The More the Merrier

w. Geoff and Emma at Tangent Cafe (Vincent Lim photo)

Re-blogged from Jared Burrows' blog.  
Cap student names  in bold...

My friend Dave Branter (a great saxophonist and teacher) mentioned in an email how he likes being 'the old guy' in Colin MacDonald's Pocket Orchestra.  I'm not as old as Dave, but I do know how he feels. One of the best things about being a music educator is watching students mature technically and artistically into wonderful musicians with whom I get to perform.  That seems to be happening a lot in the past little while and I have really enjoyed it. Stefan Thordarson (violin) was on the Colin MacDonald Pocket Orchestra gig with me last Friday and I've also been playing with him Lyle Hopkins (bass) Trio.  The week before that I played the music of Jimmy Giuffre at the Tangent Cafe in a trio with Emma Postl (voice) and Geoff Claridge (clarinet).   Two weeks ago Luis Melgar was playing second trombone with the Hard Rubber Orchestra and I see that Jeff Gammon (bass) is playing with Steve Kaldestad at the Cellar this Wednesday.  In a few weeks I'll be playing in Bill Clark's band with John Paton (sax).  We've been featuring Capilano U students at Presentation House each week since September and I recently heard some really good trio music from students Kyle Araki (drums) Jonathan Tromsness (bass), and Nick Leffler (sax).  This past week at the BCMEA conference I ran into a whole bunch of my students who have gone on to be really successful school music teachers and players.  It just feels good to see people continuing the tradition of bringing beauty into the world.  

Stefan between Elyse Jacobsen and Doug Gorkoff.