Guatemala Jazz Tour 2016

Thanks to the United States Department of State and The Jazz Drama Program, this was our third tour to Guatemala. What a privilege it was to visit this beautiful country and play for the amazing Guatemalan People! Joined by longtime friends and associates, LaFrae Sci, drums/compositions, Lakecia Benjamin, alto saxophone and Elias Bailey, bass, the […]

Back in New York City

Back in New York City this week we performed at Intermediate School 291: Roland Hayes School in Brooklyn with the Eli Yamin Trio and The Magic and Mechanics of Jazz.  Drummer Dwayne “Cook” Broadnax and bassist Elias Bailey have been performing this show with me for ten years and this time it was different.  We […]

Abakan, Siberia

Dlya menya ehto ne prosto pesnya Sdelai vdoch ee ti poymesh Ya ee bleus vso vremya vmeste Dushevny blues Dushevy blues Russian translation by Ludmila Borisova A Healing Song by Eli Yamin and Clifford Carlson from the jazz musical “Message From Saturn”       We had the good fortune to visit the music school […]

U.S. Embassy in Moscow

We returned to Moscow to perform at the Independence Day Celebration at Spaso House, where U.S. Ambassador McFaul resides with his family.  We enjoyed our conversation with the Ambassador and hearing from him first hand what it’s like to work closely with President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.  He was incredibly generous with his […]

Krasnoyarsk, Siberia

We arrived in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia early in the morning on July 1, drummer LaFrae Sci’s Birthday. She was the first of the band off the plane and immediately received the warmth and welcome of the local people. When we got to the hotel, we found the International Music Festival in full swing with musicians from […]

Help us record Holding the Torch for Liberty, the jazz musical about women’s suffrage

    We have launched a campaign through the website Kickstarter to raise funds to record Holding the Torch for Liberty, our jazz musical about women’s suffrage.  Please help us reach our goal by December 31.  The way Kickstarter works, if we don’t reach our goal, we don’t get any of the money.  Please help […]

Montenegro Premiere of Nora’s Ark, the jazz musical by Eli Yamin and Clifford Carlson

What an unbelievable week we had in Montenegro at Jazz Art Jam, celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month, a co-production with Jazz Art Montenegro and The Jazz Drama Program with support from the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro, the municipality and Porto Montenegro.  I never dreamed that this production of Nora’s Ark could take off the way it […]

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival 2011

  What a phenomenal festival this is.  7,000 young people from all over the Northwest descend on Moscow, Idaho where they are embraced by the entire University of Idaho community.  And I mean the whole community from the president to the freshmen and families in neighborhoods.  Students, teachers, jazz fans and curious bystanders are all […]

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 […]

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 […]