I have been wanting to have a place to comment on current events, my family, books I am reading, the musicians I make music with, my experiences performing with well known musicians, my hobbies and anything else that catches my attention. So here goes! And by the way, click here to visit www.kennavarro.com.

28th: Random Notes - Books I just finished reading include "The Importance of Music To Girls", a memoir from English writer, Lavinia Greenlaw about growing up in England in the 70s and the role that music played in her life and "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. The messages in this book are simple, yet very powerful. Music I've been listening to includes Dylan's "Blonde On Blonde" on CD (a birthday present), Keith Jarrett's solo piano album "Facing You" on vinyl and the new CD on my ipod by Fleet Foxes, a new band on the Sub Pop label. George Carlin's death this week prompted me to watch some of the HBO specials he did. A lover of language and a fearless comedian. And incredibly prolific, working and creating right to the end.

4th: Last night was history. America now has a presidential candidate who fills so many of us with hope for our future and a renewed pride in our country and it's promise of equality. The principle that all men and women are created equal has been an elusive one in my lifetime. With the Democratic nomination finally in Barack Obama's grasp, that ideal is no longer relegated to someday. Someday is now!

1st: For quite a long time now, I have been practicing the art of balancing self expression and art with commerce and popularity. I must confide in you dear reader that the challenges of this dance are not my favorite part of being a composer and guitarist. Yet I have continued to follow the path of pursuing self expression and the creation of art first and foremost and then figured out the commerce part of the deal -or put another way - make sure I have enough popularity to continue to support the art. But nothing has challenged me quite like my upcoming CD "The Grace of Summer Light".

You see, when I was composing this music for 3 months and recording it for 4 more months, all that mattered to me was the music itself. I challenged myself to rise to a place that I had never been before and to stay there for every single new note of the music as I wrote, played and recorded it. I was determined and dedicated and driven to make the most soulful, meaningful music of my life. It is no exaggeration to say that I have worked my whole life to be able to create "The Grace of Summer Light".

So once the final recordings were finally sent to the manufacturer, I was able to relax - for about one week. But before I knew it, the commerce phase was upon me. It was time to fire up the retail distribution, web and print marketing campaigns and begin doing the radio promotion, to make sure that as many people as possible knew about my new creation. I won't bore you with the many non-musical skills I have developed over the course of the last 25 years related to to marketing and promotion but suffice it to say that they are substantial. So I am in that phase now, working hard and hoping that you - my loyal longtime fans as well as the new visitors to my music - will "get" what I have accomplished with "The Grace of Summer Light" and support me as I continue on this journey with you and for the music. Here is a link to the very first review of "Grace" - it's a great one!

MAY 2008

1st: Hopefully you have noticed that I have done something pretty unique in contemporary jazz - I am making it possible for folks to listen to my entire upcoming CD "The Grace of Summer Light", 7 weeks before the official retail release date of June 17. Here is the link if you haven't been there already - "The Grace of Summer Light" streaming audio. I am doing this because I want as many people as possible to experience this work in it's entirety. I am confident that once they do, they will want to own it and make it their own. I am getting an off the chart wonderful response to the new CD and am humbled by this. Here is a link to one of the forums where people are talking about it - People Are Talking About "Grace". I am also happy that so many people have already purchasd a CD or a download and are telling other folks about this. Thank you and I hope to meet each and every one of you when I am out there playing shows in 2008.

APRIL 2008

30th: As promised, I wanted to follow up my last post and let you know what a wonderful show and time was had by all last Saturday in Milford, CT at Jay Rowe's 6th annual Smooth Jazz For Scholars concert. There were between 800 - 1000 folks in attendance. Everyone played so well, together and on their own, and it was a pleasure seeing and performing with Joyce, Eric, Chieli, Kim, Jay, Dave, Rohn, Steve, Trever and Caitlin again. For a very well done photo summary of the netire show, visit Mike Chimeri's blog. Thanks for doing a great job, Jay and for asking me to be a part of such a fine event. And thanks to Kat, Kevin, Dwayne and all the wonderful folks with Jump Street Jazz who do so much for music in CT.

25th: I am taking an early morning flight tomorrow morning in order to play a special concert in Connecticut on Saturday night, April 26 - Jay Rowe's 6th Annual Smooth Jazz for Scholars show. This year's lineup includes me, Chieli Minucci, Jay, Joyce Cooling, Kim Waters, and Eric Mariental as well as a great rhythm section - Dave Livosi on bass, Trever Somerville on drums and Rohn Lawrence on guitar. Should be fun. I will try to make some time next week to write about it here at my blog.

The new CD arrived this week and it's been great being able to fill the many pre-orders we had - the orders started coming in January. I really can't wait for people to hear this new music so the day after our first shipment arrived, we began shipping the orders. This new music opens up a whole new world for me and as my friend and musical compatriot Jay Rowe said - "this is a life changing album". Well, it is for me and I hope the impact of what I am composing and playing on "The Grace of Summer Light" is felt by anyone who hears it. It's been an exciting week as I guess you can tell.

It's 9 pm and I am off to bed. No, I'm not getting old (ha!), I just know I need to get up at 4:30 am in the morning and I have a long Saturday ahead of me. Good night!

Ken

MARCH 2008

2nd: My old friend and former keyboardist Dan LaMaestra recently sent me this photo from 1988.

Dan found this photo through his wife Patty (seen here just to the right of Glen Campbell). Patty was a member of the LA Jazz Choir, who along with me were hired to be a part of a TV music show for a German television producer. This was taken outside of Los Angeles, in the desert. Yes, that's Glen's famous Ovation guitar which I am holding. Man, I look so young - I think I was 34 years old when this photo was taken. It is a truly a small world - I did not meet Dan until 1998 and Dan did not met Patty until sometime in the 1990s. Yet here is this picture. (FYI - I did not introduce Dan to Patty - he found her all on his own....wise man!)

JANUARY 2008

19th: As I wait this morning for keyboardist Jay Rowe to email me the latest pre-production midi keyboard parts for one of my new songs from the upcoming CD, I thought it would be a good time to make a new blog entry, my first for 2008. It's pretty cold here in Maryland today and getting colder tomorrow. I am preparing to take a trip out west to play a show in Reno, NV next week. It is even colder there! We had some snow this week. The week before that we had temperatures of 70 degrees. I knew that couldn't last - I am making my peace with settling in for a few more months of winter now.

Pre-production on the new CD is in full swing. This week, Jay Rowe and I continue to work on new keyboard parts for 4 of the songs. This has been an integral part of my process with new music for many years and CDs but this time, it is more challenging. My demos for this new music are already quite detailed and so Jay has been digging deep to find just the right parts and sounds to complement what I have already created. As usual, Jay is coming up with brilliant stuff and creating yet another dimension to my music. Since Jay lives in CT, we work by email and the internet, sending midi data and audio files. I expect to work this way with Jay right up until the recording sessions begin on February 11. That's the day I begin recording with drummer Joel Rosenblatt.

I also spent a good deal of time this week transcribing (writing down) all of the many guitar parts for the new compositions. Some of the songs have 10 different guitar parts so it's no small task to remember and re-learn what I played on the demos and then put it all down neatly on manuscript paper. This is not something I usually do but the complexity of this project has caused me to take a deep breath and go to this extra work. I know that when I begin re-recording all of my guitar parts in February, I will be very glad I took the time to be completely prepared.

Other than the new music and keeping up with the daily business of running my record label Positive Music Records, I have been reading when I get a moment. I received a new book in the mail last week from my old friend, Doug Thorpe. Doug is an author and professor of literature and writing at Seattle Pacific University. He graciously sent me a copy of latest book "Rapture of The Deep". As one reviewer said "We have tamed too much of our world, too much of our mind, too much of our soul. Doug Thorpe helps us understand what Thoreau really meant when he said that in wildness is the preservation of the world". Doug writes with a depth and clarity that is inspirational. And his warm glow and spirit are in every word. You can find this important new book at Amazon and/or your local bookstore.

My son bought me a couple of excellent music DVDs for Christmas. One was from the Jazz Icon series, featuring John Coltrane from 3 different concerts taken from footage in 1960, 1961 and 1965. The 1965 footage is with the classic quartet of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison and they are at the height of their powers. It is downright telepathic what is going on in these performances. There is a 21 minute version of "My Favorite Things" from the 1965 concert in which some of the most moving, deeply spiritual and technically amazing music I have ever seen or heard - in any style, from any period of time or band - is created. This is wonderful for me to experience and draw inspirationn from as I work on what I hope will be my most important and lasting work so far.

DECEMBER 2007

10th: I am happy to tell you that the recording sessions for my new CD, tentatively set for worldwide release in June 2008, have been scheduled for early 2008 (see my calendar). The demos for all of my new compositions are now finished and I have booked the recording sessions with some of the best contemporary jazz musicians in the world for this new CD. Joel Rosenblatt will be playing drums and I believe he is the perfect fit for this new music of mine. Joel has played with many great musicians including Michael Brecker and Steve Kahn and he is probably best known for his great work as Spyro Gyra's drummer for many years. On acoustic bass and electric basses will be the amazing Tom Kennedy. Tom also has a very impressive resume including recording and touring work with Al DiMeola, Steve Gadd and Michael Brecker but he is probably best known for his recording and touring work with drummer extraordinaire Dave Weckl. On acoustic piano and keyboards will be my longtime keyboardist and musical associate Jay Rowe. Jay and I are already doing some pre-production work on the keyboard parts and his input on this new music will be very important. Percussionist Kevin Prince will be making his invaluable contribution to the new recordings as well. And...... (drum roll) I will be sharing one of my demos with you very soon....

NOVEMBER 2007

13th: File this blog entry under the heading "better late than never". I know that I promised to write a new blog entry promptly upon my return home from my Florida concerts but from the moment I returned to my recording studio, I began work on a new composition and quickly became immersed in the work. I spent all of last week composing a brand new piece and recording the demo and I think that this one may very well be the first song on the new CD. Like most of the pieces I have written in the last 10 weeks, this one started with a musical question and led to another and another... and you get the idea. At any rate, I never got to my blog until today so let me tell you about how my shows and trip to Florida went.

