The wait for an updated Dave Douglas Quintet: Live at the Jazz Standard [Full Book] is over. You can now download all 12 sets from this Grammy-nominated band as high-res MP3's, or as FLAC files complete with artwork files for each set from our webstore. For those of you who had purchased this product from our old webstore and would like to upgrade to FLAC files, please send an email to our help desk.

We couldn't be more excited to bring back this title. Not only because of the breadth and scope of the 12 hours of music and the new lossless digital format, but also because this was the first ever download-only release we did. The challenge that Dave set for us (releasing music the morning after each show) was one that is at the core of what we try to do here at Greenleaf: bring you great music, for a low cost, as quickly as we possibly can. The outpour of support from our listeners allowed us to press Dave's newest compositions for the Quintet that were debuted that week onto a 2-CD set -- a perfect example of our community at work.

Reissuing this on the boot-heals of the new Donny McCaslin Trio album, Recommended Tools [available now as a preorder] is an added bonus. For those who missed his playing on L@TJS, now is your chance to catch up with the rest of us.

Hi Dave Just returned from the surgeons office----------clean pathology report!!!!!!! no cancer, no tumor!!!!!!!! He gave the ok to go upstate so we're packing. Thanks for all your good thoughts! Love Laurie www.lauriefrink.com

Miraculous. She should be teaching and playing again by September. Yeah!

I just read your post. Gut reaction is to: 1) get a battery for my metronome and 2) make more mistakes in my writing.

The line "How do you create the real possibility for yourself to make mistakes and learn from them" really jumped out at me. I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to avoid making mistakes - which turns writing and playing into a real drag. A lot of the sounds that I've discovered were mistakes - like having a pedal come on accidentally and hearing a sound I wouldn't have thought to make. Your post reminded me that I need to "play", like, experiment more and let things happen.

The other thing that really struck me in your post was the part about rhythm. I think this is so important but really easy to forget. I remember one show I was doing - I was really nervous about my intonation - it's really a challenge to play a fret less instrument in an amplified setting. Anyway, I was talking to this guitarist and he said "Don't worry about your intonation, just think about the rhythm." And he was right - it worked. Now when I'm nervous I really try to open up my ears and hear the beat and where I am in it.

Thanks so much for passing your post along. It's given me a second wind.

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Dave Douglas, Donny McCaslin, Luis Bonilla.
Rifugio Antermoia, Trentino, Italy.
July 10, 2008.
Photo courtesy of Max Bacchin.

Laurie has been my trumpet teacher for over a decade, and I know many other trumpeters who rely on her for advice and counsel. She is the kind of gifted teacher who takes a personal interest in her students, crafting exercises specifically to their needs. She has also made herself available in emergencies -- I once called her for advice from Zurich, in panic on the day of a recording session. She called right back and listened to me play over the phone. She gave me several exercises to do to work out the issues. Something about it really clicked, though I would be hard pressed to tell you how... I did go into the studio with Tiny Bell Trio that day to record Constellations.

In recent years she has been teaching me how to figure out the solutions for myself, and she has had a major influence on the way that I teach and craft the program at Banff. She co-wrote a great book with John McNeil, "FLEXUS" --Trumpet Calisthenics for the Modern Improviser. And recently Laurie started a new practice, taking appointments for private lessons via the internet using ICHAT/video or SKYPE/video. I have seen her do it and it is pretty amazing.

Please continue to send her your love and support. And I hope she will be back playing and teaching again soon.

Greenleaf is pleased to announce that the much anticipated new album from Donny McCaslin is now available for preorder. Recommended Tools -- his 7th album -- finds him working in a trio with bassist Hans Glawischnig (Ray Barretto, Steffon Harris, Miguel Zenon) and drummer Johnathan Blake (Tom Harrell, Jaleel Shaw, Russell Malone). McCaslin has made this highly emotive format a vehicle for his virtuosic blowing and distinct compositional voice.

This product is available for preorder at our webstore. MP3 and FLAC albums will upload immediately to your account. For CD orders, you will receive an MP3 album in your account, while the CD will ship on the release date (August 19th). Click HERE to explore this title, listen to sample tracks, and purchase this product.

