[i wrote the post below in may of last year for a  jazztimes feature, in which different musicians were asked to choose 10 recorded selections by one of their favorite artists. the publication didn't use my entry (wtf??), so i'm posting it here. happy hunting and listening. these tracks, and the albums they come from, are very meaningful to me. as we say, "bible" records. (the photo below is not proprietary to this website, it is by monica frisell, and i grabbed it from bill's website. i hope bill and monica won't mind.) also: make sure not to miss the video of bill tracking with vic chesnutt, linked at the very end of the last segment in this post. -- AW]

“that was then” — good dog happy man (1999)

to paraphrase a saying: “four chords and the truth.”  this song has a pared-down melody, and is deeply-rooted by the strong groove from jim keltner’s drumming. a complete composition follows from there, using the most simple means.  compelling, inspired interwoven lines between frisell and pedal steel guitarist greg leisz (another hero of mine) carry the day here.  if i listen to this song once, i usually listen to it at least once more.

“rag” – live (1991)

the wonderful group that frisell had with joey baron and kermit driscoll (and sometimes hank roberts) has always been one of my favorites.  during this era, the early 1990’s, these guys were simply on fire and had an empathic rapport that was very powerful.  as a composition, “rag” is campy, snarky, and a little insane, and as a performance, it unfolds like a good short animated film.  frisell’s clean and distorted tones and manic lines are genius, and egged-on by joey baron’s inspired drumming, he stretches out in a loose way that stands in contrast to some of his later, more poised and structured work.

“someday my prince will come” – songs we know (hersch/frisell, 1998)

beginning over an almost keening F pedal point played by frisell, the exposition of a classic melody unfolds and leads to beautifully expressed individual improvisations by both fred hersch and frisell, and the way each supports the other is the very essence of what duet playing can be.  so much tone in bill frisell’s hands!  i love the motif that bill uses during the second half of the out chorus, and the high sonority that the performance ends on.

“tales from the far side” – quartet (1996)

a narrative, layered, and engaging composition based on simple melodies stated by trumpet, violin and trombone over a simple riff held down by frisell that builds and builds to one of his most searing recorded solos.  state of the art in writing for a ensemble with limited thematic means yet creating the most harmonic, melodic, and dynamic tension. one of frisell’s visionary masterpieces, inspired by gary larson’s equally visionary cartoon series.

“news for lulu” – news for lulu  (zorn, lewis, frisell 1994)

frisell, with george lewis on trombone and john zorn on alto saxophone, reinterpreting tunes from the hard-bop era.  this sonny clark classic is taken apart by three iconoclastic players, setting the various strands of its basic riff and melody free to dance and cavort through the listener’s auditory cortex.  a great example in playing standard repertoire without trying to ape original versions or simply playing “head-solos-head,” this track is brought to life by the collectivity, intensity, and sheer joy of the improvisations.

“show type tune” – bill evans  (paul motian, 2003)

one of my favorite trios ever is the trio of frisell, lovano, and motian.  it’s hard to pick just one recording of theirs because every one is magnificent. and it’s funny that i should pick this one, because on this recording they are joined by bassist marc johnson. his presence here allows frisell a bit more latitude than he might usually have when in the trio format.   i love the way that he navigates this bill evans song, filled with chord changes, in a way that expresses its essence and also completely avoids the vocabulary that 99% of guitarists would use when confronted with that harmonic language and rhythmic feel.  he takes a great solo here.  frisell’s work with motian and lovano is always surprising, refreshing, and deep, and all of it is required listening.

“kind folk” — angel song (wheeler, konitz, frisell, holland 1997)

this song contains the atmospheric and free-floating guitar work that is unmistakably and clasically “frisellian.”  but above all that it’s the contour of bill’s lines, his beautifully swinging time, and his interplay with dave holland during his solo here (and while comping for lee konitz, during his solo later in the tune) that really get me.  wonderful and alive, with an unstoppable groove (sans drummer), that finally, sadly, has to stop.

