Playing Last Week in the Kevmobile (and Other Conveyances)

OK, this is an abbreviated post (and it's a day late, because I was exhausted from yesterday's 12-hour bus trip), but I can't let a week go by without giving a shout-out to some of the bands I've been listening to recently, no matter what vehicle I might be in at the time:

• MONDAY: Dan Haerle, Jack Mouse and Bob Bowman, The Truth of the Matter An excellent piano trio (with some synth enhancements) led by my former jazz professor. (It's so cool to hear an original of Dan's and think, "Hey, that was really hard when it was assigned in Improv IV.")


• TUESDAY: Mike Murley/David Occhipinti, Duologue, Vol. 2. Guitar/sax duo (a format that's of great interest to me at the moment) from Canada explores a variety of styles, mixing originals and standards.


• WEDNESDAY (on the bus): Roy Hargrove, Earfood, and Snarky Puppy, Bring Us the Bright. As we drove through Oklahoma and Missouri, I listened to tunes by artists who got their start in Texas.


• THURSDAY-SATURDAY: Nothing. The trips from the hotel to the performing arts center took less than ten minutes, and even on the trip into downtown St. Louis on Saturday, I spent my time not with headphones on my head, but rather doing this odd thing called "talking to people." I wish I could do more of this while I'm driving.


• SUNDAY (on the bus back home): Tim Collins, Fade, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Winterwood, and the eponymous debut by Speak. In my effort to chronicle lots of new tunes, I don't do a lot of reruns (or if I do, it's on a day when the logged album is completed and I still have driving time left), but today was devoted to a few old favorites to make the long trip go faster.

So this may not seem like a lot of music for a pair of 12-hour bus rides, but, well...the bus had a DVD player, and I also got to see four movies that I hadn't seen before (and one other that was a rerun to me). But the new music has already resumed, and I'll recap the week ahead next Sunday.