I’m fortunate to be able to make a number of announcements that I feel very proud of in a blog entry that is coming much sooner than my past patterns would predict.

Relocation to Brooklyn!

As of June 30, 2014, I am officially a resident of Brooklyn, NY. The neighborhood of Bushwick is now my home; if you search for it in Google Images, it suggests a search for “hipsters.” Not even kidding about that last part.

It has long been a dream of mine to live in New York City, a city tragically underserved by musicians, and where the demand for improvised music dramatically overshadows the supply. In seriousness, though, the last two weeks of seeing all kinds of music in all sorts of venues, meeting musicians, and reconnecting with tons of old musician friends have made it clear that this move was the best choice I could have made. I’m looking forward very much to all the wonderful music I’ll have the opportunity to make in this wonderful place.

It’s with great sadness that I’m saying goodbye to Indianapolis, for now — I’ll never forget all the amazing music that I’m saying goodbye to for now. I was very glad that I had the opportunity to play with the great Frank Glover two more times before I took off, as well as my awesome trio with Greg Artry (now of Chicago) and Nick Tucker. Thankfully, the CD we recorded this last Spring will make it necessary for us to play again.

American Pianists Association’s 2015 Cole Porter Jazz Fellowship!

I am extremely honored to be named one of the five finalists for the American Pianists Association’s 2015 Cole Porter Jazz Fellowship. I was a finalist back in 2011 as well, and as well as being an intense competition, it’s also a great opportunity to meet and learn from some really wonderful pianists and people. Congratulations to the other four as well, truly amazing pianists that I am completely honored to be on some kind of list with: Christian Sands, Sullivan Fortner, Emmet Cohen, and Kris Bowers.

We played a concert at the Rubin Museum that was broadcast on WBGO — we each played music inspired by a piece of art at the museum, as well as a piece by Cole Porter. Listen here! I play at about 25 minutes in, but do yourself a favor and listen to the whole thing! Everybody played very beautifully.

Skype Lessons

I’ve figured out how to finally get a great setup with webcam, piano, and microphone together to enable me to be able to teach lessons over Skype. This provides continued lessons for some of the students I am leaving behind in my move, but also has the unexpected side effect of providing access to students who want to study piano or improvisation and are too lazy to leave the comfort of their own home (and who can blame them). For all interested parties, please go to my contact page and send me a request; I look forward to working together!