Guatemala International Jazz Festival

From Idaho, it was straight South to Guatemala with the Blues Band.  This time, for the first time with Charenee Wade, vocal and Ben Stapp, tuba, along with LaFrae Sci, drums and yours truly at the piano and hollering.  Man, what a gas.  The first night we opened the festival with a concert on the […]

A Healing Song, AVAILABLE NOW as single

In anticipation of our new CD with The Eli Yamin Blues Band, “I Feel So Glad,”  we just released a single from the album: A Healing Song by Eli Yamin and Clifford Carlson This song is a message to the world about the healing power of the blues. It’s great to groove to and sing […]

Whole Schools Institute, Meridian, Mississippi

What a pleasure and honor it was to work with Mississippi Teachers at the Whole Schools Institute in Meridian, Mississippi July 19, 20 and 21.   3 hours a day for 3 days we worked on the workshop version of Nora’s Ark, the jazz musical by myself and Clifford Carlson.  Some folks started out with a […]

Santiago, Chile

Why do I LOVE the blues so much? It’s the universal language of the heart. It brings people together and makes them happy. It’s full of passion, spirit, harmony, melody and rhythm.  So much RHYTHM! We spent the final week of the tour giving workshops and concerts in Santiago and around Santiago.  What a gas […]

Iquique, Chile

After our show in Curico, we headed North to Iquique, Chile.  Our concert was on the in front of the Municipal Theatre in Hemicicio Plaza, Central Square.  It was organized by the great jazz and blues enthusiast, Alvaro Gomez. We met many eager young musicians after the show and of course, invited them to an […]

Fishin’ Blues in Southern Chile

Seems like everywhere we go in Chile people like fish! So do we and Fishin’ Blues is perfect for the occasion.  The message of the song is “many fish bite if you’ve got good bait.”  We love singing this song as much as we love PESCADO FRITO! Here are two clips from Southern Chile.  The […]

Talca, Chile

We arrived here Wednesday and saw many devastated buildings.  The only place the concert could be held was in an art gallery.  The gallery was gorgeous, decked out with super-fine works of art both modern and classic.  Again, Chileans blew us away with their resilience.  Life is incredibly vibrant here.  And the will of the […]

Chillan, Chile

Arrived in Chile last Saturday.  Had a day to visit Pablo Neruda’s house in Santiago then headed South to the area hardest hit by the Earthquake in late February.  We have been blown away by the warmth of the people down here.  Chileans LOVE the BLUES!

Fortaleza, Brazil

What a piano!  It’s amazing how the possibilities open with a fine Steinway instrument at my fingertips.  We opened the concert with our new arrangement of the spiritual, “Trouble of the World.”  After hearing this arrangement, one person observed, “Now I know where John Coltrane and those guys were coming from!”  It’s true, African American […]

American Bi-National Center

Last night was an amazing experience.  We performed for students, diplomats and friends of the American Bi-National Center in Recife.  This is a place that teaches classes in English.  Of course, we saw it as the perfect opportunity to invite the Maracatou kids from Corpos Percussivos.  We were so knocked out to perform two songs […]