If there is one thing you can tell from just looking at me, it is that I love good food, but I really didn’t realize how much I love bad food just as equally. In another one of my eventful brainstorming meetings with my boss, and we got onto the subject of how eating really good food all the time can actually deter from the inherent greatness of the good food. For instance, if one were to get up and eat an incredible breakfast of cream poached eggs with prosciutto, fresh spinach, roma tomatoes, and griere; followed by a lunch of lobster knuckle risotto, and finish the day off with dinner including, bacon wrapped filet mignon, Garlic roasted res skin potatoes, fresh veggies, and a pint of St. Bernardus, and if we were to do it every day, the exceptional nature off this immaculate food who seemingly loose it’s effect. My Boss said that he was eating this great dinner the other evening, but remembered that each preceding meal had been equally as good and he actually thought to himself, “I bet this meal would be so much better if I had just had a PBJ for lunch.” Nothing against the PBJ! It’s just to say , think of how that filet would taste if you had a bologna sandwich and cooked spinach for lunch.

I thought about this for second and said, you know this is just like music. I hate most of the music that I hear on the radio these days, for a multitude of reasons that I would need to take a whole year to blog about, but I digress. Ultimately, I actually don’t mind the Miley Cyruses, the John Mayers, and the Yannis as much when taken into consideration how incredible they make Mozart, Duke, Bird, and Maria Schneider’s music sound. In fact, I would say that the record industry and radio rock as a whole actually magnifies and amplifies the beauty and incredible nature of the music that I do like. I never thought I would say it, but I think I’m ok with this.

So my wife and I decided to get away for the weekend and go down to a bed and breakfast in St. Pete. I usually hate bed and breakfasts being that they are usually frilly and formal. The Dickens House, however, is a 1921 craftsman and it is incredibly relaxing, located right in walking distance of everything, and there is nothing frilly about it. The food is immaculate! Breakfast was eggs benedict with fresh fruit and good coffee and we have free rain of the house. The innkeeper, Ed, is an artist (and chef) and thus has restored much of the house in the original arts and crafts style. If you need a nice weekend getaway from Tampa and don’t want to go to far this is the place. It also has a wonderful front porch, where wine and cheese is served in the afternoons and makes a great place for a composer to relax and write some melodies for an afternoon.

(This was my favorite picture. Sorry about the weddings caption.)

I am pleased to announce the latest project that has been in the works for the last year. We have recently started rehearsals with my new quintet, “The Forefront,” for a recording that will take place on August 18th and 19th. In addition to myself, the quintet personnel consists of Matt Mill on Trumpet, John Oleary on Piano, Alejandro Arenas on Bass, and Mark Feinman on Drums. The group focuses on small group composition and more specifically, developed and through composed small group composition. Basically, we intend to get away from the typical “Head-Solos-Head” forms and add development sections similar to that of modern big band composition. It has had its interesting moments and its frustrations thus far being that we are attempting to compose large scale works but using a much smaller pallet to do so. Many would probably consider five instruments to be far too limiting at times, (and believe me the temptation has arisen numerous times to add just one more horn) but at the same this this definitely has fostered exploration into the vast collection of sounds that each instrument has to offer as well as experimentation with alternate roles for all of the instruments.

We will be recording 8 pieces in August and then the quintet will continue on there after recording whenever need arises. Incrementally, we will evaluating the amassed collections of recordings that we will then compile and piece together into recordings. The greatest thing about The Forefront is that everybody in the group will be writing and arranging music for the group. More to come soon about the first release and check the gigs list for upcoming performances.

There is no question about it! The greater Tampa Bay area, and for that matter, the entire USA needs to develop better public transportation in urban areas of the country. Tampa made the Forbes.com top ten list of worst commutes in the country…No. 6!!! We’re above LA? Movies always told me that the worst commute was in New York or L.A.

