12/05
Happy Holidays!!!!
I hope this doesn't cause any controversy...Then again...
Hello, Music Diggers,
I'm finally coming to my senses...my brain has arrived with the rest of me here in Hartford, Ct. Sometimes jet lag can really make you wait but the tour was cool as all get-out. The Afro-Semitic Experience had heir debut in Europe at The Joods Muziek Festival in Amsterdam, NL--Saskia Laroo made it all a dream by appearing with us on Saturday--no-one, not one threw Tomatoes;only joy.
Poland was, like Surinam, warm, not just in temperature, but in temperment. It was unseasonably warm almost my whole visit...got to see some other cities, like Poznan, Bydgoszcz, and refresh some past cities like Torun, Lubin...my lost-wallet fiasco on the way there became a new song with lyrics"I wish I was In Krakow". On my last day there, it snowed with a breezy vengence...
Lots of new albums out and in the works: ASE's "Plea For Peace" is now released;Latin Quarter's latest is to be inaugurated Thursday 12/15/05 960MainSt Market Square;Funk De Nite is brewin' up their next one...Tomaca has long been in the shed...ETC...
I at my shows, I've been exhorting masses to continue supporting live music. This coming weekend will be rife with Opps. Thursday night Eddie Henderson at Kenney's Restaurant with StevieD's quintet should be a happenin'!! Jimmy Greene at one of Paul Fuller's Joints out at Stardust Resturant in S. Windsor; Larry Goldings and I forget who are layin' it down somewhere...Tis the season to slam the JazzJamm...
Upcoming Jive:
I'll be bells on:
12/15, Latin Quarter, with Bob Paskowitz, Global Gourmet at 960 Main St in Hartford, swingin' from 11:30am-1:30pm
12/15, The Mike Khan Quartet, Hartford, Ct.,Spris'Restaraunt, swingin' hard from 6:30pm-9:30pm
12/16, Ed West Project, Hartford, Ct., Mezzanote, 960 Main St., 7pm-9pm
12/17, P.Fuller Joint/Feat. Jimmie Green, S. Windsor, Ct., at the Stardust Lounge at 8pm. PB on Bass, Curtis Torian, traps.
12/19 & 20, ASE-Workshop, with Chevan, Byrd, and Coleman Stamford, Ct., The Westin10:45am
12/20, Steve Davis, Hartford, Ct., Kenney's Restaraunt, 9pm Jamm!!
12/21, The Afro-Semitic Experience, WPKN-Live Broadcast 8-9PM;
12/22, Latin Quarter, Hartford, Ct., GlbGrmt at 960 Main St, 11:30pm-1:30pm again!
12/22, Edwin West (The Glorious) Project, Hartford, Ct., Spris' Resturaunt, 6:30pm-9:30pm
I leave for The Netherlands On the 27th of December;I return next year, 1/10/06, to celebrate...no, cherish my mother's 84th birthday...
Reach out and adore one of God's greatest wonder's--badmothajumpas and jumpstrises jammin' out the old and bringing in the new!!
10/2005
Hello, Music Diggers,
Before we begin, I ask you all to send the best vibes possible over to New Orleans...Thank You.
I'm back for the moment. It's been a hot minute since the last listing. I must apologize, but a couple issues and circumstances are afoot challenging the smooth regularity of this newsletter:
Privacy--Some of us favor discretion over disclosure. Unfortunately, we are living in perilous times according to the press, and if you are one who relies on the veracity of mainstream and even so-called alternative press, it's best you take heed in times like these. While I'm not the most trepidatious of characters(praises be to God), I do take heed for the peace and sake of all--except when I don't.
Hey, y'all, it looks like my Fall has finally formed and yes, it involves lots of Air, including a musical trip with Ms.Laroo to Surinam in South America(next to Guyana and Venezuela), a roll thru Poland in Mid-November(sorry ASE & RAW & DWB), the European debut of The Afro-Semitic Ensemble in Amsterdam(You Go, David!), my debut as a true Jazz Singer in The Netherlands(Mvrouw SMJL, wat is that). With all that travel, all that time, Internet isn't always avaliable to me...thusly Just getting back from a ridiculously opulent resort in Lebanon, North of Beruit in Broumana and a torrid "musical holiday" in the Netherlands I'm just now catching up. Hello...
September, 2005
Well, finally, it's like a miracle, but I have a website:http://www.warrenbyrd.com. It's still a baby but it's growing at a deliberate pace. Y'awl will be able to know what's up with me by just click to it.
We have reached September and the year burns on fast. August was quite a month for me and from talking to others it seems like it was not unilaterally so. I hope that changes. My mindset is about seeing all the different things we each have to offer; therefore I'm only peripherally competitive. I'd like to see all musicians doing good because that'll mean there would lots of good taste expressed on this planet, something foil to all the necessary ugly...
...Speaking of which, for those of us who missed Al Jr.'s Sigourney Square Park Fest you missed something special. I got to meet Christian Sands, accompanied the greats Kitty Kathryn and Nick Mathis, the legendary Ralph Van Duncan came and dropped musicial bombs, and it was phat-fun!
I'm leaving quite a few others out but trust me no less love Nita, Doug, Rich and Tritone,etc...
Soon the Afro-Semitic Experience will be releasing it's latest, Plea For Peace on Reckless productions. Be on the look out. For more info, check us at www.chevan.addr.com
Many of you have been wondering about my October. The questions and "POSS'S" have not yet relented. With this music business, there's always something, a hoop to jump, a pitfall or a caveat, sudden boons, or calamity, not to mention feasts or famines...I'm rolling with it;God's grace and music mercies are sufficient...and soon I'm off to Lebanon, in fact as of September 12th, I skidaddle. Once we can "clear our China", hopefully by the middle of this month, I'll know what my October is doing.
Yes, with Laroo I skidaddle to the Middle East somewhere starring The Prosperous, Jazz singing expatriates, and us as The Saskia Laroo Band as well as some other Netherlands-based groups. Have you ever heard of Ingram Washington? He's the main act of this stint at a ritzy resort north of Beriut...I think...Stevie D, aren't you gonna be going there in October?
Now using my website I will soon change the format for more clarity.