It’s turning out to be a good one.
Lots of fun jazz coming up—two appearances (!) at the Chicago Jazz Festival this year (check the Events page for details), Bandera is still a great venue and creative outlet for me, and I’m gearing up for a couple of really fun concerts later this year. Please check in for updates.
Jersey Boys is still going strong. I’ve enjoyed learning to conduct the show as well as playing my usual chair—it’s like driving a very large bus (you know, one of those with the accordion-like middles) down a cobblestone path in a medieval European village. I love it!

So I left town for awhile, started playing the Jersey Boys show, got my mind all entangled in new and exciting things and almost forgot about how much fun work I had done on recordings before I left town. And now, I’m hearing these finished products on the radio!
Check these out—I’ll be adding links in the discography page (when I figure out how to do that…)
Alison Ruble “This is a Bird”
Mitch Paliga “Fall Night”
Rob Parton’s Jazztech Big Band “Just One of Those Things”

Thanks to everyone who invited me to be part of their projects.

It’s great to be back, although I must confess to leaving my heart in San Francisco. I had the distinct pleasure of spending my summer months in that beautiful city with the Jersey Boys show. There are so many fine musicians floating around the Bay Area, and here are just a few whom I enjoyed making music with and greatly admire—David Rokeach, John Wiitala, Russ Gold, Patricia Diaz, the brothers Russell, Todd Dickow and the big band at Pearl’s, and so many others. Thanks to all, and I hope to make music with you again soon!

Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure of playing a jazz concert for a very appreciative audience in a great space. Bassist Marlene Rosenberg’s quartet (including drummer Charles Heath, saxophonist Geof Bradfield and myself) was featured at the Redstone Room at River City Music Experience in Davenport, Iowa. What a hip room. The wonderful folks of Polyrhythms are putting on an incredibly cool series of concerts and workshops there, getting young kids involved and hooked on the music and bringing live jazz to a very enlightened listening audience. Plus, playing with this band is a fun ride. I’m looking forrward to the next gig.
We’re still enjoying Bandera. The times have changed slightly, so check out the Events page for details. We enjoyed seeing so many friends there over the holiday season. Stop in!
We’re cooking up lots of good stuff for 2007—stay tuned.

Thanks to Jeffrey Oliver of the US Army for the kind suggestion to get up-to-date. Summer has been great—lots of gigs with new and old friends including some fun USO events, CJCC concerts, work with the Chicago Human Rhythm Project, the release of Mitch Paliga’s new CD Blithe Moments, more work on Alison Ruble’s upcoming CD release (can’t wait for this!), and holding down the fort at Bandera. The drumming is coming along—check the calendar and stop by Olive or Twist sometime for a good laugh at my expense. Fall comes soon, bringing another John Elmquist extravaganza, a concert at Truman State University (date TBA), new tunes of mine, and some recording in the works. Thanks to all the people who’ve been coming to see us and buying CDs. Stop by for more news, and stay on my case if I get too far behind!

Ok, so I got a little behind on the website. The events have been updated to reflect lots of cool upcoming gigs. I’m especially excited about the Chicago Jazz Fair on 1/20/06; what a great opportunity to play my music with a larger band. There’s more to come, too—more pictures, more reviews, more music, more writing, so please come back soon.

We had a ball playing at the Blue Room on October 22! It was so great to be back in such a great room. Jazz clubs of the world, take note—this is a room where musicians love to play and audiences love to listen. We enjoyed hooking up with family and old friends. Special thanks go out to Craig Akin and Todd Strait for providing instruments, Gerald Dunn for the gig, Joe Klopus (KC Star) and John Kreicbergs (The Pitch) for kind words preceding the show, Bill McKemy for the hang, Chez Hogle for 5 star accomodations, and so many more. Kansas City is a great place.

Musicians spend more time than the regular folk (excluding the devoted musical fan) tuning into music and sounds, checking out new stuff, checking out old stuff, making new sounds, and so on. I theorize that we also spend more time than the regular folk tuning out various sounds to preserve what little hold on sanity we currently have. While I am exceedingly grateful to play so much music so many nights of the week, it has required that I have develop a real skill for ignoring the background noise that accompanies any gig at a restaurant or bar (especially when there’s a winning Chicago baseball team on the TV anywhere in the vicinity). All this being said, I spent some time this week tuning in to background sound in my life, albeit probably not entirely voluntarily.
Power Tools
On any given day last week, anyone walking by my place would have heard an eerie combination of piano work (ranging from Hanon to rhythmic exercises to actual tunes) and table saws and drills from the workmen upstairs. I resented the noise at first (and still do to some extent), but it has started me thinking about writing some sort of piece for piano and power tools. Perhaps I could locate a particularly offensive specimen of neglected piano and use the power tools on it for a grand finale…
Sirens
Bandera (see Events page) is a wonderful place to dine and hear music for many reasons, but one of my favorite reasons is that they often open the windows when the weather is nice. What a rare treat these days, to enjoy an open window in a large building downtown. That being said, tonight was good one for sirens on Michigan Avenue. At one point during a contemplative bass solo, a barrage of fire trucks and ambulances roared down the street below. Instead of tuning out, I was in the mindset to include the sound, which got me thinking about the amateur shows at Apollo, when an offending performer would hear a siren before being escorted off the stage. Could I carry a siren with me to use comment on particular solos, perhaps even my own?
Sammy the Dog
This past Thursday the Jo Ann/Mitch/Patrick/Ryan quartet played at our little neighborhood Bewyn bar (see Events page). Patrick’s wife Kara stopped in on a dog-walking stroll, bringing Sammy the dog by for a visit. Sammy checked out a tune or two, just chilling out. During one of Mitch’s soprano tunes, Sammy decided to join in, with a set of doggy-pipes that could be heard distinctly above a quartet and a train going by. We thought at first a key might be stuck on Mitch’s horn; turns out Sammy was feelin’ the spirit. He definitely could not have been categorized as background noise.

This fall I began teaching at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts. My activities there include private students as well as a coaching at 7-piece jazz combo. It has been great fun so far, as well as very challenging. My combo (dubbed the “Atlantic” combo) just performed in their first concert of the year tonight. I am amazed and inspired by these students, who in four short weeks took themselves on a journey from being an amalgamation of somewhat randomly selected people of similar musical abilitiies to an actual group of musicians making actual music. As a musician, I find myself wondering what kind of progress I might be able to muster in any particular period of time—in this short hour I found time to practice before leaving for the gig, in the next month before a particular show, etc. I thank my students for reminding me how much progress can happen with the proper focus and openness to learning.

I do hereby solemnly swear I will keep this site updated regularly. It’s such a breeze to get around; check out all the new events and stay tuned for more to come. We have some cool gigs coming up outside of the Chicago area and will continue to hold down the fort at our local venues as well. Do stop by and say hello.