1 – New York, NY
2 – Detriot, MI
3 – Miami, FL
4 – Orlando, FL
5 – Dallas, TX
6 – Tampa, FL
7 – Washington D.C.
8 – Houston, TX
9 – L.A., CA
10 – San Fransisco, CA

I’d also like to note that fact that 3 of the top ten are Florida Cities! I would even venture to say that Tampa, is one of the worst areas. As a musician, living in Tampa, I have to drive at least 30 miles to most gigs. Traffic, however necessitates leaving anywhere from an hour and a half to 3 hours before the gig depending on the traffic or the location.

Two words…”Elevated Train” in the city limits.

Two more words…”Commuter Trains” Brandon, Town and Country, Sarasota, Land O’ Lakes, Etc.

Or heck, maybe start by fixing the bus system. Stop giving USF students free rides and use the money to expand the routes. Here’s a question that I have though, do we really think that westchase mom’s will give up their hummers?

RJ: That is an S.U.V; Humans ride in then because they are slowly losing their ability to walk.
Penny: Jeepers, its so big!
Lou: How many humans fit in there?
RJ: Usually, one.

Anyway, this was posted on creativetampabay.com:

“A Plan to Enhance Transportation in the Tampa Bay Region Moves Forward by Shelton Quarles, Chairman, TBARTA

The Tampa Bay region is a special place. We all live here for the unparalleled beauty, vitality, and quality of life. To preserve what’s best about our community, we need to act now. We need to work together to create mutually beneficial solutions for regional problems - such as congestion and pollution. We need transportation choices to enhance our quality of life; strengthen our economy; preserve our environment and rural areas; and give us access to job opportunities, medical facilities, and affordable housing.

Regional transportation choices could mean lower stress and lower cost to commute; saving money on gas and car maintenance; getting to the airport on time, reliably; taking your family to a game or a show without the hassle of parking or traffic; or even if you or your loved one can’t drive, transportation choices could provide another way to get to medical centers and activities.

Where do the residents in this region see future transportation improvements? So many options exist, such as high occupancy vehicle or toll lanes, light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit. The answer to that question got a bit clearer as the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA) approved the Phase One Preliminary Recommendations for the Transportation Master Plan it is developing for this region. These recommendations outline a series of key connections where transportation options like mass transit could be added to move people and freight around the Tampa Bay region.

A few of the recommended connections include I-75, sections of I-275, Suncoast Parkway/Veterans Expressway, the US 41 area through most counties, and several corridors currently used for minimal freight rail traffic. As we move forward in this planning process, these and other recommendations will be narrowed down as more research and studies are completed.

Moving forward with the next phase of the Regional Transportation Master Plan, TBARTA is now evaluating the possible transportation options in these approved corridors. Will rail work? Is bus rapid transit a better option? Should we be examining managed lanes on the interstates for use by buses and carpoolers? These are the kinds of important questions that will be answered in Phase Two. I am excited to see this process moving forward and look forward to continued public support and participation throughout the development of this plan.

TBARTA will hold its Phase Two Community Workshops in late July and early August. The schedule of workshops is as follows:

Wednesday, July 23 – Manatee County
The Lakewood Ranch Community Room (located in Northern Trust Bank, Suite 101)
6320 Venture Dr., Bradenton

Thursday, July 24 – Sarasota County
Venice Community Center, 326 South Nokomis Ave., Venice

Tuesday, July 29 – Pasco County
Alice Hall Community Center, 38116 Fifth Avenue, Zephyrhills

Wednesday, July 30 – Citrus County
West Citrus Community Center, 8940 W. Veterans Dr., Homosassa

Thursday, July 31 – Hernando County
Holiday Inn Express - Spring Hill, 3528 Commercial Way, Spring Hill

Tuesday, Aug. 5 – Hillsborough County
Doubletree Hotel, 4500 W. Cypress Street, Tampa

Thursday, Aug. 7 – Pinellas County
Largo Cultural Center, 105 Central Park Drive, Largo

New for this round! TBARTA is also hosting two online community workshops:

Tuesday, July 22, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, August 6, from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

For more information on these online workshops, go to www.TBARTA.com and click on the “Meetings” tab to locate the link to the online workshop you wish to participate in. Instructions on signing in to the workshop, the phone number to call and the necessary password, are all located on this website page.

