Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Passing Of Claude Sifferlen.

 With deep regret, I share the sad news of the passing of Indianapolis jazz piano great Claude Sifferlen, at the age of 69. Claude was a musical hero of mine, who I first saw perform in 1986 at the Chatterbox. His playing - the pure beauty of his other-worldly harmonic architecture, the intellectual power and spiritual grace of his improvisation, and his simultaneous fathomless complexity and quiet simplicity - was one of my favorite things in the world. Claude was an inspiration that truly altered my life's trajectory, and that of so many others. I will never forget the moments of brief grandeur he found - and shared - with us.
   I did not know him well as I would have liked to, but I heard him perform probably hundreds of times through the years and had the sublime opportunity to record him on a session at Hit City a few years ago. The fact that he even knew my name was a great pleasure to me. Claude was a true gentleman and one of those rare virtuosos whose ego did not overshadow his amazing gifts. I would like to offer my condolences to his family, collaborators and friends, and let you know that there are two musical celebrations scheduled (to both honor his infinite spirit and pay some earthly medical expenses): March 31 at the Jazz Kitchen, and at the Chatterbox on April 8.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Different Beat Radio, Episode #3: "Writers + Restaurants = Rock", 3-2-10. Plus, our 112th Download!!!

Last week saw the successful launch of Episode #3 of my new Different Beat Radio show/podcast, featuring music by and interviews with Richard Sullivan and J.J. Pearson. You can click on the title of this entry to listen, or better yet, go to DifferentBeatRadio.com to subscribe to future episodes via iTunes, RSS or e-mail....

And in related news, this morning we passed our 112th download! I know it's rather ridiculous to be excited about that when iTunes just passed it 12 Billionth Download, or something like that, but hey, somewhere out there, you are listening - and for that we are incredibly grateful......