Army Ground Forces Band – Made In America
April 26th, 2013
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More to Live For
March 3rd, 2013
Recently, I watched a documentary More to Live For which shared the story of three unrelated men battling blood cancer. One of them was Michael Brecker, a famous jazz saxophone player that I had listened to for many years. I learned about the struggle these men endured trying to find a bone marrow donor. The problem was the donor registry was relatively small and not many people knew about it. Unfortunately, Michael Brecker was unable to find an exact match and we lost him in January 2007.
After watching the film, I decided I had to do my part and get on the registry. If I could save a life just by donating my bone marrow then I had to do it. Help spread the word!
You can register here: www.deletebloodcancer.org/register/ or http://marrow.org/Join/Join_Now/Join_Now.aspx
Michael Brecker – Delta City Blues – 1998
Peace
April 8th, 2012
I was unpacking some more boxes and found my old MiniDisc recorder and several recordings from 2000-2004. Some were solo and sax quartet recordings I made myself in my barracks room at Ft Bragg and some were live recordings. I found a couple discs of Orquesta Ideal, the salsa band I played in as well as a few from the 82D Airborne Division Band in Iraq in December 2003.
This particular recording is a tune written by Horace Silver called Peace. I rarely play soprano but I was probably using it for a certain gig around the time I recorded it. I played the melody and then added a harmony line after. Despite the poor quality of many of these recordings, I decided to still share them for those who care to listen. Both my recording gear and my playing ability are much better these days so I hope to continue recording more.
Enjoy!
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Listening and Shootin’ a D3
December 26th, 2011
Last Wednesday night, December 21st, Big Wide Grin played at the Jewish Mother at Hilltop-Va Beach. Eddie Williams, Curtis Eley, and Rich Mossman were also playing as guests. On the break after the first set, Eddie asked me to shoot some pics with his D3. The camera was awesome! It felt great in my hands and handled the light in the room very well. Eddie put together a slideshow using some of my pics and some he took as well.
Big Wide Grin at the Jewish Mother
Brian shooting a D3...photo by Brandon Collins
Christmas 2011
December 26th, 2011
This year we has Christmas early with Dad and Debbie. On Christmas Day, everybody came over Mom’s house for dinner and to exchange gifts. Here’s a slideshow I put together with all of the pictures.
Chris Vadala Concert
January 27th, 2011
I just found this recording of a jazz band concert I played at Spivey Hall in Apr 2004 with the Army Ground Forces Jazz Band featuring Chris Vadala. What an amazing player!
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Concert with Chris Vadala
Sitting in with Karl Werne at Abbey Road
January 16th, 2011
I stopped by Abbey Road Wednesday night and Karl was hosting open mic for Warren Seaburg. Warren wasn’t able to make it because of his battle with cancer and has been in a lot of pain lately. There were only 2 people at the bar and Shayna and Kim were working. After a couple of songs, the guys at the bar left and we were playing for an empty room. It really didn’t bother me though. Playing music has become the vehicle of choice for expression and taking my mind away from life’s craziness. We ended up playing a few original tunes by Karl and other local musicians Seth Stainback and Brian Morris.
1. Home-Karl Werne
2. Carolina Home-Seth Stainback
3. All I Need is You-Brian Morris
82D Airborne Division Band-TRADOC Tattoo
January 8th, 2011
I played in this band from 2000-2004. We put this tattoo together in less than 2 weeks and really stole the show.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Time is Here
January 8th, 2011
I always have fun playing Christmas music. Here’s a video I made around Christmas time and posted on Facebook.
Orquesta Ideal
April 27th, 2010
I played Tenor Sax with Orquesta Ideal from about 2000-2003. It was a Salsa/Latin music group that played around Fayetteville, Raleigh, and other areas around NC and SC.
Solo Pretendes
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Bomba Del Salon
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