don't embarrass Kenny Garrett

we've never figured out what the hell is up with that fitness ball

The penultimate rehearsal is now down and we're gearing up for the last rehearsal before we go into the studio. I'm really excited to get a quality recording of this group. There's always an urgency at the last couple of rehearsals and I'll admit that I've been guilty in the past of bitching, "Everyone needs to get over themselves and make their music playable" when it gets to be crunch time. I do want to congratulate Russell Thorpe on doing exactly that and I really hope that we can get a good recording of the fantastic piece that he brought in for this session.

I know I'm a couple days late but I just want to say Happy Birthday to one of my favorite alto players, Greg Osby. He was at Banff the year I was so I've had the pleasure of sitting through a few of his masterclasses which were always impressive. Greg never seemed to have any specific plan and just starting talking about whatever profound insight he just happened to be thinking about off the top of his head. One my most memorable lines from Greg: "All you young sax players, it's embarrassing for Kenny Garrett when you play like him." I even sat next to Greg at dinner one night but was too intimidated to say anything to him.