I left Baltimore very, very early on Saturday morning (Nov 3rd), flying out of BWI to Orlando on Southwest Airlines, my airline of choice. I flew with my bassist James Waters (Kim's brother) and we met up with my longtime keyboardist Jay Rowe and drummer Trever Somerville at the Orlando airport. From there we were driven to our hotel and we had a few hours to settle in and have some lunch. I also had a chance to play Jay some of my new music on my iPod. Then we were driven to the concert site for our sound check and then back to the hotel to change clothes before returning to the venue for dinner and the concert. The event was a benefit for a great cause - Children's Home Society. It was a pricey ticket - $100 per person - but well worth it for the cause, the incredible food and a strong show from me and my band. It had been a couple of months since the four of us had worked together and it felt great to make music together again. By the end of our show the audience were on their feet and and it felt great to have connected with the great Orlando smooth jazz audience again. I have been performing in Orlando since 1993 and even recorded my live CD there in 1998 so I have been fortunate to have had a long, deep relationship with the city and the radio station WLOQ. My thanks again to WLOQ and Kim Mcfadden, John Gross, Paul Cross, Sonny Abelardo and Patricia James and everyone at Mercedes/Winter Park and all of the truly great folks w/Children's Home Society in Orlando. And a big "thank you" of course to all of the great folks who came out to hear us and to support the Children's Home Society of Orlando and their vital work. After the show, we returned to our hotel and all of us went to sleep early, knowing that we had an early morning and a 2-3 hour drive ahead of us in the morning for our show in Sarasota.

I got up at about 7 am and had some breakfast with Trever and Jay and we enjoyed the extra hour due to the time change (daylight savings time). We were driven to the airport where we rented a van to make the drive to Sarasota. The drive was nice and relaxed since it was a Sunday morning and we arrived in Sarasota around 12 noon. We checked into our hotel and had some lunch. Then we headed to the venue, the Sarasota Polo Club where we were headlining a Jazz Festival called Jazz at the Ranch. This is a wonderful festival which I was looking forward to doing for the first time. The festival organizer, Bill Iber, is a great guy and he and his staff took very good care of us. The sound company was not as good as you would expect at such a well organized festival but we did our best and I was proud of my band for playing well in spite of some of the sonic distractions. After the show, we had a very nice time having a great Italian dinner with some fans and friends from Indianapolis who had flown in from there just for our show. It was a very relaxing way to end the long and busy weekend. On Monday morning we were up at 5:30 am and driving to the Orlando airport to make our morning flights. We made it on time and I was back in my studio by 2 pm on Monday, writing a new piece!

FYI - I am working on a way to share one of the new demos with you soon. Please stay tuned!

1st: The composing for the next CD is going great! I have now written 7 new compositions, approximately 45 minutes of music. I have also recorded elaborate demos of each piece in my studio with me playing all of the parts. I am still very much in the writing mode and plan to write at least a couple more things. I have a pair of shows in Florida this weekend so I am also preparing for those performances and that journey this week as well. Preparation for the trip has provided me with an opportunity to take a breath from the writing process and get a bit of perspective on what I have created so far. I spoke in a previous entry about the extended piece I was writing which was based on 26/8 time. I have written another new linear composition which is comprised of 3 different sections - the first a kalidescope kind of rhythm in 7/4 which employs a good deal of percussion and vocalese, the second section is more orchestral in nature with flute, french horn and cello meshed with ambient sounds and acoustic guitar and harmonica on top, and the third section breaks out into a nylon string guitar feature over a flowing chord pattern created by strumming guitars, acoustic piano, upright bass and percussion. And that's just 1 song! I have written another piece for 10 guitars - 8 electrics and 2 acoustics. That one has more of a song quality but the presentation is unlike anything you have heard me record before. I am quite excited about how the new music is coming out and if I can find a good way to do it, I hope to share some of my demos with you.

Well, time to pack for Florida and put in some serious guitar practice today, reviewing some of my older songs which we will be playing in Orlando on Saturday and then in Sarasota on Sunday. I promise to blog about those shows next week.

OCTOBER 2007

15th: As I begin a new week of composing music in the studio and continuing my studies of a couple of new solo guitar pieces as well as my ongoing work with ear training and improvisation, I thought I would share with you some new music I am listening to. I am enjoying (and studying) a broad palette of different things from the Bartok String Quartets (the Emerson String Quartet recordings) to John Coltrane's "Afro Blue" to Jason Vieaux's excellent solo classical guitar recording of Pat Metheny songs called "Images of Metheny". But the most interesting and moving work for me has been a recording from 1989, Steve Reich's "Different Trains" for 4 string quartets, pre-recorded train sounds and voice narration fragments. For lack of a better description, Reich composes modern classical music which is completely original, compelling and inviting.

From writer Al Filreis site - "The 'Different Trains' theme originates from Reich's childhood, several wartime years spent travelling with his governess between his estranged parents, his mother in Los Angeles and his father in New York. Exciting, romantic trips, full of adventure for the young Reich but many years later, it dawned on him that, had he been in Germany during the ethnic cleansing by the Nazis, his Jewish background would have ensured that the trains he would have been riding on would have been very 'different trains.' He set about collecting recordings to effectively recreate and document the atmosphere of his travels to contrast with those of the unfortunate refugees. By combining the sound of train whistles, pistons and the scream of brakes with extracts of speech by porter Lawrence Davis, who took the same rides as Reich between the big apple and Los Angeles, governess Virginia and three holocaust survivors (Paul, Rachel and Rachella), Reich creates music of great intensity and feeling. The rhythmic patterns and pitch of the voices establishes the phrases and course of the music heard in the string quartets: 'crack train from New York,' and '1939' for example, heard in the invigorating, steam-driven opening movement, America-Before The War. The slow, middle section, Europe-During The War, finds the refugees in the midst of their nightmare, 'no more school' and being herded into the cattle wagons. 'They shaved us, They tatooed a number on our arm, Flames going up to the sky- it was smoking.' Sirens from the Kronos help to convey the despair and confusion of the Jewish plight. Reconciliation is achieved in part three, After The War, where Paul, Rachel and Rachella are transported to live in America. There is an incredibly poignant moment when Paul proclaims '… the war was over,' Rachella, in sheer, fragile disbelief, asks 'Are you sure?.' The New York Times hailed Different Trains as 'a work of… astonishing originality' and the piece was subsequently awarded a Grammy in 1989 for Best Contemporary Compostion."

5th: Even though the recording of my next CD will not begin until mid 2008, I am hard at work these days in my studio, composing new music. I am writing music which emphasizes warmth, melody and soul but is also quite intricate and complex and intellectually stimulating as well as being (hopefully) stimulating to the soul. If I am successful at creating the CD I have in mind, it will take the new musical journey I began in the "The Meeting Place" to a much higher level. For example, for the last 2 weeks, I have been working on an extended composition, based primarily in 26/8 time which is linear by design. That is, it starts in one place, goes to another, then another, then another, telling a story without repeating sections. It is a challenging way to compose - it's like writing 6 songs in one song! - but so worth the hard work and soul searching necessary to come up with just the right melodies, harmonies and rhythms to realize this ambition and these emotions. I'll keep you posted as the process unfolds.....

SEPTEMBER 2007

18th: I just returned from playing a show in Charlotte, NC - what a great southern city and what great folks make their home there! The up and coming jazz presenter/promoter Tammy Greene (GEG Events) brought me in to Charlotte to perform a few songs at an event on the rooftop of a hotel in downtown Charlotte this past Sunday night. It was a gorgeous night and folks from Charlotte and suurounding areas (as well as a large group of people from Columbia, SC) came out to meet me and hear me play a few of my songs with a great Charlotte band called Innertwyned. They did a fantastic job of quickly learning some of my songs ("Smooth Sensation", "In My Wildest Dreams", "The Meeting Place") and we had a great time playing together under the stars. Tammy is a gem and she and her crew did an excellent job of creating a special evening for the capacity crowd that attended and in making me feel very comfortable and welcome. Before I performed, I had the pleasure of meeting many of the people who supported the event, including Harvey Cline from smoothviews.com (look for his review of the show in their October online edition) and my good friends Fred & Mary Whitfield. It was a special night and I hope to return to Charlotte and NC and SC in general very soon. Here are some photos from Sunday night's Jazz Under The Stars in Charlotte.

15th: Composer, keyboardist and jazz pioneer Joe Zawinul died this week. Those who know about Zawinul and his incredible history don't need to hear me reiterate it here. For those who don't know of his deep contributions to contemporary jazz, please click on this link and listen to Elizabeth Blair's remembrance and the samples of Joe's music which span 45 years of modern jazz history. My favorite Zawinul song? - "A Remark You Made".

4th: This month marks the 50th anniversary of the integration of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. On the morning of September 23, 1957 nine African-American teenagers stood up to an angry crowd protesting integration in front of Little Rock's Central High as they entered the school for the first time. This event, broadcast around the world, made Little Rock the site of the first important test of the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. We all owe so much to these 9 American heroes. Here is a brief glimpse of these former students.

Ernest Green
In 1958, he became the first black student to graduate from Central High School. He graduated from Michigan State University and served as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs under President Jimmy Carter. He currently is a managing partner and vice president of Lehman Brothers in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Eckford
The only one of the nine still living in Little Rock, Elizabeth made a career of the U.S. Army that included work as a journalist. In 1974, she returned to the home in which she grew up and is now a part-time social worker and mother of two sons.

Jefferson Thomas
He graduated from Central in 1960, following a year in which Little Rock's public high schools were ordered closed by the legislature to prevent desegregation. Today, he is an accountant with the U.S. Department of Defense and lives in Anaheim, Calif.

Dr. Terrence Roberts
Following the historic year at Central, his family moved to Los Angeles where he completed high school. He earned a doctorate degree and teaches at the University of California at Los Angeles and Antioc College. He also is a clinical psychologist.

Carlotta Walls Lanier
One of only three of the nine who eventually graduated from Central, she and Jefferson Thomas returned for their senior year in 1959. She graduated from Michigan State University and presently lives in Englewood, Colorado, where she is in real estate.

Minnijean Brown Trickey
She was expelled from Central High in February, 1958, after several incidents, including her dumping a bowl of chili on one of her antagonists in the school cafeteria. She moved with her husband to Canada during the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s and today is a writer and social worker in Ontario.

Gloria Ray Karlmark
She graduated from Illinois Technical College and received a post-graduate degree in Stockholm, Sweden. She was a prolific computer science writer and at one time successfully published magazines in 39 countries. Now retired, she divides her time between homes in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Stockholm, where her husband's family lives.

Thelma Mothershed-Wair
She graduated from college, then made a career of teaching. She lives in Belleville, Illinois, where she is a volunteer in a program for abused women.

Melba Pattillo Beals
She is an author and former journalist for People magazine and NBC and lives in San Francisco.

AUGUST 2007

30th: Yesterday was the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and President Bush made yet another of his self serving, symbolic visits to New Orleans, saying (I am paraphrasing here) "you can see the progress we have made more clearly from a distance". In other words, the people who live in New Orleans can't appreciate the minimal progress made during the last 2 years because they are too close to it. But Bush says that he can because he doesn't have to live there. What an insensitive dope! It's no wonder that the status of New Orleans did not even rate a mention in this year's State of the Union speech. I know that Bush is not very bright, but does he think the rest of us are idiots?

Here's a dose of reality for Mr. Bush and what's left of his administration - Much of New Orleans still looks like a wasteland, with businesses closed and houses abandoned. Basic services such as schools, libraries, public transportation and childcare are at half their original levels and only two-thirds of the region's licensed hospitals are open. Workers are often scarce. Rents have skyrocketed. Crime is rampant. Is that the Bush administration's idea of "progress"?

