Phoenix KJZZ with Blaise Lantana

1/31 We spend a wonderful morning with Doug Tidaback, daughter Katie, and Rodney Burton. Pancakes and lush desert tour. As ever, once we begin driving...rain! The fog blowing off the desert mountains is gorgeous and rainbows abound. Lunch with Darby Christensen and Kip Sullivan of our Summit records label. Thanks guys! Met Blaise Lantana at KJZZ in Phoenix. Scott had met her, radio hostess par excellence and singer, in Prescott the summer before. She was engaging and inquisitive and made us feel at home in the studio. I was thrilled that she played Unit 7 from my "Haven't We Met"? album. We'll see Blaise again at the Prescott Jazz Summit this August.



It was a dark and windy night as we drove home in the rain...our constant companion. And...we're still speaking to each other. Must be in the right track. Thanks to you all for checking in to our blog and coming out to hear us!!! Hope to be in your neighborhood soon. Please keep your eye on my calendar.

1/30 Tuesday. Up early again. Breakfast at the University hotel where we’re staying is accompanied by yet more snow. The dusting is deep enough to dissuade me from going back to the downtown area to wander and shop. Instead, I accompany Scott while he teaches a master class to Northern Arizona University low brass students, on the history of jazz trombone stylings. He describes the eras and styles of jazz and players and illustrates this by playing in many different trombone voices, while sharing the development of both the instrument itself and the innovations and musical choices of players. It’s a history lesson in a nutshell that we hope encourages students to start listening to players they might not have been aware of before.

By 12:30, we are racing out of Flagstaff, accompanied by the snowfall (as usual!) We have a gig in Tucson at 7:30. However, to add a little drama, Scott has also found that the Arizona Jazz Academy has also booked him to lead a trombone clinic with some of their students at the club venue just prior to the gig.

Phoenix traffic is a terror at 3 pm, and we arrive with no time for dinner. Doug Tidaback’s Dixieland band kicks off the first set at China Rose, and I sing “All Of Me” with them. Ray Templin played piano, brothers Marco and Dante Rosano played clarinet and trumpet respectively. Evan Dain played banjo, Sly Slipetsky played tuba, and young Arthur Vint played drums. The place is packed, which adds to a lot of confusion for the restaurant staff about where to seat people.

Sly Slipetsky, who played an excellent tuba in the Dixieland jazz band played piano for our duet sets. Evan Dain played bass this time, and Arthur on drums rounded out our neat little trio.





Taking the stage, we can see folks standing in the back because there are no more seats. We kick it off with Scott’s “Come To Me” little bossa invitation to come spend a little time… We sang Maceo Pinkard’s 1928 “Sugar” next, since this seemed to be a Dixieland crowd. Wolf and Landesmann’s “You Inspire Me” was especially fun because there seemed to be a lot of folks in the audience who knew Jackie and Roy. Scott has been evolving a scat section of our “fight song” , Irving Berlin’s “The Best Thing For You”, so this tune has been especially challenging for me to “keep up with” in terms of finding space to “reply” within the conversational form. We had the most fun ever with it tonight… Many thanks to Doug Tidaback and family, Rodney Burton, and the Arizona Jazz Academy for all of their efforts in putting this program together!

Albuquerque, Scalo Grill, Northern AZ Univ.

1/26 Friday. Denton to Tucumcari. Scott spent grad school in Denton, so we toured around town a bit. Kept looking for the Texas Pickup, a one-time local chili house (sure…why not for breakfast?) We finally learned it was no longer there. Stopped in Vernon, TX at the Red River Valley Museum in hopes of seeing memorabilia about the great jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden. There’s not much left on display except his horn with its altered spit valve. Jack sheared it off and customized the instrument so that it would be self-draining. There are a few more Vernon musicians mentioned, but we didn’t stay long because we still had a Texas-sized journey ahead in which the landscape appeared to be moving right along with us… I took these pictures along a one-lane country detour, just east of Quanah, TX where there appeared to be a hazardous spill that everyone was being directed around. Large trucks had a particularly difficult time navigating the narrow lanes and deep side-ditches, and we got to see some countryside and town life close up.