"I asked Donny McCaslin to write and record the Great American Tenor Trio Record, half jokingly. Well, he delivered, with a stunning set of music." - Dave Douglas

"I've always loved the freedom that you have with a trio and how much room for expression there is in that context. I feel this is my strongest recording yet." - Donny McCaslin

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You can't deny the power of raw talent in music, but it is possible there is an even greater strength in the human capacity for self-transformation, growth, and genius. Some people have enormous natural talent and ability. Some have to work really hard. One way or another we're all striving to find a true expression in sound, one that touches on something universal, and we all have to strive to find our own path, no matter how gifted or challenged we may be.

For the past decade the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music has been offering classes with names like "Ear Training for Improvisers," and "Applied Ear Training." About a year ago Rick G at iwasdoingallright.com started asking me to write down my thoughts on ear training. In working on this post I realized why I struggle with that. Ear training is about sound in a given place in a given time. Text can't capture that, though I have tried a little bit here. If you are not interested in this topic, or not interested in putting in some time working with this, skip this post. It gets nerdy.

Ear training is the most valuable training for any musician, and maybe most of all for an improviser. Improvisation puts a musician on the spot in unpredictable ways -- you have only your ears to help you learn what's going on and decide how to respond to events or initiate them. Basically ear training underlies anything a musician does: melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, form, density, community (who you are playing with), legacy (how you choose to deal, or not deal, with the traditions of music). You name it -- to be handled fully it has got to be heard deeply and accurately. It's as simple as focused hearing.

Ear training takes a lot of time to master, and it seems like the more you work on it the more you see your own shortcomings. It's slow going, as is the attempt to explain it. What's more -- this topic is almost entirely behind the scenes, off the radar. Maybe it has nothing at all to do with the reception of the music. And yet, to find satisfaction as musicians -- to express ourselves -- takes a constant inventing and encountering of new challenges, new ways of keeping the music exciting. The new challenges have a lot to do with how we hear sound and process it, how we deepen the experience, and how we can push ourselves to more profound levels of expression. That's what keeps me playing.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. " - Mohandas K. Gandhi

We can't figure it out, but it ends in a party.

While I save my pennies, check out the demo video with Lou Reed and others.

Yesterday Johnathan was primary DJ and here's a sample of what we listened to; My good friend David Binney's release "Welcome to Life". Great writing and playing on this. David is joined by the always killing Chris Potter on Tenor, pianist Craig Taborn, Adam Rogers on guitar, Scott Colley on Bass, and Brian Blade on Drums. They all play wonderfully as usual and David's writing is terrific. It's a very fresh sounding record in that David's diverse influences have led him to a composing style and language that's unique and original. Great record.

Next was "John Coltrane live from the Showboat" with Roy Haynes on drums and a barely audible Jimmy Garrison on Bass. Evidently McCoy was late to the gig so they played trio and it's stunning. We listened to a blues and Trane's solo on it is incredible. After that we stayed with Trane and listened to a cut from "Live in Stockholm", this time a minor blues and again Trane's solo is killing.

After that was a couple tunes from Kurt Rosenwinkel's new record which was recorded live at the Village Vanguard. The band is Mark Turner on Saxophone, Adam Goldberg on piano, Joe Martin on Bass, Eric Harland on Drums, and of course Kurt on guitar. Kurt is a great musician and a really strong song writer. I remember when I first heard him years ago at Berklee and was struck then by what a great vibe his tunes had. I must get this CD. Great playing by all.

Another Tenor titan was next up for us and this time it was the incredible Sonny Rollins. Trio from the mid-1960's, the song was "There will never be Another You" and Sonny was taking care of business as usual. I don't remember the actual name of the record but it wasn't the Live in Stockholm version. Actually Nels Henning Pedereson is on Bass this time. Any way, Sonny Rollins is one of my all time heros. I'm a little hazy on what came next but think it was Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Evidently there's a new version out that includes demo tracks, songs that didn't make the record, and interviews. It's pretty interesting to listen to and I was reminded of how much I love that record.

We followed that with "Off the Wall" again the new version with interviews and demos. That's a great record too and one I hadn't checked out. Need to get it.

Finally as we pulled into Patterson, New Jersey to drop Johnathan off at home we where listening to "Tribe Called Quest". The first record...the title I don't remember but it's so funky. Johnathan has recorded with Q-Tip by the way.

Listening to all this reminded me of how much great music there is in the world. So much to listen to, so little time!

Peace - Donny