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I spent the last three weeks of May visiting my hometown in Vancouver. Aside from seeing family and friends, I got to play a duo gig with one of my favourite guitarists, Ron Samworth, at the Illuminate Restaurant in Tsawwassen. Ron was my guitar teacher at Capilano College (now Capilano University) when I went there for two years. He was a revelation, and we talked about everything from reharmonizing standards to Ornette to the music business and what being an artist in the present day really means. He was also the first to introduce me to artists as varied as Ligeti, Paul Bley and Lenny Breau. To this day, he remains an inspiration. Ron is up teaching up at Banff right now alongside Dave Douglas and Tony Malaby.

I also had the pleasure of playing at 1067 Granville Street, a fairly well known artists loft in Vancouver. I played original music and free improvisations with two future roommates and good friends, James Meger (bass) and Omar Amlani (drums). We did some recording after that seemed to turn out well so I will properly have some of that up.

Upon getting back to Montreal I've moved into my third and definately nicest place so far at 1968 Sherbrooke. The biggest plus is the record player and vinyl collection that my friend James left here while he spends his summer in Vancouver. His collection includes some of the very best jazz records. A few that have been on constant rotation are:

John Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound
Keith Jarrett - The Survivor's Suite
Paul Bley - Fragments
Charles Mingus - Let My Children Hear Music
Wayne Shorter - Night Dreamer
Ornette Coleman - Broken Shadows

I'm not sure if this music (which I've listen to quite a bit already on cd) sounds better on vinyl, but it sure sounds good.

Coda: Thanks to Ethan Iverson for mentioning me in his recent Blog Competition. Ethan's blog is a model for all future jazz blogs on the internet and I have learned so much just by reading his interviews and analysis. More importantly, his playing is great as is his band The Bad Plus. If you haven't checked out his blog, do it now!