24th: Have you heard about a new book called "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" ? The book consists primarily of letters Mother Teresa wrote to her superiors over a period of 65 years. The book's inconspicuous title belies the major revelation of the book which is that during the last 50 years of her life, Mother Teresa felt virtually no presence of God. The depths of the pain her spiritual doubts and struggles caused her were intense and apparently lasted until her death. Shortly after beginning her work in the slums of Calcutta, she wrote: “Where is my faith? Even deep down there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. If there be a God — please forgive me.”

For many people, this will be an extremely disturbing book as it seems to contradict everything Mother Teresa's life and work stood for. But, for me, these insights into her difficult spiritual road only serve to further my respect for her.

The Rev. James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit magazine America, sums up my feelings quite well. He calls the book "a new ministry for Mother Teresa, a written ministry of her interior life," and says, "It may be remembered as just as important as her ministry to the poor. It would be a ministry to people who had experienced some doubt, some absence of God in their lives. And you know who that is? Everybody. Atheists, doubters, seekers, believers, everyone."

I do not think it is coincidental that Mother Teresa's doubts intensified at the time she began tending to the poor and dying people of Calcutta. How can a human being look so deeply into the abyss and not doubt the existence of a God? And for the rest of us who are not quite as saintly as Mother Teresa, I ask - if she could carry on for a half-century without God in her head or heart, then maybe the rest of us can cope with less extreme versions of the same challenge.

21st: I have recorded and posted a new podcast today, my first new podcast in months. In this new podcast, I discuss the different methods and means my record company Positive Music Records is using to distribute my new CD "The Meeting Place"in the United States and around the world. I hope you'll take a listen.

17th: This is a week where I am listening to music more than I am playing it. I am getting inspired before I begin to begin to compose again. Today I listened to Wayne Shorter's great album from 1974 called "Native Dancer". He is joined by Herbie Hancock and Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento to create ground breaking new music which is still fresh today. Check it out!

13th: I listened to a couple of older Brian Wilson/Beach Boy LPs today - The Beach Boys Today and Summer Days & Summer Nights - what beautiful, innocent, sad stuff. Two quotes stick with me - "Can't remember what we fought about...but I remember when we thought it out, we both had a broken heart" and "Our love's like the warmth of the sun, it won't ever die."

12th: Happy Birthday to Pat Metheny! A great composer, guitarist and band leader and a never ending inspiration for me and countless other musicians. Thank you Pat and hope you have a great birthday today.

7th: Today is Tuesday and I just received some photos via email of my show this past Friday at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. Here is a link to see the photos. My special guest that night was saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa who took a night off from the Rippingtons' tour to perform with me and my band. We played a lot of music together including many songs from both of our respective new CDs. The audience was huge - at least 3000, maybe more - and they were so into the music. It felt really great to play for them and to get such a good response. At one point, Jeff and I both went out into the audience and played and it was pretty intense! Later on in the show, I went into the audience again for my song "Try Again" and it was even more dramatic. I really can't explain what it's like to play up close to people and have them hang on every note - it really makes me dig deep inside my soul to play the most honest and hearfelt music I can. Thank you to Keeya Branson-Davis for asking me to be a part of the 10th anniversary Penn's Landing Smooth Jazz Summer Nights series and thank you to her staff and crew for doing a terrific job. And thanks to Michael Tozzi & Frank Childs from WJJZ for bringing me on stage and for their great support.

On Saturday, I travelled fairly close to home to play a show at The Rams Head On Stage, a great concert venue in Annapolis, MD. I was pleased to learn prior to my show that it had sold out! Knowing that the venue would be packed made me anticipate having a great night and so even though I did not finish up until late in Philly the night before, I got up early on Saturday and spent the morning practicing and reviewing my performance from the night before in Philly to work on a few things. I got to the Rams Head at 3 pm and my band and I set up and did a sound check until 5 pm. We had an excellent young man named Ryan doing sound for us and we got an excellent sound happening both on stage and "in the house" after a couple of hours of work. We hit the stage at about 7:10 and we're greeted with applause before we were even introduced! We began with "In My Wildest Dreams" and drummer Jay Williams, who was playing his very first show with me, came on strong and rock solid. I knew I was going to have a blast playing with him and for all the wonderful Baltimore and Washington DC fans who had come out. Among the highlights of the show for me were "Eric's Dream", "Smooth Sensation", "Breathe" and "The Challenge", where it felt like we were literally going to take off, the energy was so high and electric. All through the show the response from the audience, which started pretty high, just grew and grew and it made me and my band - Jay Rowe on keyboards, James Waters on bass and Jay Williams on drums - go to that other level of playing where you forget your ego and let something else play the music. After our last song "The Blues", we left the stage and the audience demanded an encore. Normally, I don't wait too long to respond to cries of encore but since we had played for 90 minutes and exhausted the songs which Jay Williams knew of mine, I was reluctant to go back out unless this audience was serious! Well, they were as the applause and yells continued for 3 minutes. We went back out and did a super charged version of "In My Wildest Dreams". I want to thank the incredible audience who came to see me at The Rams Head - you guys were great and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. And thank you to Kris Stevens and the first rate staff of the Rams Head - you all really know how to run a concert club. I sincerely look forward to getting back to the Rams Head again soon. And here is my set list from the show.

JULY 2007

31st: Tom Snyder passed away this past Sunday. He was a true original and television could sure use a lot more of his combination of intelligence, curiousity and joy. I loved watching him and the guests that only he could get. (imagine a whole hour late at night with John Lennon!) I think I'm going to stay up late tonight, watch some of Snyder's best interviews on YouTube and take Tom's advice - "Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."

21st: I just returned tonight from a show I did this afternoon in Detroit, the city of Birmingham, Michigan's 2007 JazzFest. This was a 3 day affair with many great musicians including Terence Blanchard, Joyce Cooling, Alexander Zonjic and myself to name just a few. I was very happy to be a part of it and it was a great afternoon show for us. The weather was perfect - 80 degrees and sunny with a breeze and the crowd was large and wonderful. I love playing in the Detroit area and today was especially fun. Thanks to the great staff of volunteers who put this special festival on year after year - and also to Suzanne Belanger from WVMV and Alexander Zonjic, the producer of this and many other festivals in the Detroit area.

9th: OK, there is a lot I want to share with you all! First, I had a wonderful show in Asbury Park, NJ on Saturday June 30th. The jazz promoter Chico Rouse put on a great festival which featured myself, Stanley Jordan and Phillipe Saisse to name a few. Asbury Park Mayor Kevin G. Sanders spent some time speaking with me before my show, telling me all about the history of his family and Asbury Park. It was a perfect introduction before performing for the large crowd at the festival. We had a very strong show and my band and I had a great time playing and interacting with the crowd. The audience was inspiring to play for and after the show I signed CDs for almost an hour. I sold almost every CD I brought to the show, close to 100. I really look forward to getting back to Asbury Park soon, maybe to the new jazz club which Chico Rouse is opening there this coming fall. Next up, I had a birthday in June and so my present from my son was lunch out and a movie, Michael Moore's new move "Sicko" to be specific. So on July 4, he took me in his new Nissan Versa to our local cineplex and we found a showtime. I think "Sicko" is Moore's best work so far. Our health care system here in the US is clearly flawed and simply does not work well, even for those of us who can afford health care. As a self employed musician, I have been purchasing my familys' health care for almost 20 years now and it is very expensive and getting more costly all the time. I won't go on and on about the movie but I urge you to see it for yourself. I believe that the 2008 elections will give us all a fresh opportunity to let our elected officials and candidates know that health care is a vital issue which needs to be moved up to the top of our national "must do" list now. Finally, speaking of health care, I had to have some oral surgery last week. Trust me, you don't want to know the details but suffice it so say that it was painful and it took me the better part of last week to recover. My fourth of July was pretty quiet and so I was glad to have the distraction of the time with my son to have a lunch and see a movie (although my lunch consisted solely of a smoothie which I ate very slowly with a small spoon!). So now I am back to work again, preparing for a show in Detroit, MI on Saturday July 21 followed by shows in early August in Philadelphia PA, Annapolis MD and Richmond VA. The show in Detroit will be with my regular band of Jay Rowe on keyboards, James Waters on bass and Trever Somerville on drums. We go on at 4 pm (the festival in Birmingham, MI will run all day and night) and it's going to be a slammin' show. I have a great set list prepared. You want to see it? OK, here is the show I've got planned...

Detroit  7/21

In My Wildest Dreams
Skating On The C&O Canal
Eric’s Dream
The Meeting Place
Lakes
Smooth Sensation
Can’t Get Enough
Try Again
Blues in G

We just might also play "You Are Everything" if we have the time. On August 3rd I have a show at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia and I am really looking forward to it cause one of my favorite saxophonists Jeff Kashiwa from the Rippingtons will be my special guest. I love Jeff's playing and we are going to have a great time and make some unique music together that night. I am learning a bunch of Jeff's music in the next few weeks and he is learning some of mine. It's going to be a special night. Then on August 4, I will perform at the Rams Head in Annapolis, MD. This show is getting close to selling out so please get your Rams Head tickets soon.

See you soon...

