It seems like it was time to update my web-site! In the summer I was traveling quite a bit, so I could not really add anything to my news! Finally I am back in L.A. and it seems like I will stay here for a another couple of weeks. If you followed my Itinerary you probably know where I was. My first tour was in Portugal with the Francisco Cardoso Quintet. I had an amazing experience with this guys (Francisco Cardoso . guitar, Nathan Blehar . tenor, Albert Sanz . piano, Luques Curtis . bass). Check this guys out if you are around Boston or New York. Than I went to Hungary to visit my family and I was playing with some guys from Hungary as well. One of them is a piano player who just going to start Berklee in the Fall and he is amazing! His name is Arpad Olah (Cumo). My European tour ended with the Umbria Jazz Festival, where I played with the Monk Band. Amazing Festival, amazing people, amazing food…….. We played there every night for two weeks. Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny, Reid Anderson and many other musicians came to our gigs and gave us some feedback. It was great to play with the Monk band after two months of break. Unfortunately Lionel could not come to Italy because of some Visa problem. Around that time also our CD came out with the Francesco Guaiana trio. In the end of July I played a great concert with the Jimmy Heath Quartet. It was Jimmy Heathon Tenor, Billy Childs on Piano and John Clayton on Bass. (Soon I will have pictures and some listening files as well). The summer tour finished with a festival in Santa Fe (New Mexico), where I played with the Monk band featuring Terence Blanchard and Dave Grusin. This week we have here at the Institute Hal Crook. He is and he always been a great teacher and a very good friend of mine. I will write more about our experience with at the end of this week!
Ferike