1/27 Tucumcari to Albuquerque was a sunny, beautiful drive. Enough snow to pleasantly cover the scene. We arrive at Sandra Goulart’s charming and peaceful adobe back house, and settle in for a nap. Scott’s got a cold, and Sandra’s library could not be more enticing for me. We meet Stu MacAskie, pianist, who leads the house trio at Scalo. Bassist Michael Glynn (left) played solidly and drummer Arnaldo Acosta (3rd from left) provided creative spark.



Stu (2nd from left) is good…very good. He has a gracious style on the mic. His very sensitive comping and melodic soloing made the evening a lot of fun, in spite of the fact that Scott was challenged by his cold. I sang more solo tunes than I normally would, and Ellington’s “Prelude To A Kiss” was a real treat for me, as well as for the audience to hear.



The Scalo audience was very warm and encouraging, and there is talk about our returning. Owner Elaine Blanco was especially sweet and said “You should be in the Oak Room at the Algonquin…” Well…ok, Elaine, but we’re looking forward to coming back to Scalo’s too…






1/28 Morning came very early today….up in time for breakfast, warm-up, and rehearsal before the first service at the Albuquerque Center for Spiritual Living. We sang a duet pairing of two songs with Stu, Rodney, and John Bartlett. One was an ancient Welsh carol called “Awake Were They Only”, with Thad Jones’ “A Child Is Born”. They gave us a standing ovation. I sang “Beautiful Love” for their offertory. We did this for two services and really enjoyed our morning with this beautiful gathering of vibrant people. We shared Chinese lunch at Chopstix with Sandra and the band. Albuquerque to Gallup wasn’t a terribly long drive, but it shortened the next driving day.

1/29 Third “lazy morning” of our entire tour out. We spend it trading off getting online. Next time we take two laptops on the road! Gallup to Flagstaff was a beautiful and short drive. That evening Scott lead a trombone sectional for David Vining, a professor of trombone studies at Northern Arizona University. Between times, we explored old town Flagstaff. The Weatherford Hotel’s Charlie’s Café serves a dynamite green chile posole, and it was especially charming to dine and watch the first light fall of fat snowflakes.

KETR, Commerce Texas

1/25 Thursday, Memphis to radio interview on KETR in Commerce, TX at Texas A & M University with Bruce Tater and Mark Chapman. What a kick! We met Bruce at the local gas station. He brought us home for time to freshen up and take a peek at his incredible library of jazz sounds in all forms and from all eras. Amazing! He even gave us a duplicate album of one of our favorite LA cohorts, sax player Roger Neumann. Gee, he looks so young in the pictures… The great Blue Mitchell was even in the band. Tom Rainer had dark hair, and Alan Kaplin had a moustasche.

Bruce treated us to a fantastic Italian dinner, where we met Mark Chapman, who was already midway thru his station break.



We continued to free-wheel thru our excited jazz conversations (Bruce is a treasure-trove of jazz stories and detail), and Mark adds a whole ‘nother generation of jazz observation. We continued with our laugh-a-minute zingy exchanges between spinning tunes from our albums and favorites that Bruce had brought along. Three hours buzzed by so quickly…and we honestly had a hard time deciding whether to go on for another hour, or throw on the previously scheduled syndicated show.

Scott’s beautiful trombone solo version of Nat Adderley’s “Roses For Your Pillow” was Bruce’s favorite ballad. I got a chance to introduce both Bruce and Mark to my version of Ellington’s “Prelude To A Kiss”.

Profuse thanks again to Bruce and Mark, who kept us clicking! The banter was so easy, so much fun, and totally informative besides. We hope the listeners enjoyed it as much as we did!