2016 was a wild year – good and bad. The music community lost Lemmy, Prince, David Bowie, George Michael, Greg Lake and others. The loss has hurt, but will never kill the art. The legacies of these musicians will live on forever thanks to their CDs, records, videos, and the fans that will continue to enjoy the music for years to come.
2016 was an exciting year for me musically. Back in February I was on the road with Paa Kow Band for a week. We played some clubs in Iowa and I got off the tour bus in Chicago after a World Music Dance Party performance at the Old Town School of Folk.
I didn’t travel quite as much this year as I did in 2015 – no international trips, though I still did my fair share of flying around the US. Early in the year, my great friend Kyle Krause completed a piece for steelpan and clarinet that I commissioned for clarinetist Joel Smith. The piece is dedicated to all of the wonderful people I met in Trinidad during the 2015 Carnival season. Joel and I got to premier the piece at Baltimore’s famous Peabody Conservatory as a part of a graduate composition recital that featured the works of 4 incredible young composers. Before the evening performance in a nearby church (built in the early 19th century), Kyle and I gave a presentation for the composition students on the steelpan as a modern instrument for art music. I played several examples of new pieces for steelpan and gave timbral examples on the instrument while Kyle presented the information he has gathered in our 5 years of collaborating together. I’m very excited to announce that Peabody graduates Aaron Gage and Jason Mulligan will be composing pieces for me in 2017. As soon as premier performances have been organized, I will be sure to let everyone know!
Last summer I was not able to perform with Paa Kow as much as 2015, but that does not mean we weren’t working. In April I flew out to Denver to play with Paa Kow Band at Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox. If you get a chance to have brunch or cocktails at Ophelia’s, do it. It is a really cool restaurant and bar in a historic building. The history of the building is pretty wild, it may or may not have served as a brothel 120 years ago… Anyway, the set was fun and the crowd was great! My friends Stephen, Ali and Mia came out to support the band and check out PK’s amazing drum kit. It’s worth noting that all 3 of them are percussionists, and they all relocated to Colorado from the Midwest. Paa Kow began working on his new record in 2016, and I was able to spend some time in the studio in Denver to lay down my part for 3 tracks. I can’t wait for the album to come out!!!
Also in April, Taylor and I visited her alma mater of Colorado State for the Legends of Ranching Sale and Horse Show. This was the first year for the show portion. The only horses that were eligible to ride in the show were those purchased at the sale in previous years. Taylor rode Guapo to a second place finish and prizes! It was fun to visit with old friends in Ft. Collins and hang out with Guy and Sherry Gould from Guapo’s birthplace at Gould Ranch.
There were moments in 2016 where I felt like I wasn’t performing as much as I would have liked. It’s OK though. This summer marked my 4th year working with OHS Marching Percussion. The kids all worked incredibly hard on a very cool field show and were rewarded with performance opportunities at new competitions all around Illinois. During the summer months I started a monthly jazz jam at the newest music venue in the Chicago suburbs: Yorkville’s Law Office Pub and Music Hall. The owner and I worked together to create an all-ages, FREE music event in which people can come be audience members or performers to the ONLY regular live jazz event in Kendall County. The host quartet has been made up of a few different casts of phenomenal musicians from the area. If you play jazz, COME SIT IN at the next one! If you don’t play, come enjoy the sounds of live jazz and the taste of craft beer! The next one is January 19th from 7-10pm.
October was a more-days-on-the-road-than-at-home month. After recording with Paa Kow in Denver, I flew back to Chicago to immediately start rehearsals for the Pastiche Steel Ensemble’s Fall Tour. We performed in the eastern half of the US by starting in West Virginia and Ohio, then ending up in Florida. We played a variety of events by both headlining and supporting the main event. At both Kent State and Kennesaw State, we presented clinics and masterclasses in conjunction with our concert performances. In Tallahassee, at Florida State, our concert was a part of a small convention discussing the African Diaspora as well as the Dakar World Festival of Negro Art from 1966. We performed “Melda,” a Panorama-winning arrangement that was likely performed at that festival when Trinidad’s Desperadoes Steel Orchestra travelled to Senegal in 1966.
That last part of the year brought more music colleagues into my life. I was able to play some more jazz gigs at new-to–me venues including Culture Stock in Aurora. I was even a guest with the Waubonsee Steel Band for their annual winter concert! I was fun to join the WCC band on stage. I hadn’t played in their auditorium or with the band since I was a senior in high school! The band sounded great! They played arrangements by their instructor Frank Check as well as some by Ray Holman and Yuki Nakano.
The end of 2016 brought the loss of another musician and lover of the organ: Taylor’s grandfather Bill Richardson. Bill was a truly great and friendly person with whom I shared a love of music and music people. Bill published Keyboards Magazine and had met many of the United States great organists. He was good friends with Blackhawk’s (NHL) Organist Frank Pellico who was able to play Mr. Bill’s favorite pieces on Mr. Bill’s personal concert Organ at the funeral that took place in Montgomery shortly after Christmas.
Mr. Bill will be greatly missed. Rest in peace.
All of that said (thanks for reading all of that LOOOONNG post), I’m excited for 2017. New opportunities and performances will be announced soon.
As always, thanks for checking in!
— mike
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