Such a great week! It started off with a hang with Claudio Roditi, where I got to hear him sit in with Glenn Franke's swingin' big band, and perform my arrangement of his tune "Piccolo Blues." He also played a nice arrangement of "A Felicidade." It is amazing to see the energy and emotion come through his horn when he's playing Brazilian music.
I also had the pleasure this week of arranging another chart for my friends at the Charleston Jazz Orchestra for their upcoming Billie Holiday Centennial Celebration, featuring the great voice of Leah Suarez. I've thought about doing something on "What A Little Moonlight Will Do" for years, and this was a great occasion to finally make it happen.
As far the other Billy (Strayhorn), I had the great opportunity to spend the week at Berklee! They were celebrating Billy Strayhorn's centennial with a Strayhorn composition competition. The winning student-composer did a fresh take on "Raincheck" that had such great maturity to it, and challenged the band down to the wire before coming together beautifully on the gig.Hanging out with Greg Hopkins and the other great writers at Berklee was amazing. Working up five of my charts with the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra was intense and unforgettable - the "students" are playing far beyond a student level. And directing the band in concert Friday night gave me a front row seat to watch it all come together. I'm still getting feedback from the students - "The performance was truly inspiring, I spent a few hours composing in a practice room right afterwards!"
Beyond rewarding...A perfect ending to a great week.