“wide load” – down home (joey baron 1997)

a great track on a great album by joey baron.  one chord; funk.  anchored by ron carter’s bass, and a sneaky melody played by arthur blythe on alto sax.  an un-effected rhythm guitar part, and an amazing, simple, un-affected solo by frisell.  in every context, the man is himself.

“my man’s gone now” – ghost town (2000)

haunting.  haunting.  haunting.  one of the most outstanding solo guitar performances of all time.  perfect.

“ignorant people” — “ghetto bells” (vic chesnutt, 2005)

a waltz with an evocative, storytelling lyric by the late, great singer/songwriter vic chesnutt.  in addition to frisell, always playing just the perfect note, interval, chord, or arpeggio on, again, an un-effected telecaster (proving once again that tone and sound is in the hands!) this track also features an unbelievably beautiful accordion part by the legendary van dyke parks.  it’s highly illuminating to watch frisell laying down his part on “ignorant people” on youtube here.

During these opening moments of a new year, I’m taking some time to reflect on the one that has just passed.

First, I am so grateful for the strong, enduring support of family, friends, and fans both old and new.  Your continued encouragement for my work helped to remind me, in times of challenge or doubt, why I keep doing this.  Every now and then, a positive phone call, facebook message or email–even sometimes an invitation for collaboration–would arrive just at the moment when I needed it.  Little blessings like these were beautiful moments in my year.

I’m remembering days and months filled with diverse and inspiring activity.

2011 began with an amazing weekend of shows at Yoshi’s Oakland with the great Bobby Hutcherson.  The year also contained a handful of memorable concerts with Diana Krall, whom I also joined (along with rhythm sections Jeff Hamilton & John Clayton, and Karriem Riggins & Christian McBride) on several recording sessions for a new Paul McCartney album of old standards and new original songs (I’m told it will be released on February 7, 2012).  That record should be sick!

I had a great time doing a string quartet arrangement of singer Kat Edmonson’s original song “I’m Not In Love” for her upcoming album.

In the realm of orchestral jazz, there were a few projects that really stood out. “Legacy,” an excellent and well-received new album by my father Gerald Wilson, also included my composition “Virgo,” and was released in June 2011.  ”Legacy” is up for a Grammy award in the “Best Large Ensemble Jazz Recording” category and I’m rooting all the way for it.  Gerald deserves this one.  A beautiful NPR feature can be found here.

There was also “The Heidelberg Suite,” a three movement suite for big band plus strings that I co-composed with the great Detroit-based trumpeter/composer/mentor Marcus Belgrave.  The early October week I spent in Detroit rehearsing this new and invigorating music with a multi-generational community orchestra, as well as pianist Geri Allen, bassists Robert Hurst and Marion Hayden, and drummer Karriem Riggins, was one of the best experiences I had in a year full of  amazing experiences.  I expect that we’ll have an opportunity to record this music before the end of 2012.

And I’m still feeling the reverberations of two powerful evenings of modern big band music led by the very talented trombonist/composer Alan Ferber, who assembled an incredible group of mostly Los Angeles-based musicians in August at downtown LA’s Blue Whale (and which will be re-assembled at the same club later this very week, January 6 & 7, 2012, for those who happen to be in LA).

I learned as much as I taught during educational residencies at the Banff Workshop in Canada, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and University of the Pacific’s “Brubeck Institute.”  Listening to and playing with young, gifted, dialed-in students is one of the best ways to keep inspired, and I’m immensely thankful for having had such opportunities last year.

Most importantly, I was able to release two new recordings of original music on my own label, Goat Hill Recordings.

Campo Belo was recorded in Brasil in the fall of 2010, and released in April 2011.  I was so pleased by its beautiful, intimate sound (recorded by George W. Petit, mixed by Michael C. Ross, and mastered by Alan Yoshida), and the mature, ultra-musical contributions of my bandmates André Mehmari, Guto Wirtti, Edu Ribeiro, and guests Joana Queiroz and Vitor Gonçalves.  (Here is a video I took of Joana and Vitor playing late one night at a club in Rio de Janeiro.) The cover was beautifully designed by Asuka Ohsawa, and letterpress-printed at Stumptown Printers.  Some critics even considered Campo Belo one of the year’s best.  Here’s Bill Milkowski’s review.

