Day 44:  Played a nice gig with Diego Rivera and Chris Buzzelli at Vinology in Ann Arbor.  Vincent Jonna is the booking guy at this restaurant, and he’s been really cool about having me there and back again every month.  In fact, this particular gig, he booked me again as soon as I walked in the door!  Crazy!

Both guys sounded beautiful, and it was nice of Diego to invite his family and friends out to hear us.  Hope we can do this more often.

Day 45:  My students gave a performance for the “Meeting of Minds” conference hosted by Dean Robby Stewart.  My part of the performance consisted of announcing them and describing the jazz program a little.  It’s been really great to see the development of a few of the guys.  In small steps, I’m seeing that they are grasping the nuances of improvising, following harmonic progressions, and developing ideas.  This is the part that makes teaching really fun.