JUNE 2007

25th: I just returned from a few days of work in Central Florida. It was a pretty grueling schedule but well worth the extra effort and the two very early mornings necessary to make it all come together. On Friday morning, I rose at 3:45 am (who says musicians don't get up early?) to make a 6:30 am flight to Orlando. I had to take such an early flight because I was scheduled to deliver a presentation at Full Sail, the world renowned school of entertainment media industry, at 10 am so I needed to catch the first flight to Orlando on Southwest Airlines, the only way to fly. I got to Orlando right on time and was met at the airport by Tim Gregory, the Program Director for the Music Business Department. After a short drive, we arrived at Full Sail. After a cup of coffee, Tim took me on a quick tour of a part of their very impressive campus. I saw the back lot of the film department, complete with facades of New York City, Venice and countless other backdrops. Full Sail, which started as a premier school for the recording arts, has quickly blossomed into a full scale entertainment media school with a highly regarded film department, a game degree department, a computer animation department and a music business department as well as a master's degree program in entertainment business. And of course their recording arts department is second to none. I was speaking to a Masters class of 23 students called "Executive Leadership". The professor, Jeff Whiting, invited me to speak to his class. It was through one of my oldest Orlando friends, the powerhouse Linda Schiffer, that Jeff was referred to me. I spoke for about 90 minutes and answered questions afterwards. I discussed the independent record business and all the facets of it - from manufacturing to distribution to radio to promotion to touring, weaving in many experiences I have had with executives and leaders (good and not so good) along the way. The students were extremely engaged and responsive and I enjoyed speaking to them and with them very much. The experience reminded me of how much I enjoy teaching and working with young people. After the class, Tim, Jeff and Ron (another teacher at Full Sail) and I had a relaxing lunch near the campus and got to know each other better. Then Tim took me on a more complete tour of the campus. It was amazing and Tim is an excellent guide and person. The recording facilities alone were stunning - 48 state of the art dedicated mixing rooms plus a number of beautifully equipped full service studios. And the film, computer animation and game development departments were just as impressive. I have never seen anything like this school. They are completely doing it right and expanding every year. After Tim's tour, I was driven to Cocoa (about an hour from Orlando) to the hotel near where my Saturday night concert was to be held. I had a relaxing evening and did some practicing. On Saturday morning, I took a long walk and did some more practicing. Around 1 p.m. I went to the venue and did a rehearsal and sound check with the special band put together just for the evening's show. On keyboards was Dan Siegel, on saxophone Michael Paulo, on bass Smitty Smith and on drums Will Kennedy. The show was my first time playing in Cocoa in almost 10 years. The promoter was the great Roland Guilarte. He is one of the best smooth jazz promoters in the business. And this was a special show both musically and because of the nature of the event. This was a show for the benefit of Children with Disabilities and so we were all very pleased to be a part of such an important evening. The show went great with what appeared to be a sell out crowd and it was an exciting night for both the band and the audience and I hope Roland too! I had the opportunity to play with some great players that I had never worked with before and got to see and spend some time with Roland again as well as his wonderful son Justin (Justin, you are a great kid!) and also Roland's parents who I had not seen for 10 years. I had a 4:15 am ride to the airport to make yet another early flight back to Baltimore on Sunday morning so by the time I got home, I was tired but ready for a full day of Sunday activity back home in Baltimore. Thank you to all the great folks who came out to the show and helped benefit children with disabilities and Roland and his excellent crew for bringing me back to Cocoa. And thanks to Linda Schiffer, Tim Gregory, Jeff Whiting, Danielle Dawson, my driver Mike and Full Sail for bringing me to Orlando and Full Sail. It was an intense and very satisfying 50 hours!

11th: Regarding the controversial ending to the final episode of the Sopranos - I loved it. A viewer named Bob in Palisades Park, NJ summed it up perfectly. "David Chase did what so many other writers have not been able to do - challenge an audience. We are being spoon fed everything in the media from sitcoms to the endless parade of cookie cutter films. Any frustration anyone is feeling is your mind waking up. He is asking us to do what we are so sorely unable to do anymore - use our imaginations."

1st: It's very hot here in Maryland today - 88 degrees. And our electric company - BGE (Baltimore Gas & Electric) - effective today, raised our rates for electricity by 50%. So much for the consumer advantages of de-regulation. So if your current bill was $300 a month, it just jumped to $450 a month for the same amount of electricity. My family's solution is simple - no more air conditioning unless the outside temperature goes above 90 degrees. Any you know what? We like having the windows open and we have quickly become accustomed to a temperature in the house of 80 to 85 degrees. We started this no air conditioning policy a week or so ago and I was surprised how quickly we all became acclimated to it. In fact, when we visited with friends earlier this week in their air conditioned home, I became aware that I wanted to sit on their deck and feel the early summer air, smell the outdoors and hear the sounds of something other than the whirring of ac. Call me nuts, but I spend enough of my time in a windowless, sound proof recording studio.

MAY 2007

18th: I just finished reading a couple of relatively new books. They were both bios but not your conventional autobiographies. The first was Tavis Smiley's latest called "What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America". This open and honest book about growing up poor in America is a moving success story. As a fan of Tavis Smiley's interview style and the intelligent approach he takes with his guests, this new book only added to my appreciation of his many talents. I have even more respect for Mr. Smiley now - he is truly an inspiration.

The other autobiography I just finished was by Rain Pryor, "Jokes My Father Never Taught Me: Life, Love, and Loss with Richard Pryor". This was a more disturbing read. Disturbing in part because it is upsetting to read about a child who did not receive the time and attention from her father that any child deserves. And also painful because, like so many people of my generation, I loved Richard Pryor. He was much more to me than just a comedian. He broke through everything - class, race, you name it. But he was a deeply flawed man, more so than I realized. While that only broadens my understanding of his genius, it's still hard to accept. Yet I'm glad I read this book. It's ultimately the story of Rain Pryor, a multi talented young woman. And I hear she recently moved to Baltimore! Hope to meet her one of these days ....

15th: It's official - I have picked the new single for smooth jazz radio airplay from my new CD "The Meeting Place". It is "My Beautiful Girls", track # 5 from the full CD. I did a special edit for radio to bring the song down to a 3:24 length. It really sounds tight now and though I will always think of the 4:38 version as the original, this new edit is very appealing to me and I look forward to hopefully hearing it on the radio. The smooth jazz stations throughout the country have to like it enough to add it to their playlists. The first "add date" is Monday, June 4. That is the first date that I am requesting smooth jazz stations around the country add it to their playlists. I have already heard from a couple of music and program directors who love it so that is a very good sign! I did something a little different with this one. First, I emailed a high quality MP3 file to each station. Then, a few days later, I followed the email up with a US postal service mailing of the special edit on a CD-R. Click here if you would like to hear a sample of "My Beautiful Girls". Wish me luck and please call your local smooth jazz station and ask them to play "My Beautiful Girls".

3rd: Last night on PBS, I caught the latest episode of the excellent "American Masters" series. Ahmet Ertegun was the subject of last nights' show. Ertegun’s biography and the story of some of the greatest jazz and pop musicians of the 20th century — on “Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built" including those of John Coltrane, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, was well worth seeing .... and hearing. This son of a Turkish diplomat who loved jazz and black american music in general, built a record label whose artists are a history of popular music in the second half of the 20th century. The interviews of Ertegun, conducted by the likes of Phil Collins, David Geffen, Ray Charles, Robert Plant and Mick Jagger (to mention just a few) are more like conversations that we as the viewer have the opportunity to listen in on. It's fascinating stuff and I recommend you check out your local PBS station for information on when they will be airing it again. It will give you a big, wonderful taste of what it was like when folks like Ahmet Ertegun, people who LOVED music and lived it, ran the record business. PBS American Masters

APRIL 2007

28th: I just returned from playing a concert which benefited the music departments of the schools of Milford, Connecticut with and for my friend Jay Rowe plus a number of other contemporary and smooth jazz musicians. Jay has a very big heart and for 5 years running he has organized a concert which raises funds for his hometown school system. Among other things, Jay's concerts have helped to purchase a grand piano and provided many other new instruments for the schools of Milford. It's amazing what he has accomplished. I also presented a workshop to 600 students the day before the concert and that was a real pleasure for me to do. The kids were great as were their teachers - they really appreciated what I had to offer them. The concert was a success with a close to sell out crowd in the 1000 seat hall. In spite of some unfortunate sound issues, all of the performances came off well. And what else can you do but push through and remember that you are there to support a good cause and give your best effort.

10th: Enough is enough - Don Imus and his producers should be removed from the airwaves. As despicable and hateful as Imus' latest racist assault is, his show's history of sexism is even worse. The only prostitutes in Imus' radio/tv show are guests like John McCain and Tim Russert who promote their books and campaigns, turning a deaf ear to the bigotry expressed daily and lending a seal of approval and respectability to Imus' rants. If the powers that be will not remove this show permanently, then we need to remove our support from the guests and advertisers who sponsor it.

7th: It's been quite awhile since my last entry so I'll start where I left off. After my show in Atlantic City, I travelled to Philadelphia for 2 nights of shows at Zanzibar Blue. Then it was on to Detroit for a memorable benefit concert for Angela Bofill who suffered a stroke a year ago. I performed with Najee, Kem, Jeff Lorber, Marion Meadows, James Lloyd from Pieces of a Dream, Alexander Zonjic, Maysa and Dave McMurray to name a few. Then on to St. Petersburg, Florida for a concert with my good friends at the amazing radio station WSJT at the historic Vinoy Reniassance Hotel. Then back home for a week of practice and business and then back to Florida for a short spring vacation with my wife and daughter. I returned home to Baltimore just in time for a temperature inversion - when we left Florida it was 73 degress and when we touched down in Baltimore it was 37 degrees!

My next shows are not until April 27 and 28 when I do a workshop and then appear in concert with Jay Rowe, Chieli Minucci, Marion Meadows and Nelson Rangell for Jay's annual Smooth Jazz for Scholar's show. So I am using this time to perfect new techiques on the guitar and explore some new improvisation concepts. And the new CD is doing very well - it is my fastest selling CD ever! - and so I am keeping up with the purchase orders from my national distributor, packing and shipping cartons of CDs. In addition, I just closed new international distribution deals for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I am also working with a company regarding a licensing deal for the new CD as well as some of my older CDs in Taiwan. So I am staying busy. Oh, and Borders is doing a major promotion here in the U.S. of "The Meeting Place" in all of it's stores nationwide in the months of April and May!

In my spare time, I am also doing some reading - "Something In The Air" by Marc Fisher - a fascinating look at the evolution of radio and "My Father Before Me" - a book about how fathers and sons influence each other throughout their lives. I read non-fiction almost exclusively and these are 2 new books I highly recommend.

11th: This morning I took a drive to downtown Philadelphia to do an in depth "live on the air" interview with Philly smooth jazz radio station WJJZ and it's great program director/air personality and old friend Michael Tozzi. I have known Michael since 1996. He is one of the original smooth jazz programmers and one of the most musical and music driven people I know. He has great ears and knows contemporary jazz and its history pretty much top to bottom. And so our interview was fresh and different and we talked about everything from how I recorded "The Meeting Place" to teaching our respective kids how to drive to how my wife constructively listens to and effects (positively!) my recordings. I had a great time and I hope Michael did too. Plus the show is broadcast live from Zanzibar Blue's Sunday brunch, the club I am performing at next Friday and Saturday, March 16 & 17, and so I had a great breakfast and got to see the St Patrick's Day parade which was going on right outside the club. A nice way to spend a Sunday morning and early afternoon.

8th: Things are very busy at the moment with new shows being booked almost every week by my "super agent" Bruce Nichols at Central Entertainment including new shows in Asbury Park, NJ and Annapolis, MD. And sales of my new CD "The Meeting Place" are going very well and since I run my own record label, I am the head of the shipping department which supplies our distributor and the chains and stores around the country with my CDs. So this week I just shipped a couple thousand "The Meeting Place" CDs to Borders for a special promotion which begins in April and runs to the middle of June. I also just closed a new distribution deal for "The Meeting Place" in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I am also preparing for five (5) upcoming shows in the next 14 days - Atlantic City, Philadelphia (2 nights), Detroit and Tampa. I am practicing quite a bit, preparing to play 3 new songs from the new CD - "Lakes", "The Challenge" and "The Meeting Place". I have a rehearsal with the band this coming Monday as well. I'm also learning some new music for the Angela Bofill benefit show that I am doing in Detroit w/Alexander Zonjic, Jeff Lorber, Kem, Najee and many others. I'm staying busy, the way I like it.