Seasons was recorded live in concert on April 10th, 2011 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and released on November 15th, 2011.  Inspired by my longtime friendship and working relationship with guitar maker John Monteleone, and by his otherworldly, masterpiece quartet of acoustic instruments “The Four Seasons,” the project has a great personal significance for me.  I spent many hours at John’s shop over the past few years, just playing those instruments and composing themes that might help them express their unique voices.  And I thought a great deal about the kind of collaborators that would work in a strong way both as individuals and as a chamber ensemble to bring those themes to life.  To play this music and these guitars alongside three of my most treasured living guitarists — Steve Cardenas, Chico Pinheiro, and Julian Lage — was like a dream that you don’t ever want to end.  The hour-long documentary filmed and edited by Mark Ryan (Flow Films), and the project art direction and photo documentary by Ian Gittler, perfectly embodied the visual spirit and the remarkable story of this project.  I was honored to collaborate with such wonderful artists and humans.  We are all looking forward to finding and creating ways to continue playing as a guitar quartet (on Monteleone’s, and our own, instruments) in the months and years to come.  Seasons was funded in large part by the contributions of 147 very generous patrons, via our fundraising efforts at Kickstarter.

So far, Seasons has been well-received, notably by Downbeat and Premier Guitar, and on year-end “top” lists such as Ted Gioia’s, and Larry Applebaum’s.  It is available for purchase as a physical CD/DVD set and a digital download (audio only) here.

I’m remembering great food, wine, time with family and friends, peaceful moments in the vineyards of Chianti, Montalcino, and California’s Sierra Foothills, rocking moments in NYC, LA, Detroit, and San Francisco/Oakland/Berkeley/Tiburon.  In the midst of other various challenges and frustrations, these moments were the balancing factors, and kept me moving forward in the best of ways.

I’m thankful for all of this and more, and I hope that the moments and events of all your lives will unfold in 2012 in mysterious, magical ways.

Happy New Year.  –AW

it was labor day weekend 2008.  i was in oakland, set to play a couple of shows later in the week.  but this holiday evening i was free, and my friend lisa, a wonderful cook, had invited me to a small party she was having.  ”bring wine,” she said, and added that she’d be cooking all sorts of things in the wood oven in her backyard.  hers was obviously the place to be.  i was not at all unhappy with the wine i had brought, a fiano di avellino from a campanian producer called pietracupa.  but then a friend of lisa’s showed up with a couple of tall slender bottles of french white wine with a very simple, elegant label: a muscadet from a producer called Domaine de la Pèpière.  the wine, ultra-fresh, intense, a little saline, and mineral in the extreme, transported me to another world.  it was everything i wanted in wine, but hardly ever found.  if i could have, i would have snagged a bottle and gone to hide in a corner, sipping by myself for the rest of the evening, completely satisfied.  i turned the bottle around and took note of the importer’s label, which read “louis/dressner selections.”  i had a hunch that this was an importer whose thinking about wine might be in line with my own, and from then on i searched for that label and tried whatever was available, which at that time in los angeles was not a lot.

but one could find things if one looked. louis/dressner selections was bringing in such intriguing wines!  producers like arianna occhipinti, renardat-fache, rené & agnes mosse, massa vecchia, jean-paul brun, and domaine richaud were incredible eye-openers for me during 2008.  before i knew that many of these wines could be grouped under the “natural wine” umbrella, this much was clear: louis/dressner was an importer who valued freshness, acidity, typicity, and beauty.  and also quirk, personality, individuality: there was a place in this importer’s world for wines that didn’t follow a formula, wines that certainly wouldn’t be judged well by score whores, wines that reveled in not being the same as every other fucking thing in the marketplace.

