More new things!

With the new gig at Wellesley lined up and Mirlo's Kickstarter well underway—not to mention a gorgeous spring blossoming all around me here in Holyoke—I've been delighting in the fresh energy of new possibilities a little bit extra this May. Given that last spring didn't go so swimmingly, I'm appreciating the vibrancy more than usual.

We're in the stretch run of Mirlo's Kickstarter, and now that we've run out of some of the initial rewards we decided to offer some more. I want to make sure you know about the one I'm offering: for only $35, I'll record and send a Trombone Serenade just for you! And if you look closely at the reward, you'll also see that it comes with some pictures of the other new thing that has come into my world this month ... for a preview of coming attractions, here's a peek at the newest member of our household, weighing in at a whopping 3.2 pounds at yesterday's first trip to the vet, Lucas!

In other news, I'll be making my first visit to a recording studio since the photo at the top of this post was taken in Santiago early last year to lay down some tracks for my friend Schuyler Whelden's forthcoming album project. It has felt great to be back on the horn again and feeling well enough to sound half decent, finally! As I've written previously, my musical development and healing process are intertwined in strange ways, and Schuyler's serendipetous invitation felt like another signpost in both journeys. I look forward to sharing the fruits of that work with you when the album launches. In the meantime, here's a track I played on a few years back with my PhD advisor, Steve Loza—an expansive take on the Harold Land tune, "Pakistan", from his album All Is One:

(Note: you'll need to open the full track in your streaming service of choice to get to the trombone solo 😜)