24th: I had a really fun show with Baltimore's great smooth jazz station WSMJ this past Thursday night at the local Baltimore venue Piv's Pub. They had a full house for my show and I also must have signed my CDs for at least an hour after the show. Baltimore audiences are the warmest I have ever played for and the many people who came with their "The Meeting Place" CD or bought a copy of my new CD at the show made me feel so good. A big thank you to Lori Lewis, the program director of WSMJ, Annie Sandor the promotions director, Angela Belton and her first rate crew, especially Ashley who handled my CD sales, morning man Randy Dennis for a great job bringing me on and air personality Trish Hennessey for the very nice hang and conversation after the show. And finally thanks to all of my fans and WSMJ listeners who came and supported my music and our special hometown jazz station, WSMJ.

16th: When I first moved from Los Angeles to the Baltimore area in 1990, it took me some time to get acclimated to being on the east coast again. Having grown up in the Washington, DC area, Baltimore was a neighboring city, but one which was more or less an unknown quantity to me. One morning I stumbled upon an early morning TV show on local CBS affiliate WJZ (channel 13) with two broadcasters who were completely different from anything I had ever seen in LA or anywhere else for that matter. The hosts - Marty Bass & Don Scott - were simply being themselves and they exuded all of the down to earth charm, humor and history that is Baltimore. This show made me finally feel like I lived in Baltimore and that I was some how becoming a part of the city, just by watching these two "friends" tell me about it each morning. So imagine how pleased I am to have now appeared on the show 3 times (and two additional times on another WJZ show with my other friend at the station, Tim Williams). Most recently, I did an appearance yesterday morning when I made the semi-treacherous drive in the snow/ice to their studios on Television Hill in Baltimore to tape a "Coffee With" interview and performance segment with them. An interview with Don and Marty is very different than the other TV appearances I have done over the years. Marty and Don ask very different questions, questions that don't come from just reading my official bio. Like yesterday, Marty asked about my use of iPods when I'm recording a new CD and Don wanted to know what happens to my hands in the winter and how it affects my playing. No one asks me questions like that! It's no wonder that everyone from Ed McMahon to Cal Ripken Jr. to Al Jarreau make appearances on "Coffee With" whenever they are in town. These guys are the very best and the producers and the technical crew are top-drawer. If you live in the Baltimore area, they expect to air the segment on February 22, Thursday morning at around 6:45 am. And I also performed the opening song from my new CD, "Lucky". Check it out and I will post a link to the segment when they post it at the WJZ website.

6th: Ah, another Super Bowl, another display of endless promotion to the tune of 2.6 million per half minute. The game was a good one but Billy Joel was a non-event singing the national anthem - he gave what must be the most lackluster, flat performance in Super Bowl history. However, Prince was a vast improvement over last year's musical entertainment (the Rolling Stones) and he gave a great performance in a rainstorm no less, playing one burning guitar solo after another. He got his 15-minute party started by ripping into "Let’s Go Crazy," and playing awesome guitar. After shrieking implicit tribute to Little Richard and the late James Brown, he careened into an unexpected medley of "Proud Mary" and a Hendrix-challenging version of "All Along the Watchtower," before doing the Foo Fighters’ "Best of You" better than the Foo Fighters. A real highlight came when Florida A&M University's famed Marching 100 band from Tallahassee joined Prince. I don't know how Prince stayed safe playing an electric guitar in the pouring rain and I worried about all of the marching band's instruments getting soaked and ruined. But in spite of the storm, Prince displayed once again - this time for the whole world to see - what happens when you put the music first.

31st: "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein

29th: Just saw the movie "The Departed". Save your money. Why this movie received an Academy Award nomination for best picture is beyond me. This shallow, highly improbable story about people you have no connection with in your real life is hardly justification for Martin Scorcese's obscene use of violence. Go see another best picture nominee, "Little Miss Sunshine". This consistently funny and entertaining road movie looks at the all-American obsession with winning and laughs darkly. And you come out of the movie wanting to give your family a hug.

New music - the beautiful duet CD by Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau is simply superb. And don't forget the Beatles "Love" CD. Its remixes and brilliant mashups are even more astounding in 5.1 surround sound.

13th: LA STORY#3 - I moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1982 and was fortunate to begin playing gigs within a week of my arrival. By Christmas time, I was pretty busy, playing about 4-5 gigs a week and working with a lot of different musicians. On a Friday night just before Christmas, I had a private party gig with a band on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. The band, like most of the bands that played private parties in the LA area, was a hodge podge of different players, joined together for one night to play a particular function, in this case some corporation's holiday bash. It seemed that every musician in LA played these gigs we called "casuals" and so it was a great way to meet excellent musicians of all types. This was an especially interesting night because of the very different types of musicians who played together at this gig. The drummer was from the then quite popular new wave band Oingo Boingo, the pianist was from The Pointer Sisters road band and the bass player was some unknown guy named John. We played everything from Jobim to Ellington to the current rock radio hits of 1982. The band sounded amazing and even though we had never played together before (we had never even met each other before!), it just seemd like there was excellent chemistry and give and take between the 4 musicians. The bassist in particular was astounding - supportive but a virtuoso and clearly someone to stay in touch with as I made my way through the LA scene. During a break, the other players were singing John's praises and talking about all the stuff he was doing in town. At the end of the night, we all shook hands and John and I exchanged warm compliments and business cards. It was only a few years later that everybody in jazz knew who John Patitucci was. I ran into John many other times during my 8 years in LA and I even saw him at the BET studios in Washington DC in 1998 when we were both there to do interviews about our respective new CDs of the time. I just heard John on XM radio yesterday and it reminded me of my gig 24 years ago on the Queen Mary with him. I will remember that remarkable night and the opportunity to make music with a truly great bassist in the making. I will continue to add LA stories to my blog as they come to mind. Stay tuned.....

11th: America has a serious problem in Iraq. Now more than ever we need a president we can trust to tell us the truth (Beginning with non-existent weapons of mass destruction, we have been misinformed as to the reasons for this war). However, what we got last night was another pep talk, an academic reading of the situation virtually devoid of an honest and forthright represention of the reality in Iraq. From the beginning, the American military has performed in a first rate manner and they and their families have paid the price for the profoundly flawed policy and strategy of this president. Bush has bet his presidency on this war and last night he doubled his bet. Our military, our country and the citizens of Iraq deserve much more than this kind of 11th hour gambling.

4th: Today was a truly historic day for our country - the very first woman EVER, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, became the nation's first female House speaker. Ms. Pelosi is orignally from Baltimore, my hometown, so it is especially sweet. Today is a day to celebrate our unique democracy and it's special place in the history of the world. The sky's the limit for women in higher office now and so let's look to 2008 for our first women President.

1st: "Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean, and nasty place and no matter how tough you think you are, it'll always beat you if you let it. It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! If you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that, and that ain’t you! You’re better than that!" A 60 year old Rocky Balboa's words of advice to his 20 something son.

A good movie to see on New Years Day. The sixth and final film in the Rocky series - which began with the Oscar-winning Rocky thirty years earlier in 1976 - is a worthy finale. Happy New Year!

22nd: Things are really busy around my house as we begin the final preparations for Christmas Eve dinner - I'm cooking! - and I prepare to travel on Christmas Day to Orlando, Florida where I will be performing 2 shows at Sea World on December 26. This is always a hectic time in my household and so with me traveling over the holidays, it's a bit intense around here. We'll have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together before I leave on a 6 p.m. flight out of Baltimore. My first show at Sea World on the 26th is early in the afternoon so my band and I need to leave the evening before. I am really looking forward to playing again with Jay Rowe, James Waters and Trever Somerville and the venue at Sea World looks great with a full crowd expected for each show (2000 seats per show). I have been practicing the guitar a lot in the midst of everything else going on and so I sure feel like playing!

Happy Holidays to everyone reading this and "may your days be merry and bright" and full of wonderful time with your family and friends. Talk to you again in 2007!

15th: Well, I survived my daughter's sweet 16 birthday party at our house - a lot of cleaning afterwards but no harm done and she and her friends had a terrific time. The DJ was quite good and there was a lot of dancing. My custom White Castle burgers were a big hit too. And apparently, we are now considered "the coolest" parents. Imagine how proud I am?? Seriously, my wife and I were happy to give her this party and even happier that's it's over... phew.....

Yesterday I shipped the first single from "The Meeting Place" to smooth jazz radio stations around the US. I selected the opening track "Lucky" because I think it's a fresh and unique song. The first day that airplay should begin is January 8th. Please email and call your local smooth jazz station and request that they add the first single "Lucky" to their playlist. Let them know you want to hear it! - your emails and calls definitely have an impact on what the stations play.

2nd: Today we are hosting my daughter's 16th birthday party with a DJ and 50+ teenagers. Have I lost my mind? Well, not yet but get back to me tomorrow morning and we'll see if I am under the care of a team of specialists yet. Seriously, a girl's 16th b'day is a significant day and I am looking forward to a nice time for all tonight. Today will be spent preparing the food, the cake and the house!

Have you heard the new Beatles CD "Love"? It is the soundtrack for Cirque Du Soleil's new show about the Beatles called appropriately "Love" but the new CD and the music contained within it are much more. Between the wonderful, clear remixes and the mashup versions of many of the songs, it is a dizzying, dare I say mind blowing experience. A must for all Beatles' fans.

I saw a new TV show last week on the Sundance cable channel called "Iconoclasts". It is a series where a pair of well know entertainers are profiled together. The first one I saw featured Lorne Michaels of SNL fame and Paul Simon. The two have been old friends and share a remarkable history apart and together. The second show I saw in the series was even more remarkable. It featured poet Maya Angelou and comedian Dave Chappelle. They had never met before but their documented time together was wonderful to watch. It was a teacher/student type of relationship and beautiful to see. They spent a day together at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where they discussed how poetry and comedy can bridge both genders and generations. Look for it if you get the Sundance channel on your cable.

Lastly, I am getting such wonderful reviews and feedback from fans regarding my new CD "The Meeting Place". I will be posting links to the many stories and reviews and interviews for the new CD as they appear and thank you so much for all of the truly wonderful emails I have received from fans about the new CD. I am so happy that you all are enjoying the CD as much as I hoped you would.

