Lots and lots of information and so little time...

I realized after looking at my page that my blog had somehow disappeared. That goes to show you how very little time I have to work on my web pages these days. There is so much news that I am not even sure where to start. I'll just ramble along, and hopefully catch the major points.

First off, I am very excited to announce my partnership with Schilke music products which produces one of the best trumpets (some would argue THE best) in the world. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the company, they are producing a limited edition 50th anniversary model, which I am engraving. I designed a pattern that has some consistent visual elements and subtle symbolism, but each bell is quite unique! Some are straight floral, some are slightly art deco, and some have a Celtic influence. I have completed 39 of the 50 so far, and will be trying to get #40 done tomorrow. It's been a tremendous challenge on a number of fronts. The biggest one is the narrow diameter of the tube after the first curve, and I am sad to report I've had 2 serious injuries, the most recent of which was yesterday and involved a graver landing full force into the lower part of my thumb, penetrating almost an inch. As is normally the case, the trumpet was fine, but my hand certainly wasn't. Thankfully I heal fast. The last close call was with a wide flat graver that cut a 3" gash in my wrist. That was the worst one yet, although yesterday's hurt much, much worse. Ok, enough talk about injuries!

Here's a picture of the Schilke prototype (which I still own):



Other engraving projects currently under way are Jed's Mark VI tenor:



And Randall's P. Mauriat tenor:



In other engraving news, my work is featured in the 2006 Sax On The Web saxophone calendar for the month of February! I am really excited to be part of that project, and especially knowing that there were many requests specifically for my work to be included.

For music news, there is quite a bit happening right now. In my collaboration with Darren Littlejohn, and his project, PortlandJazzJams.com I have recorded:

• a podcast featuring the first version of the Jason DuMars trio with Ross Davis on bass and Aaron Slick on drums
  
• an interview with myself and amazing alto player David Valdez discussing the philosophy of esoteric music, and doing a couple of free duets
  
• a 30 minute TV show appearance on PJJTV with my new trio featuring ex-New Orleans bassist Nobu Ozaki and drummer Tim DuRoche

If you go to the PortlandJazzJams.com website, there are other clips and even a picture gallery with images from some of the sessions I play regularly at.

I believe the trio with Tim and Nobu is going to be getting a lot of attention soon, as we sound really good together. For how few times we've performed together, we have a very strong connection. I can only imagine what we'll sound like in a few months.

There's more news I am undoubtedtly forgetting, and will be posting more pictures soon.