Mean What You Say

"Mean What You Say" is a tune composed by Thad Jones, one of the great composer-arrangers of this music. The title of the song is an invitation to integrity and integration, two values that mean a great deal to me.

Integrity seems to be a rare quality these days. We don't see enough of it in public life. For me it comes down to two integrating questions for this summer sabbatical: 

• How can I write about jazz from a distance, unless I'm making music?   
• How could I write about the spiritual life, unless I live it?

One of the great gifts of this summer sabbatical is a renewed opportunity to play music with friends. After a long pandemic shutdown, it feels good to make some melodies. I have enjoyed playing for a theater fundraiser in upstate New York, two gigs for the Scranton Jazz Festival, and a gala concert organized by saxophonist Al Hamme. 

We can set up and play anywhere. The photo above was take by our friend Nick in a wonderful Italian restaurant in Scranton that specializes in wood-fired pizza.  

Nick stopped back the next night to catch me me with a second trio as we played in a great coffee shop downtown. If you have Facebook, you can click and enjoy a clip of the trio in full flight. The highlight of that second night was when Mark Woodyatt stopped in with his magic violin and joined us for a couple of Chick Corea tunes.

In addition to these wonderful gigs, Al Hamme put together a great octet for a concert in my old stomping ground in New York. He never ceases to amaze me! The musicianship was impeccable. The jazz was swinging. Of course, Al make certain that we had new shirts to look sharp.

As expected - especially since the concert was cooked up by Al - the evening event sold out. 

As expected, the crowd stood and cheered a number of times, most notably when Tony Marino and Tom Killian blew up the place with a bass-drums duet.

By the way, that's my Mom in the second row in the multi-colored blouse. I took her along for the concert and the post-concert "hang" at a local BBQ joint. And I had a comfortable night's sleep in my childhood bedroom before traveling back to my mountain cottage.