16th: I am writing to you from Reno, NV very early this morning. I played a show last night for the radio station KJZS here in Reno at the Nugget Casino Hotel. It was quite a long day for me but a good one. It started quite early - I was awake at home in Baltimore about 4 am, in time to make a 7 am flight from BWI airport in Baltimore. I got into Reno around 12 noon (Reno time), in time to check into the Nugget Hotel, have some lunch and make the 2 o'clock sound check. I was very pleased to find a great sound tech handling everything for me, Glenn Defebaugh. He had my stage setup perfectly covered and he got a great sound on me and my tracks. For those unfamiliar with a "tracking" show, this is when an artist performs by playing with pre-recorded tracks, tracks which are missing his/her part. Many radio stations ask artists to do this and I have also done many television appearances this way. It's harder for me because there are no other musicians to play off of but in one way it's nice - I get to play some songs of mine which I normally can't because my band doesn't know them. After 17 CDs, I have a large body of music I have composed and it's nice to pull out some of the ones I usually don't get to perform. Anyway, the show went great, the KJZS listeners were very warm and receptive and the KJZS folks - the very personable program director Robert Dees and morning drive man Don Murray, did a great job as well. Between my two sets, Robert and I took questions from the audience about my music and it really was a lot of fun. After the show, Don and I went out to dinner, as we have everytime I have performed here and along with fellow musican Marina V, we had a great dinner and hang. Don is a storied radio man whose career has taken him to many amazing places and I love hearing his stories about the business and his life. Marina is a wonderful vocalist/pianist/composer who emigrated from Russia and now lives in Los Angeles. She is definitely a new talent to follow. It is 5 am now (8 am east coast time) as I write this. I will be flying out of Reno early today and be back home in time for a late dinner with my wife and daughter. These are long days sometimes but well worth the effort. Thanks to Robert, Don and KJZS and the great smooth jazz fans of Reno.

9th: I returned to Baltimore last Sunday after traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina. I was asked to play the National Anthem at the NBA game between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The game was sold out so there were 20,000 people there. I had prepared a solo guitar arrangement of the anthem which was very jazz influenced but faithful to the song as well as to my guitar style and sound. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the crowd. I figured that by the time I got to the "land of the free" part, they would be screaming so I was surprised when you could hear a pin drop. So I made a huge moment out of it and I think people really got it. It was a special "gig" and one that was over all too fast. The sound was incredible and the Bobcats Arena crew were top drawer. We sat right behind the Charlotte Bobcats team for the game and what a game and vantage point it was. The Bobcats came back and won it in the last minutes! And we could hear the coach talking to the players and yelling at the refs and we could practically touch super star LeBron James of the Cavaliers! My daughter and wife travelled to Charlotte with me and my daughter was so excited and happy to be there. You can watch me playing a part of the anthem in a short video my daughter took (it's kind of shakey but check it out if you like). I have a friend and fan who is the president and chief operating officer of the Charlotte Bobcats organization, the amazing Fred Whitfield, and I also played at Fred's birthday bash at a private club after the game. I was very happy to be a part of Fred's birthday and to share in the celebration. It was a wonderful evening. Plus, I got to sit with Charles Whitfield, Fred's brother, at the game. Charles is the head of A&R for the super successful record label Hidden Beach, the company who has released many important records including Jill Scott's "Who Is Jill Scott". A very interesting man whose love of music drives his success and being around him was inspiring. Thank you to the talented (and very pretty) Liz Clagon for setting it all up and taking such good care of me and my family. Well folks, now I have a beautiful arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner - when will I get another chance to play it?!

23rd: It's obviously been awhile since I made a blog entry and this is because I have been working long hours, days and weeks in the recording studio recording my upcoming CD "The Meeting Place". I am still reading the newspaper and seeing the tv news occasionally so I can't help but notice the sorry state the current administration and congress are in. One can only hope that the American people will see the failures and ineptitude and go to the voting booth on November 7 and make some changes. Voting is not just a right, it's a responsibility so even though we all have busy lives, trying to make ends meet and provide for our families, make sure to take a little time out of your day on Tuesday, November 7 and vote.

17th: If you have been following my diary on the creation of the new CD "The Meeting Place" you know how busy I have been recording all the new music the last 3 weeks. I will be working intensely like this until mid-November when the CD is completed. Sometimes it feels as if my life exists only in the recording studio these days but fortunately I am able to escape occasionally! Recently I travelled to the Detroit area for another guest appearance with Alexander Zonjic. We had a great time performing and I also met a number of very good people and feel like I made some new friends. My schedule necessitated that I fly back home to Baltimore on 9/11 which was a little unnerving. I also recently did a couple of successful shows in Indianapolis, my first time ever performing in Indiana, the state of my birth. Again, a lot of new folks came to the show and it was very satisfying to receive such a warm and energetic reception from so many new fans. I also made a trip to North Carolina a few weeks ago to help my son move back to college for his junior year. And my daughter has begun her junior year in high school and is off to an excellent start.

Making a new CD is very intense and stressful at times and so I am thankful for all of the blessings in my life. They serve to remind me how lucky I am and why I continue to strive to make the best new music I can.

13th: My family and I returned from our summer vacation last week and the following day I immediately jumped back into the fray, traveling to Philadelphia to play a concert there at Penn's Landing. It was a beautiful Friday evening with a temperature of 75 degrees and a gentle breeze coming off of the water, the opposite of the heat and humidity I have performed in many, many times at outdoor summer concerts. We had a huge turnout - approximately 3000 to 4000 people and they were an excellent audience. And I have to say that I had a very good night. I came ready to play and between my preparation, an energized audience, beautiful weather, a great sound and tech crew and an excellent band, I was in the "zone" for almost all of our 90 minute show. My son Eric made the trip with me and handled my CD sales. He did a great job. We sold every CD we brought with us - over 200 CDs - and so Eric was quite busy! It was a special night and I am very appreciative of the Penn's Landing staff led by Keeya Branson-Davis, my great band of Jay Rowe (you were amazing, Jay!), Trever Somerville (great job Trever - I had SO much fun playing with you) and James Waters (we HAVE to find another opportunity to work together soon, James - you are a fabulous musician) and finally a wonderful Philly audience that made me want to give my all. Thank You!!

For our vacation, my family returned to Kelleys Island. Kelleys Island is a small island (3 miles wide and 2 miles long) approximately a mile and a half south of Canada. It is officially in Ohio and you must take a ferry to get there from the shores of Ohio. It is a quiet, beautiful place where bikes and golf carts dominate the small roads. All the restaurants and shops are mom and pop operations and there are so many nice, unique places to visit on the island. We stayed in a fairly remote part of the island at The Morning Glory Inn, a beautiful bed and breakfast retreat where we rented the two halves of the house, one half for my wife and I and the other half for our son Eric, my daughter Melissa and her friend Brittany. One of the features of the house is that you have your own private stretch of beach and it is wonderful to have a glass of wine from the Kelleys Island Winery located down the street while you sit on the shore of Lake Erie. We all did a lot of bike riding all over the island and I slept like a baby every night, no doubt due to the exercise, fresh air and serenity of the island. Maybe the wine helped too! Every morning I got up early and practiced the guitar for 2 hours and prepared for the Philly show. On this visit, I learned quite a bit about the storied history of the island and the families who have lived there for 150 + years. It is a beautiful, fascinating place and I look forward to our next visit there.

1st: August is here and it is seriously hot right now on the east coast with temperatures reaching 100 degrees the last few days. I have an outdoor show coming up in 10 days in Philadelphia at Penn's Landing so I hope it doesn't stay like this for too long. Playing in very hot and humid east coast weather is tough on a guitar. Talk about slipping and sliding around the fretboard... even though I practice a great deal these days and try to stay in good physical shape, performing in 95 -100 degree weather will zap your energy fast if you don't pace yourself. However, the main thing that inspires me in a hot outdoor concert setting is to look out at the audience and see that in spite of the heat, they are there to see me do my best and make it worth their while to be there in the heat and humidity. And so I give it my all and recover afterwards with a gallon of drinking water and a shower! See you all in Philly on Friday, August 11.

21st: Here's a nice photo I just received from a fan in Detroit. It is of Alexander Zonjic and me doing a rare 2 guitar song a few years ago. Alex will sometimes put down his flute and pull out his old Gibson for a song at the end of our shows together. I think the looks on our faces says it all! I'll be back in Detroit again on September 10 to play a show with Alexander and his band at Jazz On The Lake. See you there...

14th: I spent yesterday afternoon working in the recording studio on the music for my new CD with saxophonist Rob Holmes. It has become part of my arranging process to have Rob come to my studio and try out different ideas and approaches to the songs before the actual recording sessions begin in September. I have already created fairly elaborate demos of the 11 songs I've chosen to record for the new CD and those are the versions Rob and I worked with yesterday. Rob is a very lyrcial player with a beautiful tone on both the soprano and tenor saxophones. He has the tone of a contemporary player coupled with the melodic and harmonic depth of a seasoned jazz player. It is a great combination, particularly for my music. Rob and I came up with many parts and ideas for how his saxophone work can contribute to a number of the new songs. I will now listen and work with the tracks we recorded yesterday, making decisions and getting new ideas and inspiration from what we've done so far. Then, when Rob returns in September for the "real" sessions, we will know exactly what we're going to do with each song. The process of composing, arranging, recording, mixing and finally mastering a new CD is long but enjoyable.

On another note, I am very close to a final decision on the CD title. As soon as I finalize it, I will begin a new page on this website, dedicated solely to following the progress of the new CD. Stay tuned - coming very soon...

1st: Ah, July is here! Last night the fireflies were out, right on time. And the rain finally stopped here in the Northeast. We really needed the rain but certainly not all at once and accompanied by violent electrical storms. Our area was not hit as bad as some other parts of the east coast, so we were lucky.

I am taking the month of July to finalize all of the compositions and arrangements for the new CD before mailing the finished demos off to each of the musicians who will be performing on the CD. I'm also adding some new recording equipment to my studio and also taking advantage of this time to have my guitars worked on and ready for the recording sessions and all of the live shows coming up. I am also nearing a decision on the title of the new CD as well as the creation of a special new page here at www.kennavarro.com, a gateway where you will be able to follow the creation of the new CD through video clips of the recording sessions, audio previews of the music and regularly updated Podcasts chronicling the progress of the CD.

So enjoy the first day of July and spend some time outside! Take a long walk and soak it in. It's good to be alive in the summer of 2006.

19th: After a flurry of blog entries earlier this month, I have been quiet so I thought I would take a moment to write a quick one. I played a very successful show with my band in Jacksonville Beach, FL last week at the large outdoor venue known as the Sea Walk Pavilion. What a great contemporary jazz series Marilyn, Nicole, Dennis, Sean and the entire city of Jacksonville Beach jazz concert series staff put on! I have never been treated better or had a better production put on. Thank you all and I truly look forward to seeing you all again! Thank you also to Lyndah and the Jazz Abyss staff for handling my merchandise sales so well and for putting out an excellent magazine month after month.

I have a new Podcast!! It is called the KenNavarro.com - Podcast Series and it is available for free from iTunes as well as many other podcast sites. There are currently 3 episodes available and many more will follow. In particular, I will use my new Podcast Series as an outlet for numerous updates regarding my upcoming CD. As I record and mix the CD this September, October and November, I will publish many episodes covering the progress of the new CD at the Podcast Series. So subscribe now and be automatically updated as soon as a new episode is available.

