Farewell, Summer; Hello, Senior Year

August 16, 2010

With my Idyllwild roommates (left to right: Chloe Drazen, Michelle Webb, me, Sarah Corza) My final year of high school has finally begun — after a great summer spending time in New York (which you may have read about earlier; if not, check it out) and at the Idyllwild Arts Academy Summer Jazz Workshop (which [...]

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The Search for Ten Unique Jazz Pianists

July 1, 2010

There’s this important piece of advice that I received from someone when I first began developing an interest in jazz piano during my freshman year of high school — pick a jazz pianist whose sound you’re the most attracted to and study his/her music over the course of their recorded career. In that instance several [...]

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Cassandra Wilson at the Catalina Jazz Club

June 25, 2010

Up until yesterday I had a solid assertion that Los Angeles and New York City had one very distinct contrast — New York City had the jazz scene I desired, and Los Angeles did not. There is, of course, a jazz scene that does exist here in Los Angeles — the only problem was that [...]

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New York City, Day 4: Vijay Iyer Trio @ Birdland

June 21, 2010

Vijay Iyer had a distinctly different demeanor from many musicians that I’ve met in the past. It wasn’t that difficult to spot him from my table when I arrived at the Birdland Jazz Club — he looked exactly the way I’d seen him in pictures: sharp, clean-cut, emanating professionalism. In fact, his image was so [...]

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New York City, Day 3: Dizzy Gillespie Big Band @ the Blue Note

June 16, 2010

Tonight was definitely a contrast to the Fred Hersch show I went to yesterday night — I was at the Blue Note to hear the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band. I learned several things at the Village Vanguard show, one of which being the necessity of showing up early. I forgot to mention (embarrassingly enough) that [...]

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New York City, Day 1 & 2: Fred Hersch Trio @ Village Vanguard

June 16, 2010

The Village Vanguard immediately fulfilled some of my expectations the moment I went through that red door. It was crowded with people — a few college students, but mostly those beyond twice my age — nearly all the way to the back of the room by the time I arrived. It was frozen in time, [...]

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New York City, Day 1 & 2: Columbia University Tour

June 15, 2010

One thing’s for sure: New York City is nothing like home. There’s really no way I can describe the huge shift from stepping out of my house to trimmed lawns and white houses to  bustling crowds of people and the incessant honks of car horns. And there’s absolutely always something to do here. The lights [...]

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Off to the Big Apple!

June 13, 2010

The title of this post says it all: I’m off to New York City. Tomorrow morning I’m leaving at about 4:30 AM to catch a morning flight on Virgin Airlines with my family to New York City with two main goals in mind: (a) tour colleges and (b) check out the NYC jazz scene. But [...]

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Hanging Out With Nilan/Rastegar/Bean at the Watermark

June 6, 2010

Last night I had the privilege of meeting bass player Kaveh Rastegar and drummer Jaydon Bean (as well as my teacher, Mark Nilan Jr.) at the Watermark on Main in Ventura. Let me tell you, it was quite the experience just watching the three musicians set up in such a tiny venue — a small [...]

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In All Seriousness…

June 2, 2010

I was at a neighbor’s house Sunday night for a light get-together and a hearty barbecue — the same neighbor, Richard, who was the first to toss some jazz classics in my direction. Throughout the night, several names were thrown about and excitedly discussed — Toots Thielemans, George Benson, and Rod Piazza, to name a [...]

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