Secret Society

Mein beileid

Deepest sympathies to my host nation and their excellent musicians, and biergartens. Soccer glory may have eluded them tonight, but bigband glory awaits on Friday and Saturday.

Celebration, it surrounds us

Tomorrow, I fly to Europe and begin rehearsing with the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra for a pair of back-to-back shows. On Friday, July 9, we perform at Stadtgarten in Cologne, Germany. On Saturday, July 10, we perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Yesterday, the Dutch team stunned the soccer world by upsetting World Cup favorites Brazil, 2-1. This morning, the Germans dealt Argentina a crushing 4-0 defeat. Both teams have advanced to World Cup semis, and might well face each other in the July 11 finals.

I think the correlation here is clear  -- if you want to secure international sporting glory for your nation, you really ought to book a bigband gig for me somewhere within your borders during the tournament. You know, just to be safe.