this importer’s hard work was developing and nurturing a marketplace for these wines, which appeared more and more on restaurant wine lists, especially in the bay area and in new york.  small shops and bars were cropping up that invited a real openness to and curiosity about wine, not just more of the same, and in which a growing community was also rallying around the wines imported by louis/dressner (as well as a handful of other committed importers).  some people, at least, were becoming fed up with wine as brand identity, as pissing contest, as status symbol, and as an extended metaphor of the luxury “lifestyle.”  for this community, the wines imported by louis/dressner were quietly showing the way to an appreciation of wines meant for drinking, made by people who grew grapes responsibly on their own farms, without large reserves of cash or prestigious names, without “flying winemakers,” and without the support of powerful publications and critics.

having gradually become part of this community, over time i came to learn a bit about joe dressner, one of the founders of the company whose imports i loved so much.  he was a man with a personality as fascinating as the wines he imported.  his incisive wit, his critical nature, his antipathy toward sentimentality, and his unwillingness to suffer fools were the stuff of legend.  even if one didn’t know him, one could get a sense of him by reading his amazing blog(s), or witness his real-time exploits on twitter, facebook, wine disorder, or on the comment sections of any number of blogs: taking people to task for something they said or did, praising others, slinging insults, setting the record straight once and for all.  once, i posted a tweet praising the spanish importer josé pastor’s “palate” after having a great lunch with him and some of his selections.  joe countered: “the great palate is a myth.”   in his writings and online conversations, joe always brought the subject back to the vignerons he represented and the values that their work and products embodied, and always talked about simply learning wine by experiencing it and learning as much as possible about the producers themselves.

this past april, when i was in new york working on a project, i received a twitter message from joe, out of the blue.  it said, “i gather that you are in new york. i am stuck here on the upper east side, but let me know if you have time to meet.”  there was a phone number to call.  i called pretty much immediately.  the first two attempts, the call dropped just after joe said, “hello.”   on the third, joe picked up and said, “you’re using an iphone, aren’t you?”  ”yes, i am,” i replied.  he shot back, “the fact that steve jobs can dictate the decisions of otherwise free-thinking people continues to amaze me.  in new york, san francisco, l.a., the thing just doesn’t work. admit it: you can never finish a call, can you?”  i had to laugh, and had to agree.  we arranged to meet the next afternoon, my final afternoon in new york on that trip.

i met joe outside his building and we walked and talked.  his walk was slow, unsteady at curbs and stairways, but he made it clear that he didn’t need or want help.  after a while, when it became evident that this wouldn’t be just a short conversation, he invited me up to the apartment.  alice feiring had hinted to me that he might like to eat something, so i had brought a couple of things from bluebird bakery in the east village.  joe introduced me to his wife denyse and his dog zaggy.  denyse set out coffee for us, and joe and i talked for two and a half hours, nonstop.   joe loved the baked sugar donut with cardamom and pistachios.  we talked about new york, about wine in general, about “natural wine” and its “scene.”  he showed me his droid phone, and said it was a perfectly fine device.  he expressed curiosity about my life story and music, and wondered how a guy like me had gotten so deeply into natural wines.  he spoke of how he and denyse began looking for producers in france over 20 years ago, as well as about the future of the company and how it made him very happy that his son jules was getting involved.  he said that since he’d had cancer, food and wine just didn’t taste the same, and he related how incredibly frustrating it was that the tumors had so affected his mobility that walking was difficult and that he couldn’t ride his bike anymore. for a while we talked very candidly about our parents.

it was an amazing afternoon.  our conversation came to a natural end as joe’s energy began to fade a little.  he told me it wasn’t necessary to do so, but i got up and brought to the kitchen the carafe, plates and cups we had used.  i gave him my recent album. and then, using his droid phone’s NYC MTA system map app, joe gave me very detailed instructions on the best way to get back to my destination in lower manhattan, including what lines NOT to take.  the last moments in joe’s apartment went too slow and too fast at the same time.  i really wanted to thank this man — this pioneer — for the work he had done bringing “real wines” to the united states, work that had completely transformed the way i thought about and experienced wine. but at that moment i wasn’t finding the right words. so i simply thanked him for inviting me and said i hoped we could get together again sometime soon.  he said it had been good to meet me.  remaining seated on the sofa, he said, “you can just let yourself out.”  zaggy followed me to the door, barking all the way.

thanks for everything, and rest in peace, joe.

