This past week marked the beginning of my annual guest artist season with a wonderful concert via my man Dave Bayles and his swingin' University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Jazz Ensemble. What a great group of cats! We played three of my charts: "Thaditude," "Art Appreciation" and "Princess Deborah. (see below for studio and live vids of those charts) The band did a great job and were super well-prepared by the marvelous Professor Bayles. Dave and I go WAY back to my UW-Whitewater days when he was a member of my yearly Jazz Camp. A blood-brother indeed.
After the UWM show, Dave put together an EPIC trio for me to play some of my new Wiestworld 4Tet book with. We performed at the beautiful Blu jazz club on the top floor of the Pfister Hotel there in Milwaukee. The group was Dave on drums, Dan Cavenaugh on piano, and Brian Courage on the bass. A killin' group and a grand time was had by all!
Written for the great Art B;lakey and performed here by an all-=star North Texas band...
Princess Deborah (for my very own Queen Deborah) performed here by the swinging Elmhurst JAzz Ensemble, Kirk Garrison conducting.
My tribute to the master: Thad Jones. Performed by a wonderful Kendor Recording band.
Lucky students to learn from the master!