I am preparing this week for a big concert in Detroit this coming Saturday, June 24. I will be the featured special guest of Alexander Zonjic and his band at the V98.7/WVMV 8th Annual Smooth Jazz Fest. This is THE jazz event of the summer in Detroit and I am really looking forward to playing for so many people and to making music with Alexander again. See you there...

3rd: The Elijah's Rainbow concert went so well, I couldn't have been more pleased. The band and I sounded very strong and we all had a great time. The place was packed, the audience was so into it and a good deal of money was raised for the Elijah's Rainbow Foundation. There are so many people to thank for this success - bassist and organizer Vernon Barbary for making it ALL happen, his lovely wife Lynn and their beautiful (and smart as a whip) son Marcus Elijah, keyboardist Robert McDaniel, drummer Terell Martin, KJCD personality, the bright, beautiful and sweet Becky Taylor, everyone at KJCD especially Michael Fischer and Kenny Cortes, everyone at Jazz @ Jack's especially the owner Sondra and sound technician Brent, all of the foundation volunteers and sponsors including my favorite airline Southwest, and last but not least, the special audience and fans of my music who made it such a wonderful and special night. I can't wait to get back to Denver, maybe sooner than later I hope! And here's a link to some photos from the show.

1st: As promised, I am writing a short blog entry between the soundcheck here in Denver and the show tonight. It's 3 pm Denver time (5 pm back at home in Baltimore) and after a morning of interviews and practicing and an afternoon of soundcheck and rehearsal at the venue, I am back at my hotel waiting on some room service and then a short rest before reviewing my notes on the rehearsal and some pre-show preparation and practice. The soundcheck/rehearsal went very well with "You Are Everything" and "Breathe" sounding particularly strong. The band here with me in Denver - Vernon Barbary, Terell Martin and Robert McDaniel came ready to roll (they are great musicians and really prepare for my show) and most of the rehearsal was spent playing my music rather than correcting mistakes. There is simply no substitute for doing your homework kids! We did have to review the ending for "In My Wildest Dreams" but with the exception of my regular first call band in Baltimore/DC, everyone who plays that song with me, no matter how good they are and how prepared they are, seems to need an explanation and a few run throughs of the ending. It is tricky! Brent, our tech person, is getting an excellent sound in the venue (Jazz at Jack's) and that makes me very happy and confident that the audience will get a great representation of what we play tonight. OK, room service is knocking.....got to go. Talk to you when I'm back in Baltimore.

31st: I've been up since 6 am this morning, practicing, packing and generally getting ready to take an afternoon flight to Denver, CO today. I am playing a special concert for the Elijah's Rainbow foundation at one of Denver's coolest clubs, Jazz at Jack's. I will get in to Denver late tonight and have a long day tomorrow of radio interviews, rehearsals and finally the show. I'm really looking forward to playing in Denver again. I have had some memorable shows there in the past 10 years and I have a feeling that this is going to be a very special one. I love Denver a

udiences - very expressive and vocal. And I like that. Plus I'm looking forward to working with "my Denver band" again - Vernon Barbary, Robert McDaniel and Terell Martin. These guys are awesome! I will try to write a blog entry between the rehearsal and the show if I have a few minutes by myself. You know, give you some juicy (or not so juicy) backstage details/dirt.

I have now assembled 16 new demo compositions to choose from for the new CD. I think I will be able to get it down to 11 songs. I am getting close to my final decisions. It's not easy but the good thing is that I love all of these songs and that is a good problem to have indeed. I just wrote a brand new song last week which I am very excited about and I have also come up with a contemporary arrangement of a Pat Metheny song called "Lakes" which I have always wanted to record. It's a REALLY hard song to improvise on but it is well worth the extra effort and so I am considering including my take on this great song on the new CD as well. Pretty soon, I will create a new page at www.kennavarro.com dedicated solely to following the process (and progress) of creating the new CD. I will include video, audio previews and descriptions of the recording process as it happens. More on that soon...

15th: I just returned from Detroit/Windsor (Canada) where I was part of a big concert at the beautiful Capital Theatre. With Alexander Zonjic and Thornetta Davis, I did a very successful show to benefit the Downtown Mission of Windsor. This was my first time performing for a predominately Canadian audience and what a wonderful audience they were. I played 3 of my songs backed by Alexander's great band (thank you again Chris, Wayne, Mike and Kenny!) - "Delicioso", "You Are Everything" and "Smooth Sensation". I also played 3 of Alexander's songs - "Leave It With Me", "Isabella" and "People Make The World Go Round " plus a hot blues song with Thornetta. Thornetta is an incredible singer and her blues singing in particular is very powerful. We all had a lot of fun playing together. Once again, Alexander Zonjic amazed me with his sophisticated musicality and complete command of the flute. Plus he plays a mean blues guitar! Alexander is one of the top 3 jazz flautists in the world and one of my best friends in the music business so any time I get a chance to work with him, I jump at the opportunity. When he asked me to participate in this important benefit, it took me all of 5 seconds to say "I'm there". I arrived on Friday afternoon and was met at the Detroit airport by Alexander's excellent assistant Michael Belcher. After meeting up with Alexander at his downtown Detroit office, we headed over to the quaint Detroit suburb of Birmingham for a concert series that the great smooth jazz station WVMV and Audi are sponsoring at the five star Townsend Hotel. There I spoke with many, many Detroit smooth jazz fans and checked out the featured artist of the night, Tim Bowman. I also had the opportunity to hang with my friend Suzanne Belanger, promotions and marketing director of WVMV and to catch up a bit with the goings on at the station. After the event ended, Alexander and I went to dinner at Seldom Blues, THE place to dine and to be seen in Detroit. Alex is a co-owner and handles the booking of all the entertainment (there is live music 7 nights a week at Seldom Blues). We had a fabulous dinner, overlooking the river between the US and Canada and we talked about music, musicians and great food. Talking music and trading stories and jokes with Alexander is almost as much fun as making music with him! I checked in to my hotel in Windsor around midnight and quickly went to sleep. Saturday morning was spent practicing in my room for 3 hours. The afternoon was spent at the theatre doing a sound check and rehearsal with the band and then of course the concert on Saturday night followed by a reception. After packing up all my stuff, I finally made it back to the hotel at 1 am. I was up at 6:30 am to get to the airport for an early flight so that I could spend Sunday celebrating Mother's Day with my wife and mother as well as my daughter, father and youngest brother. We all went out for a great meal of Italian food at "Umberto's" in Potomac, Maryland. All in all, a very full & satisfying weekend. This week I am back in the recording studio, finishing up the composing of the new music for the next CD. I will also be making a trip to North Carolina to pick up my son at college and all of his stuff. He will be living and working at home for the summer. I am looking forward to having him home again! My next concert is in Denver on June 1.

2nd: Today's blog entry is not music related but it is something I feel a need to express. As the grandson of Italian and Lithuanian immigrants, yesterday was a day which made me feel especially proud to be an American. It reminded me of just what our country is all about.

The message from yesterday's "A Day Without Immigrants" was clear - "We are America and we want to join you". Though this messgae was aimed at Washington, it is a message our whole country needs to hear. In the huge, peaceful rallies in LA, Chicago, NYC, Atlanta and many, many other cities, I saw millions of regular people and families, the same types of assimilation-minded fathers and mothers and children our country was built on. It's time for our lawmakers to stop playing politics, accept reality and begin the process of creating and enacting comprehensive immigration reform which allows these immigrants something basic - an opportunity to work to become citizens, with all the opportunities and obligations that go with it.

1st: I just finished co-writing a new song with my old friend, composer Jonathan Merrill. I met and worked with many, many talented musicians during the 8 years I lived in Los Angeles but my favorite composer to work with was Jonathan. So I am very pleased that we have written a new song together for my upcoming CD. And man, it came out terrific! We wrote this piece while Jonathan was in his LA studio and I was working here in my Baltimore studio. Through the use of digital audio technology, MP3s and email, we traded ideas back and forth between our respective recording studios and created a wonderful new song that I am sure neither of us would have done the same way on our own. I just love technology when it allows me to do something like this! Anyway, my new CD is shaping up to be a very up affair and even though the first recording dates are months away, I am already anticipating how much fun this one is going to be to produce and listen to. I now have 10 songs which I feel strongly about. But there are still a couple of songs I am considering before making my final decision. It's a good place to be and I sure am glad that I "kept on going".

22nd: There are now 8 working demos of new songs for my next CD. 6 of them are songs I have written in the last 3 weeks and 2 of them are songs I have co-written with LA composer/bassist Roberto Vally. I am still working on a possible third song with Roberto, a couple of song ideas with another great LA composer/keyboardist Jonathan Merrill and a possible song with my friend and co-writer of "You Are Everything", Jay Lang. My aim is to have 10 songs which I love, drawn from a pool of things I come up with during the 2 months or so I spend holed up in my studio composing. It's a lot of work and time to spend on just the composing but when I think of all the time and energy which will follow - the creation of the finished demos, teaching the musicians the new music, the subsequent recording of the drums, bass, keyboards, guitars, percussion and saxophone and then the month of mixing and mastering - having each and every song be something I simply love is critical to the final CD's quality and success. As you may be able to tell, I am now beyond the "just keep going" feeling I had when I wrote my blog entry of April 1. Now I wake up each morning and can't wait to get to the studio to continue work on what has become an exciting new project for me. As difficult as it was for me to get my momentum going (and it always is for me at the start of the composing process), the rewards are very satisfying as the new music slowly but surely presents itself. I truly believe that if you are willing to work hard, the sky is the limit.

13th: I am really in a nice groove now with the composing of the new music for my next CD! I have 6 new songs I am working on and I am also collaborating with a couple of other composers on a couple of other new songs. So far, I am writing some things which are quite different than the songs on Love Coloured Soul. They are mostly up tempo and have some strong latin/Santana influences. More updates soon.....

1st: Composing brand new music is hard. Today is Day #1 of writing the songs for my next CD which will be released later this year. I have a strong concept for the CD and some good ideas for songs - and things are beginning to flow - but man, the beginning of the creative process can be slow. I find myself rejecting a melody or a groove almost as fast as I can think of them! Fortunately, I've been through this scenario 16 times before (16 CDs!) so I recognize these symptoms of my perfectionism. And I know what the solution is - stop making judgements (at least for now) and just keep on going! I have learned that the quickest way to kill the creative process, whether it be in my composer's studio, at a painter's easel or in the offices of a major corporation, is to begin to edit your thoughts and ideas before they have had a chance to stretch their wings and fly. And because I am my own worst critic, I know I am especially vulnerable to this. So even though I am enjoying getting back to composing some new music, when I get bogged down a bit, I remind myself of author/musician/Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman's quote when one of his friends said that he felt like he was going through hell. Kinky's advice? "Keep going!!"

