the touring company of “Jersey Boys”. It has been a long 4 1/2 years. Jersey Boys has changed my life in a way that it makes it hard sometimes to remember life before it. However, their is no better way to leave such a comfy gig than to be immediately thrown back into the hyper creative music laboratory that is New Tricks.  There have been many ups and downs as I have walked this path, but the ups have been very high and almost make it as if the lows have not existed at all.  With the 21st approaching comes the culmination of years of hard work of using my cushy gig to set up my life, but also mark the beginning of a new chapter. A new chapter and renewed dedication to my art form, my band, my career, and my wife.

The new album we are releasing on April 5th “Alternate Side” is the thing I am most proud of being apart of in my career.  I can easily say that it the best thing I have done thus far.  Although I am a part of this band I am also it’s biggest fan.  Every time I listen back to this recording I get off so much on listening to the other cats in the band and am amazed and humbled that I get the opportunity to participate in this experience.  We have a very full spring and summer schedule coming up and I can hardly wait to get back on the bandstand with these guys.

So here we go, onward and upward.  Look out world here comes New Tricks!

Ted