Oh psk, in regards of me heading up to NOVA or DC. I had a guy from Lockheed call me yesterday. He told me to hit him up after this summer semester and if my cum GPA is good enough he'll try to set me up with some people to get an internship up there.
Yes, I'm familiar & enjoy both Jane Monheit and Melody Gardot... Melody has a nice quality to her voice which just great for jazz, I think.
Yeah, a few good "newer" guys up there too. I dunno, but I kinda never considered Branford as a "new" guy. I know it sounds weird, but I guess its just cuz he's been around for so long, vs some of the guys who have only been around for the past few years. Ultimately, I guess it comes down to the material these new guys play. I prefer older/traditional tunes, but a lot of new guys probably want to stay away from that stuff in an attempt to differentiate themselves. Nothing against their talent or technical ability... just down to music preference for me, I suppose.
Anyway, can't go wrong with Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton!
I always thought of Branford as kinda the "leader of the new school". I was very lucky to have seen him several times in the 90s. I'm excited about his new release that's coming shortly called 4 MFers Playing (or something like that). Some of the vids I posted when the thread was young are gone so I'm reposting this.