]]> http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2011/09/dressner/feed/ 3 http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2011/02/bobbyhutcherson/ http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2011/02/bobbyhutcherson/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:22:58 +0000 admin http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/?p=746 I can’t imagine a time that I wasn’t aware of Bobby Hutcherson.  He worked with my father before I was born, and so even during my earliest youth the name Bobby Hutcherson was spoken frequently enough in my presence to root itself in my developing mind, growing into a concept before I ever saw the man’s face or heard his magnificent music.  And later, but still before I had a conscious love of jazz, his sound became part of the ground of my existence, something I took for granted, along with the sound of other musicians who had also worked closely with my father: Harold Land, Teddy Edwards, Carmell Jones, Jack Wilson, Mel Lewis, and Joe Pass.   When I finally apprehended that jazz was not just a cool part of my environment, but something I truly loved and wanted to learn to play, it was the clarity, beauty, swing, adventurousness, and coherence of those musicians that first provided inspiration and created context for me.

So having the opportunity in recent years to record (2009’s “Wise One”) and perform with Bobby Hutcherson, a true giant of our music, is simply a mindblower and an absolute peak experience for me.  Bobby turned 70 this past weekend, and as he often does, he played at Yoshi’s in Oakland, California, to celebrate.  I joined his regular working band of Joe Gilman (piano), Glenn Richman (bass), and Eddie Marshall (drums), and we played songs from “Wise One,” an album of music associated with John Coltrane, as well as standards, some of Bobby’s original music, and the Harold Land classic “Ode to Angela.”   The two nights at Yoshi’s were incredibly beautiful: shows in which the spontaneous moment, the musical encounter between the individuals, and the warm, communicative improvised statement were most important.

Bobby struggles with emphysema and must use an oxygen supply.  Recently there have been other health complications.  And it’s actually quite wonderful to see the way he appears to exist in another time-space, where every breath is precious, where energy is saved up for the next thing that he might say (usually something quite deep or hilarious), for every improvisation or exposition of a melody.  That harnessed energy, when finally utilized, directs itself into the music in a powerful way.  What Bobby plays is direct, luminous and incandescent.  Nothing is wasted.

As we were in the dressing room putting the set list together on the first night, Bobby had been describing a little of what he’d been going through health-wise over the past few months.  A few moments later, we were waiting behind the stage for the band introductions.  Bobby remembered that he had one more thing to tell us before we went on: “And the moral of what I was saying back there is this: every time you play, play like it’s the last time — every time you are behind the instrument.  It’s that important.”

]]> http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2011/02/bobbyhutcherson/feed/ 6 http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2011/01/kickstarting-4-seasons-live-at-the-met/ http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2011/01/kickstarting-4-seasons-live-at-the-met/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 20:37:05 +0000 admin http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/?p=741 It’s all about the guitars.

It’s all about the guitars.

John Monteleone is widely acknowledged as the dean of American luthiers. He specializes in the acoustic arched-top guitar, and with his recent quartet of instruments “The 4-Seasons” he reaches the pinnacle of his art.

During the process of building The 4-Seasons, Monteleone asked guitarist Anthony Wilson to compose a piece that could appropriately showcase the purity of sound, dynamic range, and wide stylistic potential of these instruments.  The result is “4 Seasons,” an original suite in four movements that will be premiered — by guitarists Anthony Wilson, Julian Lage, Steve Cardenas, and Chico Pinheiro — in  a concert at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC on April 10th, 2011, an event connected to the Met’s “Guitar Heroes” exhibition, which opens on February 9 and features the work of John Monteleone, as well as the work of his esteemed predecessors James D’Aquisto and John D’Angelico.

We are launching this campaign to raise the funds to produce and manufacture a recording and video (combination CD/DVD) of the world premiere performance of the “4 Seasons” suite.  The performance will also feature Anthony Wilson’s quartet arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s seasons-based song “The Circle Game,” plus solo features by each participating guitarist.

