*Studio "action" shot of Jon McCaslin courtesy of Jesse Cahill - Vancouver Jazz drummer, blogger, photographer and overall really swell guy.
Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Several thank you's are currently in order:
-Thanks to everyone who came out to the Cellar to enjoy my quintet that featured Brad Turner, Phil Dwyer, Tilden Webb and Jodi Proznick in Vancouver. We played to a packed house both nights and spent two very productive days in the studio. Steve Kaldestad and Rod Murray also joined us on a couple of tracks. The band played GREAT and look for this release on the Cellar Live Jazz record label later this fall. Special thanks to Cory Weeds who kept things rolling and Jesse Cahill who lent me his nice vintage Gretsch kit for the recording session.
-Thank you to everyone at the Moose Jaw Band festival. Myself and my Jazz comrade-in-arms Patrick Boyle spent the week adjudicating and working with over a dozen very talented and energetic high school Jazz ensembles. Patrick and I were also joined by Regina musicians Mike Schudel and Carlo Petrovitch and played great to a packed house on Tuesday evening. Thank you to all the volunteers who made this happen.
-Thanks to Bill Neher, Brent Ghiglione and the new YQR Creative Arts Initiative in Regina, SK that produced my concert this past Friday with my quartet featuring Toronto saxophonist Kirk MacDonald at the University of Regina. Kirk is a force and plays with an intensity and clarity that never ceases to amaze me. Taking note of the great drummers that Kirk has played with over the years (including the likes of Andre White, Dennis Mackrel, Claude Ranger, Barry Romberg, Jerry Fuller, Terry Clarke and Bob McLaren) he really is a "drummer's tenor player" so we had a lot of fun playing together and took the music a lot of interesting directions this weekend.
-I've got an exciting weekend of gigs coming up this weekend at Calgary's Beatniq Jazz club with "Three in One", a new trio featuring Edmonton guitarist Jim Head and Calgary's Jeremy Coates on bass. Jim is a very accomplished guitarist who's influences range from John Abercrombie to Adam Rogers, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Ben Monder. I'm looking forward tp making some serious music with these guys this weekend.
"THREE IN ONE"
Appearing at the
Beatniq Jazz & Social Club
811 1st Street Southwest
Calgary, AB
Friday, May 27
Saturday, May 28
9:00pm
Featuring:
Jim Head - guitar and pedals
Jeremy Coates - acoustic and electric bass guitars
Jon McCaslin - drums and cymbals