Life is full of wonders sometimes.  Every now and then something happens to me that blows me away, throws me for a loop or just has me baffled.  Lately, I’ve been blown away a lot. Maybe I’m getting old or losing my edge but I just feel full of awe.  At everything. I’m sure it will pass yet I’m embracing the new feeling and I don’t remember feeling like this as consistently as I do now.  May 2010 promises to be a wondrous sort of month.

In about a week I head to Amsterdam, the Netherlands to perform with the world renowned Instant Composers Pool (ICP) as a special guest, performing a program of Herbie Nichols, Thelonious Monk and Misha Mengelberg’s compositions. Even though I write these words, it’s still hard for me to believe that it’s really happening and until I get on the plane, I think I’ll stay in a state of suspended reality. But I’m rambling.  I’m thrilled.  I’m floored.

I remember the first time I heard ICP live.  Probably about 12 years ago, I went to the Bimhuis to see them play.  Some friends had been talking about ICP and they are an institution in the Netherlands so I thought it time I go and see what this was all about.  I had no idea what to expect except mayhem. So I walked past the bar in the old Bimhuis and into a loosely crowded space. I’m late and the concert was already underway.  Lights up. Audience members at all levels.  Standing, sitting, dancing, kneeling, bending over to drink or extinguish cigarettes and when I could finally see the stage, the music to some unknown tune had stopped and Misha Mengelberg got up from the piano and Han Bennink got up from his kit.  They moved center stage and sat at a small table and started having a random conversation!  Some band members still played, others just stood around.  Like the audience.  This conversation between Misha and Han turned into a free jazz foray that sent the crowd wild.  Me included. Then they played a dixieland tune.  Like a dixieland tune.  No funny business.  Then they played a Monk tune.

Then they went somewhere else. Still they sounded cohesive to me, even though they touched on many different things. It was thrilling!  It was inspiring and I went back to hear them more, always enjoying the music AND the Grateful Dead-esque atmosphere they conjure up.  Not only did I find the music and approach beautiful, their music went on to inform how I think and create my own music.  I’ve been fortunate to have performed with different members of ICP over the years but never with the entire group.  How important is this group? Well if it weren’t for Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink, there would probably be no Bimhuis. Members of the 44-year old ICP Orchestra were instrumental in getting respect for improvised, new and jazz music on conservatories and in the arts funding corners of government in the Netherlands. Moreover the group was the first to release music of Herbie Nichols compositions back in the 1980′s and countless other recordings as well.  So I will play three concerts with them. In Amsterdam and Den Haag in the Netherlands. In Cologne in Germany, where we share a double bill with Henry Threadgill’s ZOOID, which happens to be one of my favorite bands on the planet!  Wow. Learn more about ICP here.

A week after I return home, The Fay Victor Ensemble will debut at New Haven’s FireHouse 12! We’re terribly excited to play in this amazing acoustic space and it will be the FVE’s first gig in 2010.  I know many of you in the NYC area won’t be able to make it, so please SAVE THE DATE of JUNE 25, 2010 when the FVE debuts at the Vision Festival!!!  The Fay Victor Ensemble opens an amazing evening of music I’m honored to be part of.  Please check the entire schedule here.

But before that, a couple things happening in town that I am excited about as well! Please join us this SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2010 for another double bill with Kyoko Kitamura and Mark Lamb as a Remarkable Lollipop for Adult Consumption. And guitarist Anders Nilsson and myself (as the ExPosed Blues Duo) spar with cellist Tomas Ulrich. We three have ‘met’ about 3 times now and each meeting gets hotter and hotter.  No telling where it will go tomorrow!  We hope to see you at the 5C CAFE and the fun starts off at 8PM! Then next SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2010, I’ll be a guest as part of dancer Mark Lamb Second Saturday Salon Series at 7. It will be a cozy evening of music, community and dance interweaving with each other and connecting. Learn more about Mark Lamb and his work here and come join us. You can find all the gig details on the PERFORMANCES section of the site.

I may dance a little myself, just to celebrate.

I hope things are wonderful with you.

In music,
Fay