Amazing Spring!
This spring has been a pretty incredible explosion of performing and creativity! I’m happy to say it’s been the busiest time professionally of my life thus far. Some highlights have included the release of my latest album Fallen Angeles by The Daniel Rosenboom Septet and very successful performances by that same group at Los Angeles’s Blue Whale and Royal/T, New York City’s The Stone, and the Santa Barbara New Music Series. Also, this spring saw the formation of the Daniel Rosenboom Quartet, featuring Rory Cowal, Matt Mayhall, and Dominic Thiroux. This is an exciting new group and I’m really looking forward to expanding both my own personal improvisational language, as well as our group rapport in the coming months.
Here’s a video from the Septet’s CD release show at Blue Whale in Los Angeles (with live video art by Kio Griffith):
In February, I had the distinct honor of working closely with two Los Angeles musical titans whom I greatly admire and respect, namely Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and Geoff Gallegos (aka Double G). First I was delighted to perform with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson‘s stellar ensemble for their performance at the Natural History Museum’s “First Fridays” series. This was an awesome performance featuring some of incredible musicians, including Evan Francis on flute, Joey Dosik on alto and voice, Kamasi Washington on tenor, Garrett Smith on trombone, Rebekah Raff on harp, Marcel Camargo on guitar, Brandon Coleman on keys, Edwin Livingston on bass, and Gene Coye on drums, as well as Miguel on violin and myself on trumpet. Secondly, I was truly proud to be a part of GG’s epic jazz recording vision for his NineNet. In residence at Salon de la Plaza in Boyle Heights every Thursday in February, the NineNet recorded multiple live takes of 40 different songs composed and arranged by GG in front of a loyal and appreciative audience. This was a truly ambitious project and will result in a record release (possibly multiple releases) later this year. That group included Chris Bautista and myself on trumpet, Shaunte Palmer on trombone, Tracy Wannomae on alto, Matthew DeMerritt on tenor, Geoff Gallegos (GG) on bari, Emile Porée on guitar, JP Maramba on bass, and Miles Senzaki on drums.
In March The Industrial Jazz Group made a whirlwind trip to Milano, Italy, to perform at Teatro Manzoni as part of their Sunday brunch series. We performed in front of 900 enthusiastic Italians and really achieved new musical heights as a group! Upon return an electric version of my sextet recorded for a video documentary series detailing the underground jazz scene in Los Angeles – more details on that as they become available. Also in March, I had the distinct honor of playing principal trumpet with the Long Beach Opera, which has continued through May, and performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group in their Green Umbrella concert series, which I did again in early April.
April saw two milestone creative moments for me – one was performing with my septet, DR. MiNT, and the Vinny Golia Sextet at The Stone in New York City. I have long wanted to perform my music at this venue as I have a great reverence for the scene surrounding it and the output of John Zorn and his associates. Also in April, RootSystem was joined by Miguel-Atwood Ferguson’s Quartetto Fantastico for a month-long residency at the Blue Whale in Los Angeles, which was a truly epic experience, culminating in consecutive sold out shows and a ton of new music learned and performed!
May has been a month of spectacular growth for me personally, as I was able to perform 3 time with my quartet and once with my septet, in addition to performances with PLOTZ!, Orkestar Meze, RootSystem, NineNet, Long Beach Opera, the Vinny Golia Sextet, and begin a new band with Fabrice Martinez from Fishtank Ensemble called Califa. It seemed in May that I was performing in a different project almost every night of the week. So much playing yielded a swell in both ability, confidence, and creativity that has me very excited. This culminated with the Los Angeles Jazz Collective‘s Memorial Day Weekend Festival, which hosted both my septet and the Vinny Golia Sextet.
Here is the entire Septet performance from the Los Angeles Jazz Collective’s Memorial Day Weekend Festival from their live stream:
Following that epic performance Rachel Cantrell of The Jazz Post did a really nice interview with me, which you can read here: http://www.thejazzpost.com/lajc-memoweefest-daniel-rosenboom/
Entering June, I’m looking forward to another month filled with performances, especially by PLOTZ!. We start with an amazing night of gypsy music at the Bootleg Theater tonight (June 1st), as well as two performances at Bar Lubitsch and Bordello Bar next week. On June 12th, I’ll be performing with RootSystem again, and on June 15th with Califa. Orkestar Meze continues our first-friday residency at Rusty’s Surf Ranch, which will continue through the summer.
All told, this has been an amazing spring and I’m looking forward to an amazing summer!