Speaking of participating guitarists: Chico Pinheiro, Steve Cardenas, and Julian Lage are three of the most acclaimed players working today.  Composing with the talents of this ensemble in mind, Wilson has created musical settings that range from jazz, to American roots music, to traditional Brazilian samba.

Funds raised in this campaign will be used to compile the technical “kit” and team (including grammy award winning engineer Todd Whitelock) necessary for audio and video recording, mixing and mastering; to cover musician fees and costs; for photography and package design work by artist Ian Gittler; for printing of the package by Stumptown Printers in Portland, Oregon; and for final manufacturing of the CD/DVD.

All the information you need to contribute can be found at the 4 Seasons Live at The Met Kickstarter page.  Even the smallest donation is generous!

marinated sardines w/ padron peppers (with pedralonga albariño) @ casa marcelo, santiago de compostela, spain. (thanks alice feiring & josé pastor)

sculpture by tony smith, matthew marks gallery, nyc

with trio corrente (fabio torres, paulo paulelli, & edu ribeiro) @ ao vivo music, são paulo.

1961 comte de vogüe musigny, from magnum, @ sea harbour, rosemead, ca.  sublime.  (my “old-world wine of the year” — thanks, rudy!)

trousseau from arnot-roberts, when i saw the beguiling ruby color of this wine as i poured it, i laughed out loud.  just a beautiful wine… lithe, subtle… like the soft body of a beautiful woman in the morning light.  this was my “new world wine of the year”

“space invaders,” an exhibition by asuka ohsawa, @ richard heller gallery, santa monica, ca.

with scott feiner, karriem riggins, and brilliant singer/composer joyce moreno, after her show, rio de janeiro.

2008 wines from foillard & clos roche blanche

carbonara @ ristorante castellucci, montevarchi, toscana.

the graduating class of 2010: academia da cachaça, rio de janeiro, including guto wirtti, karriem riggins, joana duah, mariana bernardes, joana queiroz, anibal schapira, daniel santiago, vitor gonçalves, robert hurst, dk…

fantastic wines and frutas del mar, from a lunch with josé pastor.

an afternoon with rudy pensa @ rudy’s music NYC, playing d’angelicos, d’aquistos, & monteleones.  heaven on earth.

ca de noci sottobosco 2007, the anti-lambrusco lambrusco.

pollo asado, mexico, d.f.

sad to see: closing of the cinema where i spent much of my youth.  fairfax theater was the best!

]]> http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2011/01/amarcord-i-remember-2010/feed/ 5 http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2010/12/yardbird-sweet/ http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/2010/12/yardbird-sweet/#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:19:09 +0000 admin http://anthonywilsonmusic.com/?p=653 It’s been a full year.  Wow.  But a great one.

I continued to tour, this year in about 15 countries, with Diana Krall.

I made Ragú Bolognese, while I was writing a review of Ca de Noci’s Sottobosco — the anti-Lambrusco Lambrusco — for Ed Behr’s essential food quarterly “The Art of Eating.”

I continued the slow but gratifying composition work on “The 4 Seasons,” a guitar quartet for John Monteleone’s magnificent quartet of archtop guitars of the same name.  You can hear the world premiere of this piece on April 10, 2011 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The quartet will feature me, Chico Pinheiro, Julian Lage, and Steve Cardenas.

A rooster showed up in my neighborhood one day, and stayed for about two weeks. Here it is in my front yard.  Yardbird, sweet!

In spring, I played great gigs in LA and NYC with my Nonet.  In a year-end critics’ “roundtable” on NYTimes jazz writer Nate Chinen’s blog, critic David Adler recently called the NY band — which included Mark Ferber, Shane Endsley, Donald Vega, Ben Wendel, and Adam Schroeder (among others) — “furiously smoking,” and put our Smalls show on his list of top live shows of the year. We’ll be at Smalls in NYC again on April 14, 2011.

In June, I conducted my father Gerald Wilson’s jazz orchestra at Avatar Studios in NYC, in a recording of my composition “Virgo.”  This was a composition that the LA Philharmonic Association commisioned from me in 2008, to commemorate Gerald’s 90th birthday.  That record should be out on Mack Avenue Records in early 2011, and also, naturally, includes a bunch of new music by Gerald.

