My Inspirations

Dear kind and patient readers: This entry of my column is a love letter of appreciation to all of YOU, a tidy number of whom

Welcome, faithful readers! I’ll begin this entry with a confession, followed by a question that I sincerely hope one of you might be able to

Prior to Anne’s and my seven-week performance (and walking, and BEER DRINKING) tour of the UK in May, we played a ragtime festival run by

June’s reminiscences of banjoist/festival director/Your Father’s Mustache founder Joel Schiavone garnered many emails and letters! I’ve left out churlish ones like “How can you eulogize

As I write this month’s column, Anne and I are in Scotland, performing at the Kirkcudbright (pronounced “Kir-coo-bree”) Jazz Festival (pronounced “Jazz” “Fes-ti-val”). It’s a

I’m writing this month’s column on my birthday in the UK in the shire of Derby (pronounced like “Barbie,” not like the hats worn by

The May 2024 issue of this beloved publication marks the first occasion the column I share with Hal Smith (and various guests), “Ain’t’cha Got Music,”

Full disclosure, kind readers: during my public school years I was an unalloyedly precocious rapscallion with a big sense of humor (to myself, anyhow), a

In previous columns I’ve shared stories regarding the people who paved the path I’ve traveled to become, musically—and sometimes so much more, who I am

Throughout history, duos have accomplished great things together. Perhaps not adversarial pairings such as Cain and Abel, David and Goliath, or the Democratic and Republican

In all of my encounters with famous people (and what is “fame” anyway??…My favorite response to the question “Are you famous?” comes from my friend,

“Oh, your life must be SOOOO glamorous!!” Any full-time musician traveling to eke out a living has undoubtedly heard this phrase hundreds of times in

In a past column (TST, September 2022) I mentioned a pub I played in with the Hot Cat Jazz Band called the Griswold Inn. It

Musicians have to be a hardy lot, and here I’m not only talking about the full-timers—those who log in hundreds of thousands of miles and

To set the stage for this month’s journey, I’ll quote lyrics from one of my biggest inspirations, pianist, composer, vocalist and lyricist Dave Frishberg: I

I’m aware that this will be the second month in a row I’m dwelling on dear ones who, to quote Sondheim, “leave you halfway through

For the fourth month in a row, I’ve set out to write about one topic or story for this column only to have some event

By now you faithful readers able to wade through my initial meanderings in each column are hopefully anticipating that they (usually) lead to something worthwhile.

I’ll admit to having a conflicted relationship with organized sports. Now before you turn the page, I promise this month will include some musical moments,

If you’ll allow that inspirations come in all shapes, colors and sizes, I’ll share that for me March has already yielded bunches of them and

When Andy Senior reminded his writers we had an earlier deadline due to February’s being shy two or three days, there was a bit of

For the first time since 2019, I played a New Year’s Eve gig! It was special for several reasons. First, it was in the town

Two events in which I was invited to take part in November and December of last year prompted me to look at where OKOM is

I was aware musicians were streaming performances on FaceBook, YouTube, and similar, but I didn’t have the confidence (or the Wifi capability) to join in.