Secret Society

Lemme get a Newport

My friends, a reminder that today is the last day to get discounted tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival -- you need but click here and enter the promo code "BIGBAND." Secret Society's will be appearing there on Saturday, August 4, and the lineup for both Saturday and Sunday is outstanding. We are thrilled to be returning to this historic festival, still going strong after all these years.

Also, if for some reason you have never seen the classic concert film from Newport '58, Jazz on a Summer's Day, you need to go right now and put it at the top of your Netflix instant queue. The performances (Monk, Louis, Jimmy Giuffre, Chico Hamilton, Mahalia Jackson, a sky-high Anita O'Day) are breathtaking, and the cinematography is truly beautiful -- it's easily among the best concert films of all time.

Like 80 roman candles that backfired then slammed you

My co-conspirators and I make our return to Le Poisson Rouge for a show on May 22 -- downbeat is 10:30 PM. Tickets may be had here. 

It's a bit of a birthday gig for both me and the band: my personal odometer turns over another year at midnight that night, and May 22 is just a few days shy of the 7th anniversary of the first-ever Secret Society show. (May 29, 2005 at CBGB, for the record.) My official reaction to this is: "Holy crap have I really been at this for seven motherfucking years?" Once you start indulging your bigband habit, it's all a blur...

Seriously, though, this seems an approriate time for me to thank all of you for all of your support -- most especially those of you who have been coming to see us since those early shows at CB's and the Bowery Poetry Club. We did not get where we are because of a big record label push or a glitzy PR campaign or by riding on the coattails of famous people. Whatever success we've had, we've had because you guys started coming to our shows and telling your friends about the band. And now, thanks to you, Secret Society gets to play all over the world, and I get to make writing and performing music the focus of my life. That's pretty rad.

Here are a few of the things we have coming up after that May 22 LPR show:

• In early June, we are going to Brazil. Secret Society is playing the BMW Jazz Festival -- we'll be in São Paolo on June 10 and Rio de Janeiro on June 13. Brazil! I can scarsely wait. Such a staggering variety of inventive, grooving, deeply soulful sounds originating from there...
• The day after we get back from Brazil, I'm heading up to West Point where I will be the composer-in-residence for the 2012 Jazz Knights Composer's Forum. I'll be giving masterclasses, working with selected composer participants, and premiering a newly comissioned work: "Codebreaker," my tribute to Alan Turing, written to commemorate his 100th birthday.
• Immediately after the Composer's Forum wraps, I'll be taking Secret Society into the studio to record the music from Brooklyn Babylon. A lot of you have been asking me "When is the next record coming out?" and now I finally have an answer for you: it's coming out in the spring of 2013.
• On August 4, Secret Society returns to the Newport Jazz Festival. Have you seen this year's lineup? You really should. Also, if you act quickly, you can get a discounted one-day or two-day pass --- use the promo code "BIGBAND".
• There is something else cool really happening later in August that I can't tell you about yet, but stay tuned.

In my heart I have but one desire

National Cherry Blossom Festival — on now! (Image simulated.)

This week, my co-conspirators and I will mounting our second incursion into The Nation's Capital -- we'll be assembling at the Atlas Performing Arts Center for an 8:00 PM hit on Wednesday, April 4. Full details and tickets may be procured here.

Last time we were in DC (just over a year ago), it was for one of the most memorable double-headers in Secret Society history. We began the evening with a performance at Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage -- video evidence of this can be had on our YouTube channel -- after which, we joined Richmond VA's Fight The Big Bull for an underground show in an alternative venue, i.e., a house party in someone's basement. [This writeup (with photos) on CapitalBop.com captures something of the flavor of the event.]

As you might expect, the two crowds couldn't have been more different, but we of the Society pride ourselves on putting on a great show no matter the setting. Posh theatres or grimy clubs, cherry tree-lined parks or feral ghoul-infested Metro tunnels, it's all the same to us.