I visited three of my favorite natural vignerons in Toscana, and wrote up my impressions for “32 Days of Natural Wine,” an annual feature on Cory Cartwright’s must-read wine blog Saignée.

In the middle of a fantastic tour of Europe with Diana Krall, I traveled to Hermitage, in France’s northern Rhône valley and spent 24 hours at the domaine and the stunning vineyards of JL Chave.

I ran into guitarists Peter Bernstein and Leo Amuedo just before our show at the Northsea Jazz Festival.  The only downside was that I didn’t get to hear my brother Peter throw down with Sonny Rollins earlier that day…

I traveled to Mt. Etna, in Sicily, to meet Frank Cornelissen, who makes stunning natural wines in this singular wine terroir.

I waited my turn.

I drank Chateau Musar in Lebanon, and had a perfect espresso in Tel Aviv.

I reveled in the pleasures of unpasteurized Brazilian draft beer (chopp), and Brazilian breakfast (café de manha).

I recorded a new album of original songs in Brazil, with three of the finest musicians I’ve come to know: André Mehmari, Edu Ribeiro, and Guto Wirtti.  The album — Campo Belo — is now at the factory, and comes out at the beginning of April.

I recorded music on John Monteleone’s “4 Seasons” guitars, to be included on an iphone app-based guide to the upcoming Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit “Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York.”   As of February 1st, I will release a recording of my guitar quartet arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game” as a downloadable single, on this site.  Stay tuned.

I ended the year with two fantastic recording sessions.  The first was a full album of James Taylor and Carole King songs with Amanda Elias Brecker (the daughter of Eliane Elias and Randy Brecker) produced by my good friend Jesse Harris.  Jesse called in his west coast crew — which also included Larry Goldings, and legends… heroes!… Leland Sklar and Russell Kunkel — for this one.  I felt like I was making a record in the 1970’s…. without the cocaine, to be sure….but definitely with the right songs and effortless, relaxed rhythmic feel.  What a blast!

And there was a great session just a week ago with Sergio Mendes, a remake of “Fool on the Hill,” from Sergio’s 1968 album.  This new version, for a compilation mostly comprised of Sergio’s older hits, will include a vocal by Melody Gardot.

And now I’m simply allowing the intense activity of the past months to settle into the quiet of this holiday season in Los Angeles.  I’m reading Patti Smith’s memoir “Just Kids,” making omelettes at home, drinking the natural wines I love so much (and that you hear me talking about all the time), seeing friends, pulling weeds in the garden, and getting ready for the year ahead.

Thanks for your support, continued interest, and open ears for the music that I make. May your 2011 be filled with health, happiness, friendship, good laughs, good food & wine, great music, and all the blessings that you wish for.

After lunch at Marlow & Sons, one of my favorite restaurants, and epicenter of Brooklyn foodie hipsterism

Saturday in Williamsburg

Guitarist Adam Levy, leaving 55 Bar NYC, headed to another gig

Statuary, bottles, foliage, at luthier John Monteleone’s shop

Recording engineer Todd Whitelock & John Monteleone, on a carpet of autumn leaves, unloading portable rig to record the 4-Seasons guitars

Watercolor by Raymond Pettibon

Alice’s Restaurant

Jeremy Parzen, AKA Dobianchi

Alice Feiring, High Priestess of Natural Wine  ;-)

Author Jonathan Franzen, on the moving walkway, Orlando International Airport

It’s Monday of Thanksgiving week 2010, and I’m headed home from Florida, where I was playing with Diana Krall.  Before Florida, we were in Charlottesville, VA, one of my favorite “small” American cities; and before that, I spent several days in New York.  This week I’m looking forward to cooking for family and close friends, drinking wines that I love, and staying quiet at home a few days before a final push of recording and gigs lands me squarely in the month of December and home for the holidays.

