Hey, I guess this constitutes my first Number 1, with Seabreeze, as a 'hitchhiker' on Bob Baldwin's steamrolling career!

My track Ready When You Are is still on Billboard, but sitting down at #29 

I am off to off to New Orleans, Las Vegas, Florida, Bahamas, and Phoenix, and will return for an awesome pair of gigs on Saturday, May 3.

First I will guest with Billy Dixon's Soul Train Express from 4- 7 pm at Luxe Lounge in Vancouver, at 1180 Howe Street. Then my big party starts at Ten Ten Tapas (1010 Beach Ave on the Seawalk), where I will play from 7:30-10:30. This last month we have been packed there on Saturdays, and have such a great party vibe with lots of special guests. I start out a bit jazzy, get a lot funky, and the whole crew joins in with Jazz and R&B. Make that your special destination- what a great hang!

I have some new videos as well... enjoy!

Funk In Deepfreeze

Ready When You Are (currently on Billboard)

Starpixie

Lock It Up

Come Back Home (Song for the Soldiers) 

Lyteness (fan video)

Hi Everyone,

I am preparing to hit the road soon, and my cool ongoing gig at Ten Ten Tapas  will go on hiatus, or may even end, so I hope to see you there soon! Much appreciation goes out to the core audience who have become regulars and who make this such a great, musical, tasty hang!

I will be there this Thursday, March 6 @ 7 pm with the fleet fingered Adam Rohrlick on guitar. No cover. My usual 11:30 am Sunday Jazz Brunch has been preempted March 9 for electrical upgrades to the building, but I will be back every Thursday and Sunday until I hit the road- right up to and including April 6. Make sure you come and support this fledgling jazz venue that is really offering a service to the city with awesome food, music, and view! The patio will be open soon as well, so make this your second home....

I have moved up two notches on the Billboard charts this week, and I am featured on Bob Baldwin's Seabreeze track, which moved to number 5 on Billboard. He has another track that I am featured on just entering the charts, and Rob Tardik has released a single called Return To Me which ALSO features yours truly.

This spring and summer should be pretty exciting with some widespread performance dates coming up.

This April I will be playing the New Orleans French Quarter Fest, then over to the east coast for a Bahama jazz cruise and another Florida club date, then on to Phoenix and then Las Vegas for the City of Lights Jazz, Rhythm & Blues Festival where I will be performing with the fabulous guitar whiz Nick Colionne.  A bit later in the summer I will be performing at the Jazz On Blue Mountain Fest in Ontario (July 4-5), then as part of the Canadian Brass Attack Show (Rob Tardik-guitar, Walle Larsson-saxes, and GMH-trumpet, flugelhorn, flute) at the Assiniboine Outdoor Festival in Winnipeg (July 20).

A little known fact: the trumpeter cartoons used in the Ten Ten ads are from my Swingin' Affair album which features Dee Daniels and Nancy Ruth.

This Saturday afternoon will be chock full of music events... pick one and enjoy.

First, I will be performing a free concert with the Urbana Big Band at the Vancouver Public Library in the Alice McKay Theatre downstairs at 3 pm.

This is an exciting 18 pc (!) band and I get quite a few featured solo spots.

Rather than play for the old-timer dancers, this band plays for the actual lovers of the great lexicon of big band music that made musical history- classics from the most respected purveyors of big band jazz.  Check it out! http://arokismusic.org/urbana/

---------------------------------------------------------

Also, the legendary Billy Dixon has returned with his Soul Train Express and is performing at The Lux Lounge at 1180 Howe St, 4-7 pm.  R&B at its finest Check it out: www.billydixons.net

-----------------------------------------------------------

Well know Vancouver artist Raymond Chow is also a fine pianist- I even produced one of his CDs! His style is eclectic and smooth. He will be performing at a public event noon - 4 pm at a new warehouse space at 250 Smythe. 

------------------------------------------------------------

In the evening at 7 pm, Luis Giraldo will be on jazzy piano and vocals at Vancouver's newest jazz spot, Ten Ten Tapas, at 1010 Beach Ave, on the Seawalk, just east of the Aquatic Centre. www.tententapas.com   http://tententapas.posthaven.com/live-jazz-at-ten-ten-tapas

Come see what the jazz cognoscenti in Vancouver are buzzing about!

This Thursday at 7 pm, Ten Ten Tapas will feature Gabriel Mark Hasselbach with his funky and smooth brand of trumpet, flugelhorn, and flute.....

Special guests include the fleet-fingered Adam Rohrlick on guitar and LJ Mounteney rocking the mic. Others will surely join the fray, as sit-ins are welcome. Come and play and they'll buy you a beer, plus there is 15% off for VMA members.... great ribs, bevies, and vibe!

Beat the Valentine's crush, and celebrate a day early! Ten Ten is easy to find, right on the seawall near the Aquatic Centre at 1000 Beach Ave.

Hear songs from Gabriel's latest album including his latest charting single 'Ready When You Are'

I was updating my bio and I saw Nikki Yanofsky's name there in my list of past collaborations, and it occurred to me that I had not heard from her in a while. She is an extremely talented young gal in her early teens that made her name (at 15) singing in a big band style with a strong nod to Ella Fitzgerald. Man, she is good, and boy can she scat!!!

I had the chance to play with her for a few concerts including the Vancouver International Jazz Fest a couple years ago, and she was quite the hit. Her new album was being produced by Phil Ramone, but I believe his untimely death sidetracked that.

She was faced with a dilemma- she was tremendously skilled in a music style that was already 60 years old. What's a girl to do to remain relevant and not get pigeonholed? 

Nikki is managed by her parents, and they seem to be pretty sweet and well grounded, so in her best interest, her schooling was not neglected and a new musical game plan was devised.

I am not privvy to the inner workings of her life but was pleasantly surprised to see her new video. She pays homage to her mentor Q, and has started down a fun musical path recently mined by artists such as Duffy, Jully Black, and Amy Winehouse. She does get some scatting in, so I am sure she has a real bright future ahead with her new direction......

http://music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2013/8/Exclusive-video-single-Nikki-Yanofsky-and-Quincy-Jones-in-Hollywood

The band (left to right): Stephen Maxwell (guitar), Aubrey Logan (trombone), Andy Kautz (saxophone), Will Wells (piano), Herbie Hancock (jazz legend), Nikki Yanofsky (vocals and songs), Harry the poodle, Quincy Jones (executive producer), Evan Coniglio (bass), Niv Toar (trumpet) and Al Cleveland III (drums)

Here is another (mostly) non musical post, but thought I would share this in light of the current Olympics : Soczi explained in the Polish language.

Hopefully you can view this pps file. Although descriptors are in Polish, the visuals will remind you what a global village we live in.

Sometimes clichés pervade our idea of the world, so you may be very surprised when you see the images of this small city in Russia.

For musical content, I am supplying some info on Jazz in Russia, again, we are so far removed.....

http://www.jazz.ru/eng/

Enjoy enjoy enjoy!