This is going to be a long one, so bare with me 🙂 I am super excited to bring my various bands to all over Europe this summer! I have to say that it was one of my most challenging and greatest efforts to put this together, but I am super happy and grateful for everyone who helped me make it happen! I will have 4 different groups and we will play different music with each one of them. Starting out I will be joined by Wolfgang Muthspiel and Tzumo Arpad. Tzumo has been playing in band for the last few years, but it will be the first time to play with the amazing guitar player Wolfgang Muthspiel. After that I will continue my tour with two of my favorite musicians, Lionel Loueke and Chris Cheek. I’ve met Lionel 20 years ago! in Berklee and we’ve been playing together since. He is one of the most inspiring musicians I’ve ever played with. I knew Chris’s music since the mid 90’s but our relationship started when I moved to NY in 2003. I’ve played first in his band, but then he started to play with me and we have played with Lionel and him since about 2005. Chris is not only a great musician but also writes super beautiful music. After that, the next group is going to be with Gilad Hekselman and Chris Potter. I’ve met Gilad around 2004 and we’ve played together for awhile in Anat Cohen’s Quartet. Since then we’ve been playing in each others band constantly. I’ve seen him growing throughout the years and he especially developed something amazing for this kind of trio settings. Chris (Potter) was one of the guys that everybody was talking about in Berklee, while he was still playing alto sax. By the time we met, he switched to tenor and the first time we played together was on Daniel Szabo’s recording in 2009. Can’t believe its been already 10 years! He has played with me many times since but this is going to be the first tour that we do together. Needless to say that I am super psyched to play with such an incredible musicians. As soon as I finish that tour, I will be joined by Chris Cheek (again:)) and Mike Moreno. Actually in this batch, Mike is the one that I played the least with. He is another awesome musician who I really enjoy creating music with. That will conclude our summer tours 🙂 But there will be a continuation…Stay tuned! I’ve also recorded a new album with my trio of Greg Tardy and Tzumo Arpad. They’ve been touring with me in the last 2 years and in November 2018, we went into the studio to capture this magical connection that we have. These two amazing guys can play anything and make my music sound incredible. I am very happy to share the stage with them often. The CD will be out by the end of the year! There will be a special give away before the official release, so keep your eyes/ears open 🙂 This summer I am also going to do some Masterclasses in Providence at Wheeler Camp, in Hungary at the Lamantin, in Italy at Siena Jazz and in France at CoartJazz. And last but not least, I’ve been working on the extension of my Drum School App, which is going to be an Online Masterclass series. If you want to be on the early bird release, send me an email and I’ll let you know the details. Ok, if you’ve made it this far, that means you are a SuperFan! Thank you for reading and for your loyalty of following me. I am a SuperFan of you! Enjoy the summer and hope to see you somewhere on the road!