I encourage you to attend and share your opinions and thoughts on the different transportation options that might one day better connect our region. As I have mentioned many times in the past, the public’s involvement in developing this plan is a key component to its success.”

Click here to see original post

Thank you Dwyers! That’s right I said it…Plural!

Upon returning from my recent trip to Italy, I was welcomed home by a horrifying NPR report. Officials at the La Scala Opera House in Milan Italy announced that composer Giorgio Battistelli has been commissioned to produce an opera based on Gore’s overated film An Inconvenient Truth for the 2011 season. First of all, a documentary as an opera…thrilling. Second, such a narrow approach to one small facet of the larger problems that humanity is faced with is such a trivial avenue to pursue. (See Good Nonsense for more.) Thirdly, Verdi, Puccini, Catalani, Gore…WTF?!?!? (Or maybe he would be the librettist? Would they use text from the script…or maybe statistics set to music…well Glass did something distantly related to this…) Don’t get me wrong, global warming is serious issue that every human being has a responsibility, yes even Christians, to address and take action individually. However, when such a monumental and historically iconic to engage in blatant support of propaganda and then labeling it as art, makes me ask what has happened to art. I guess I just think that art shouldn’t reflect culture if it forces you to become a epic tool box.

So about 8 years ago, I attended a cultural festival at The Field Museum in Chicago and to my delight walked into a Steve Coleman concert. For each song he would play the bass lines to the bass player who would then pick it up, a counter melody to a trumpet player, gave the drummer and three African percussionists (sitting in for the evening) a clave, and off they went. It was my first exposure to such a free (and I use the term for a lack of a better one) and open way of creating music. The best part came in the question and answer portion of the concert when a woman stood up and thanked Mr. Coleman for holding to the older styles of jazz like Duke and Basie.

So what is M-Base? “An acronym for Macro - Basic Array of Structured Extemporizations…” I found this interesting as I search personally as a composer for new sounds and experiences in music. Having gone through two major educational experiences in music, I had two completely different experiences. Neither experience outweighed the other and I won’t go into detail about either, but I always found myself leaning towards conceptual learning as opposed to technical “shedding.” Coleman’s M-Base concept emphasizes conceptual development over technical development. This is always something that I have struggled with whether it is in my own playing or with students. But, when is it more beneficial to emphasize one or the other? I don’t think that we should disregard technical study as limiting and label it bad and I don’t think anyone could argue that technique is required to unlock the information held within each concept. We do however have a tendency to limit ourselves by focusing too much on technical studies.

Ultimately, I’ve come to understand through my musical studies, but more importantly through playing with other people that ultimately, unlocking the expressive nature of oneself through music is more important than anything. Coleman states that “what each person (the listener) hears depends on who that listener is..” The same could be said about the musicians. That which each musician plays depends on who that person is. I believe that coming to terms with that personal understanding of oneself can potentially unlock more musical ability than hours of shedding. But it probably takes years of shedding and playing to even come to this understanding of oneself. Well that sounds like we have come around full circle.

This post is probably a little behind but anyway this floored me. It’s no wonder that David Bowie noticed them! Arcade Fire’s front man and song writer calls the record “Neon Bible” an “outsider’s view of home.”

Welcome to my new website and blog! This will give you a chance to find out where I am performing and what projects I am currently working on. I welcome all correspondence and try to answer email as quickly as possible.

I am currently accepting commissions and projects for the 2008/2009 calendar year. Please contact me for information about original compositions and arrangements for your educational or professional ensembles.

I also teach private saxophone and improvisation lessons. Please feel free to contact me about rates and availability.