Well we finally arrived after a much longer drive than necessary. We went through Kamloops to get to Kaslo which our good friends at Google.com suggested was the quickest route. I guess if everything goes as planned then it is the best way but a 2 hour ferry wait, terrible signage and by terrible I mean NO signage and many stop to find out where the hell we were going makes for a long journey. A 9 hour jaunt took about 12 hours. We finally made it and everything is good!
The highlight listening wise for the trip was JIM ROTONDI’S 1000 RAINBOWS on Positone. It took me a minute to get to it. The first attempt was foiled because despite listening on my iPod, the band leader insisted on having CHRIS POTTER’s ULTRA HANG cranked so I had to succumb to the volume and wait for 
a quieter moment to put on Rotondi’s new date. It was well worth the wait. Jimbo has the rhythm section all switched up for this date and although I can listen to Webber/Hazeltine/Farnsworth forever it was nice to hear some different cats behind Rotondi. On drums BILL STEWART, bass BARAK MORI and piano DANNY GRISSETT and some very tasty work by vibraphonist JOE LOCKE. I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post but Jim is always writing and is always making adjustments to his tunes. During our tour in 2009 he was pulling out all kinds of tunes that he was thinking of playing on record dates to haer how they sounded and then the next time we would play the tune it would be a little bit different. He puts a lot of care and attention into his writing and it shows. Finely crafted gems are featured throughout this record. One For Felixis fantastic! I really love the duo rendition of Not Like This. It’s just Rotondi and Locke and they just play the melody. In Jim’s words, “there isn’t really much else you need to do on this tune, playing the melody is a complete statement.” The lush sound of the vibraphone is behind Jim’s beautiful trumpet sound is phenomenal. Danny Grissett (who will be at The Cellar in December with Jeremy Pelt) also shines throughout this date!
Okay, off the festival!
