Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.”
I’m here with proof you can.
My first love, and my deepest musical passion, has always been for the rich harmonic interpretations of Great American Songs known as vocal jazz. But way led on to way, and my career led off in other directions. I carried my love, but I didn’t have many avenues to act on it.
2017 will go down as the year that, following my path, I found my way back to vocal jazz. I’ve had opportunities as a clinician, as an arranger, as a conductor, and as a member of MSVMA. Even the new art on my walls betrays it!
- We’ve gotten the Michigan All-State Jazz Choir almost off the ground!
- I hosted a concert from the life-changing vocal quintet The Real Group.
- I was guest clinician at the Hastings Jazz Festival.
- For my fortieth birthday, I received completion to a long-held dream of a full collection of the LPs of The Singers Unlimited, framed on a wall.
- My men’s group, The Rockford Aces, gives a performance next week at the ACDA-Michigan Conference that features choral music from many genres, including two of six that definitely fall into the vocal jazz umbrella.
- Most important, today I conduct my first performance of Shades of Blue, the GRCC vocal jazz ensemble long led by my mentor Duane Davis.
The music we fall in love with in our teens always holds a deep place in our hearts, and I am lucky to be getting a second chance to work with that palette of music again. Here’s hoping I stay home for a long, long time!