29th: I'm back at my blog baby! I just received an email from a fan telling me that I was listed on a couple of different Top 100 Jazz Guitarists polls. Here are the links if you want to check them out -

Muzicki Centar and 100 Greatest Jazz Guitarists.

The Berks' shows went very well. What an amazing 10 day jazz festival in Pennsylvania. If you've never been, you've got to go next year. It has become the leading festival of it's type in the USA. The extraordinary quality (and quantity!) of musicians who appeared there this year was astounding. At the Berks All-Star Jam Session alone which I was a part of, me, Rick Braun, Richard Elliot, Chuck Loeb, Steve Smith, Tom Coster, Nelson Rangell, Eric Darius and Gerald Veasley to name just a few, all performed together. Chuck Loeb coordinated the All-Star Jam and did a stellar job. It was a pleasure and a thrill for me to perform on the same stage with all these folks. Earlier in the evening, at a different venue, Chieli Minucci and I performed with Special EFX to a SRO crowd and had an excellent show. (see the photo below taken by R. Andrew Lepley)

John Ernesto and everyone involved with the Berks Festival have an absolutely awesome thing happening and they just make it better and better with each new year and line-up. My only regret was that I had to leave before Sunday's finale, a Wes Montgomery tribute (also expertly put together by Chuck Loeb) featuring Pat Martino, Larry Carlton, Earl Klugh, Chuck Loeb, Paul Jackson Jr., Russell Malone and Jimmy Bruno. I had a show on Saturday night in Miami, FL with Chieli, Nelson Rangell and Special EFX and so I was not able to return home until late Sunday. Miami was cold for this time of year (low 70's) but it felt just fine to me! There were a lot of other good people on the all day bill in Miami including the Rippingtons, Nestor Torres and Jeff Kashiwa. It was an added bonus to catch up with some of my old friends like Eric Marienthal (he was appearing with the Rippingtons). I must add that at both shows, the audience broke into applause when I began my 1995 song "Eric's Dream". That was so cool for me because it is one of the few songs I still play from that time and of course it was written for my son when he was only 9 years old (he's a college sophmore now!) Anyway, it is great that people know that song so well and still like to hear it - thank you and thank you to Scott Mager and your fine staff for putting the first "Jazz In The Gardens" together. I hope you will ask me back for next year's show.

22nd: It's off to Berk's Jazz Festival in Reading, PA tomorrow morning and then on to Miami for Jazz in the Gardens. I am a featured guest of Chieli Minucci and Special EFX for both shows and so they have been learning my music and I have been learning theirs. I'll be playing "In My Wildest Dreams", "Love Coloured Soul" and "Eric's Dream" from my repetoire and "Cruise Control", "Don't Make Me Wait" and "Jazz Lambada" from Chieli's. Really looking forward to the shows and the All Star Jam at Berk's as well which I will be participating in after the show with Special EFX. Hope to see some of you there.....

17th: I just ran across this photo of the very first Ken Navarro Group. This was taken in 1993 right after a concert in Melbourne, Florida (note the sweated out shirt I am wearing and the towel around Mike's neck). It brings back some very nice memories so I thought I would post it here. Now I fly everywhere. Back then we drove a big bus and we were definitely "on the road". That's drummer Mike Aubin on the far left, me, bassist Steve Zerlin (standing) and keyboardist Dan Reynolds. It has been a very long time since I played with Mike or Steve but Dan and I played a number of shows together just last year and had a terrific time. And Dan sounded wonderful - a perfect fit for my new music. Anyway, here's the photo....

14th: Last week, Gordon Parks, a great American photographer, composer, poet, author and filmmaker passed away. A one of a kind. To quote - "They don't make 'em like that anymore. They never did.'' When they come as self-made as Parks, that quote says it all. Here is a link to an excellent remembrance and appreciation by Greg Tate which recently appeared in the Village Voice.

5th: Gustav Mahler wisely said "Interesting is easy, beautiful is difficult". This applies to music and the arts in particular. The abundance in all styles of jazz music of complicated, sophisticated and "interesting" recordings is impressive. Beauty is something else. If you want to be impressed, go ahead and listen to the latest higher, faster, more complicated guitar player or pianist. But if you seek beauty, you can begin by looking to Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. Technique for the sake of emotional directness. Now that's beautiful to me.

28th: Well, I just returned from 80 degree weather in Florida to 20 degree weather here in Maryland so pardon me if I am a little disgusted! We had a great show in Lehigh, FL (very near Ft Myers and Naples) and we met a lot of great, new fans. Thanks again to Liz Eilf and all of the generous folks at Lehigh Community Services who do such important work, Kim Giles, Joe Turner and Randi Bachman of the wonderful smooth jazz station in Ft Myers, WZJZ, Brent's Music Headquarters for a fantastic job with the sound and backline, Mike Bode and his wife Ruth for the incredible food (it was so nice to see you again, Mike!) and Henry Davis and his lovely wife of Fantasy Limo for their great service above and beyond the call of duty. My keyboardist Jay Rowe was temporarily stranded in NY at the airport when the plane he was scheduled to fly on was grounded and so he didn't arrive until just moments before our show. Henry and his wife made sure he got to us on time and in good shape. Henry and his wife were also responsible for one of the most romantic things I have ever seen. They have been married for 54 years (that's right, I said 54 years) and still spend much of their time together, running a successful limo business these days. When I was checking into the hotel, I saw Henry (who is over 6 feet tall) put his arms around his wife (who is barely 5 feet tall) and the look on their faces was so amazing - like two 16 year olds! It was truly wonderful. And I think I'm a veteran after 32 years of a great marriage to my wife Kristin!

I took advantage of the 2 fairly long airline flights from Baltimore to Florida and back to bring my Christmas gift from my daughter with me on the trip. You may have heard of this book or even read it. It's called "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion. I have been reading Joan Didion's books since the early 1980's but until this new book, she has never been a top selling author. But this book has really struck a nerve around the country and has sold extremely well. It is a very moving book in which she chronicles the year of her life after her husband died suddenly and her daughter unexpectedly falls gravely ill. Her writing is top shelf (as it always is) and the subject matter and the honesty with which she addresses the subject of grief in particluar, is unique and powerful. Highly recommended by Ken, your smooth jazz version of Oprah.

23th: My next live show is coming up this Sunday in Lehigh Acres, Florida. It snowed here in Baltimore today and reached a disappointing high of 42 degrees. On the other hand, it was 85 degress in Lehigh today. Thank goodness! I'm really ready for some warmer weather, even if only for a couple of days. And I am flying with good old Southwest Airlines this weekend. I like them so much that I bought some of their stock recently.

I've been doing a lot of guitar practicing this week, prepping for the show and working on some new approaches to some of my older songs. It's important for me to try and keep things fresh with the songs that people expect me to play - like "Smooth Sensation" and "Delicioso" - songs that I have already played many, many times before. But the cool thing about jazz is that change is built into the concept of the music itself. And I am fortunate because the musicians I regularly work with (Gary Grainger, Jay Rowe and Blues Webb) react and interact with me seamlessly when I try for something different or when the music goes someplace new. I hope to keep them on their toes a bit this weekend....

Earlier this week I did an interview with the Baltimore Sun. Among other things, we talked about my success with the new CD "Love Coloured Soul" as well as my interest and recent activites in the field of web design, particularly my work here at www.kennavarro.com. On Tuesday, a photographer from The Sun visited my recording studio to take some pictures of me. He came to the front door and he looked SO familiar. It turned out that we had just met the previous Friday when he dropped his daughter off at our house for a sleepover with my daughter! That's one of the things about living in a smaller community - you know your neighbors!

17th: I recently purchased some CDs of vinyl records I used to own many years ago but had either loaned to a student, misplaced or simply lost in a move. One of the CDs is called "Virtuoso" by Joe Pass. It was an extremely influential album for me during the period in my 20's when I was studying jazz music and jazz guitar extensively. I spent hundreds if not thousands of hours working on playing solo jazz guitar because of the incredible playing of Joe Pass on this album. As much as anything else, it was the humanity in Joe's music that attracted me to his style. He took huge chances, painting himself into a corner musically many times, and I would wonder how he was ever going to find his way back but he always would. I believe I bought my original copy of this ground breaking vinyl record in 1975. Earlier this week, when I was talking to my friend and fellow guitarist Chieli Minucci of Special EFX (we are preparing to play a couple of shows together next month), I told him about getting into this great CD again and it reminded me of the rare opportunity I had to take a lesson with the great Joe Pass when I was only 23 years old. It's a pretty good story -

Mr. Pass was performing for a week at the Showboat Lounge, a jazz club which guitar great Charlie Bryd owned in the 1970s in the then small Maryland suburb of Silver Spring. On a chilly Wednesday night, I went to the show and was simply amazed and inspired by Pass' solo performance. I saw a few other young guitarists approach Mr. Pass but I was too shy (or so I thought) to be so forward. I went home and practiced my guitar until I fell asleep around 2 am. The next morning when I awoke, I was a bit upset with myself for not taking the opportunity in the small, intimate club to at least tell Joe how great he was! I had heard him tell some other people that he was staying at the hotel across the street from the club, the Ramada Inn. So I looked up the hotel number in the phone book, and called it. I asked for Joe Pass and literally 10 seconds later, I heard "Yeah?" on the line. "Uh, hello, Mr. Pass." I tried to think fast and then went into my best audition rap. "My name is Ken Navarro and you're my biggest fan, uh, I mean I'm your biggest fan. I listen to you constantly and I am quite active working as a musician here in DC and I would love to take a lesson with you. Do you do that?" "Sure" he says. "Can you be here in an hour?" "Yes!" I say. "Oh, and by the way, how much is the lesson?" Joe says "Is $25 OK?". "No problem!" I blurt out. "I'll be right there" and I hang up the phone. I am in 7th heaven. I can't believe what I have just accomplished! I am going to be playing guitars with Joe Pass in an hour. I am barely awake so it feels like a dream! However, I am beginning to become aware of a few small but disturbing details. I am standing in the kitchen in my underwear, I have no money, and I have no car! This isn't good. Some background - My wife and I were at that time, living in a big house in DC with 6 other young, working adults. No one else is home (hence standing in the kitchen on the phone in my underwear). My wife is at work with our one and only car and unable to get away so I can't call her for help. One of the other people who lives in our house is an old friend whom I have known since high school and works close by so I give her a call. "Tina, I have to be in Silver Spring in an hour to take a lesson with Joe Pass. Can you drive me and lend me 25 bucks?" Tina, who has no idea what a Joe Pass is and what I am talking about, immediately gets the monumental importance of this for me and says YES! Tina, wherever you are, THANK YOU!! I take a quick shower, Tina comes home with her car and drives me the 30 minutes to Silver Spring. Joe spends 2 1/2 hours with me working on just one song, "All The Things You Are". I had spent a lot of time basically copying his stellar solo guitar version of this tu