Like a lot of people, I've been thinking about Jeff Beck today and listening to his music from the Yardbirds to the present. The thing is, I've never stopped listening to his music. When I was first learning guitar as…

I've been thinking a lot about how I teach during Covid, as doing stuff online has of course stopped my in-person ensemble teaching, and all my one on one lessons are via zoom.  For no particular reason, I've been thinking…

Elizabeth Shepherd and I did an online concert for the Kimberley Arts Council, in Kimberley BC on November 21st, and you can watch/hear it here.  We were supposed to be on tour in western Canada this month, so the concert…

The guitar is a funny instrument to learn.  It translates so well to graphs and video that a novice guitarist can get to the point of sounding pretty good relatively quickly.  I don't just mean learning chords and being able…

It's the 60th Anniversary of John Coltrane's monstrously influential album "Giant Steps" and my friend Steve Kaldestad just posted that he gets really bugged about comments concerning Tommy Flanagan's piano solo on that particular tune. Tommy was a great pianist…

Hey everyone, Global Toronto was supposed to be a live conference that would bring international and domestic presenters and other music industry folk to Toronto, where a curated group of performers would get the chance to showcase themselves.  My Sicilian…

Happy International Jazz Day! I have to confess I'm not super driven to shoot video of myself playing jazz at home right now, I'm itching to move some air in the same space as someone else. So instead I offer…

Well, I've taken down my "Upcoming Gigs" page for now, just because everything is either canceled or on hold for now.  Elizabeth Shepherd and I are supposed to be on tour from June 20-July 12 doing Canada's Jazz Festivals and…

Well, with my wife having returned from a trip to Cuba, we're following Toronto Public Health's guidelines and self-isolating (and Toronto in general is doing that).

Like every musician I know, my gigs and teaching have been canceled (except for…

Ok I'm a musician first, but since I am booking shows at Hugh's Room Live, I do get to see things from a different perspective too, and I'm learning a lot about agents and what I like/don't like. Maybe these…

I've been one of the programmers at Hugh's Room Live in Toronto for a few months now, and while we got off to a slightly shaky start because a few of the other new team members decided they couldn't do…

Social Media doesn't have to all be about lousy politicians, sometimes you discover great information and comments.  Such is the case with this great post from singer Willa Mamet on how YOU can support you local musicians and music scene…