It is a very strange time to be a professional musician. Yes, I have always dreamed of being a big time studio musician, which means being in a recording stu...

This is a cool story! It is also completely true, so I am going to "tamper" with the names a bit out of respect to all involved. This happened in the early 8...

Let me open with a disclaimer. What follows are my ideas, feelings and opinions. You may have utterly different outlooks, feelings and ideas on these matters...

I am paraphrasing the famous saying of Rene DesCartes and drawing a different though parallel meaning from my title of this blog. First my younger readers ma...

I'm a little behind with my blogging, but this one has been fun to put together. Not too long ago, I was purging files and materials in my basement studio. I...

This blog is just my reminiscing about my experiences on Maynard Ferguson's band during my somewhat brief stint with him in 1981. Before I get to it, I want ...

Recently I chimed in on a thread in a FB forum on the relative merits of busking. I followed along with the other comments and ideas started popping into my ...

What follows are my personal OPINIONS - just my point of view. I have to open this blog with a disclaimer/confession. I am completely guilty of the things I ...

I wanted to put a provocative title on this one as this is a topic of some interest to me. When I watch and hear great bands that seem to be able to just pla...

Before I begin this shorter blog, I want to make it clear that this is what I choose to do and how I think about my work as a trumpeter. This is not intended...

I recently went on a trip up to Gabriola Island off the Vancouver, British Columbia coast to meet with my friend, Dave Harrison, the creator of the Wedge Mou...

Well, as part of my trumpeter self-actualization project, I've been working on extreme upper register. By extreme, I mean above - way above - DHC. Why? Just ...

Recently, I've been reading Steve Wiest's arrangement of Besame Mucho with Chicago local big bands. It is a very tough tune to sight read, and the bands I pl...

This little blog post was triggered by a lengthy conversation with a reader of my blogs and follower of my videos after he read a text book, "Why You Hear Wh...

I am gradually recording music that I love and would love to play live someday with an orchestra, but will not likely every have the opportunity to do so. Th...

It has been quite a while since I've written a blog. I've been busy with redoing my big band library, arranging for musicians to play my first big band rehea...

Well, folks, I have NOT blogged in quite a while. I have been VERY busy redoing my big band library and putting together a new performance book for the new ...

Back in August, Brett Dean's Shout Section Big Band went into the studio for two grueling long hour recording sessions to produce what I believe to be the be...

Sometimes, in order to sort out a very complex system, we have to use some simpler physical models and extrapolate from them to get a picture of how the more...

I have another blog about pedals. Check the archives. This one is just a short post about the fingerings I use because I have changed them over the years. OK...