And so the transition begins...

Two new (for me) musical discoveries include the Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet and Marianne Trudel.. 

+ Rez Abbasi - who hails from Pakistan and resides in NYC - is a jazz guitarist with great flair, subtlety and passion. I recently came upon his most recent work, "Intents and Purposes" - an acoustic reworking of "jazz fusion" tunes from the 1970s. Abbasi notes that he hadn't paid much attention to this sub-genre of the idiom so does not interpret them with any nostalgia. Rather, he simply let's their respective beauty and genius shine forth in the context of his really smokin' band. (check him out here: http://www.reztone.com/)


+ Marianne Trudel - a jazz pianist from Montreal - is a complex and fluid composer with a humble sense of humor. We saw her perform at Diese Onze last night and she is amazing - part Keith Jarrett, part George Winston, part Claude Debussy, part Bill Evans while also totally herself - she played an amazing set of her own compositions. (check her out here: http://www. mariannetrudel.com/en/biographie/) I am going to search out some of her recordings before we leave Dodge...

On Thursday I took my new/old bass into the shop for a "tune up" before fulling claiming it as my own. I won't be able to have at it again until Wednesday so for the last few days I've been playing scales and improvisations on my electric. I haven't touched that bad boy since Nashville nearly four months ago. It is a trip to play it again - fun - but very different.

Tomorrow is the start of our final week in Montreal.  We are starting to make preparations for the transition. In fact, I got my wild ass mane cut today at a GREAT salon: Two Horses. My stylist, Hannah, said: "You started with rock and roll and now you can rock AND do the professional thing." God bless her...(more on a spirituality of tenderness as the week unfolds.)