The Krall shows were great as usual, and in Charlottesville I had a blast hanging out at Miller’s, the quintessential college-town bar, and sitting in with trumpeter John D’earth and his band.  It did me good to see and hear John again after many years.  He has an improvisational voice all his own, a clarion yet warm tone, and very crisp, very playful articulation.  He’s a local legend and hero in Charlottesville, but he really should be much more widely known.  Have you heard him?  John played on my 1998 nonet album “Goat Hill Junket,” and he was an early supporter of my work, bringing me to Charlottesville in 1999 for a series of workshops with UVA students and a concert of my music with their jazz orchestra.  John’s band last Thursday also included a couple of musicians who were students at Virginia Commonwealth University when I did a similar residency there about three years ago.

Before Charlottesville I was in New York with the express purpose of visiting luthier John Monteleone.  2011 promises to be a banner year for him, as he prepares for “Guitar Heroes,” an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring a large number of his instruments, as well as those of John D’Angelico and James D’Aquisto.  “The 4-Seasons,” John’s miraculous quartet of archtop guitars, will be a centerpiece of his part of the show.  At John’s place early last week I recorded a quartet arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game,” playing each part myself via the wonders of modern overdubbing technology.  This recording will be included in an iphone app that functions as a guide to the exhibition.  As you stand looking at these stunning instruments, you can press a button and hear what they sound like playing together.

And that’s only a prelude to a concert at the Met on April 10th, where I will be joined by guitarists Steve Cardenas, Chico Pinheiro, and Julian Lage in a performance of the original suite that Monteleone commissioned me to compose as a “vehicle” for the 4-Seasons guitars.  We’ll also play “The Circle Game” and each of us will play a seasons-related solo piece.   It is an honor to collaborate so closely with John Monteleone, a master of his art, working at full power.  He is the kind of artist that I most admire: always changing, growing, evolving.  The Met exhibition and the various events surrounding it – as well as a book about Monteleone, D’Aquisto, and D’Angelico written by Rudy Pensa, photographed by Vincent Ricardel, and set for an early 2011 release – are very important steps toward a wider public awareness and appreciation of the luthier’s art, and of the multifaceted world of music played on acoustic stringed instruments.

So yes there’s tons going on.  Music, wine, friends, inspirations.  All worth sharing in this forum, but sometimes I get overwhelmed with other things and don’t post here.  One recent night in New York, as I was playing her old Gibson acoustic guitar, writer Alice Feiring admonished me to stop neglecting my blog.  She had made a simple, delicious dinner for me and writer/musician Jeremy Parzen, and opened an exceptionally pure 2006 Savigny les Beaune “Aux Fourneaux” from Chandon de Briailles, as well as the sweetly singing Bressan 2006 Carat (Tocai Friulano, Malvasia Istrana, & Ribolla Gialla). After such a great evening, sharing thoughts and hilarious stories with such good friends, eating simply and drinking such gorgeous wines, in the middle of an incredibly rich period of travel and music making, how could I not take her advice to heart?

I was in Mercado de San Telmo in the old part of Buenos Aires, among butcher shops, fruit stands, and stalls filled with gramophones, transistor radios, old sheet music, cameras, brass hardware, signage, statuary.  At a tiny kiosk where I bought an antique woven rug from the northwest of Argentina, I asked the proprietor where he liked to have lunch.  He pointed the way to this bar in the center of the market.

There, every bite I took of the day’s special plate — light, pillowy gnocchi (noqui) in salsa bolognesa —  filled me with pleasure and surprise.   Eating such simple and perfect home cooking is a direct route to savoring the present moment.  Basic, refreshing viño tinto induced the buzz, and a strong café cortado gave me the strength to hurry back across town to make the lobby call for our departure from Argentina.

The bar is a family operation, owned by Oscar.  His wife, daughter, and son are all working there together, providing an atmosphere that really feels like home.  Whether you are stopping in for a coffee and a pastry, a beer or some wine with friends, or a full meal in the middle of a long afternoon of getting to know one of the great cities of the world, Bar del Mercado hits all the right notes.  Go!

Bar del Mercado, Bolivar 954, San Telmo, BA, Argentina