GA Russell

When I think of Flying Dutchman, I think of Leon Thomas.

No idea!

In 1959 and 1960, my favorite team was the Senators. I thought he was terrible. I didn't know there was such a thing as a negative WAR! As soon as Zorro Versailles (aka Zoilo) came up, Valdivielso was gone. Nevertheless, RIP. I'm happy for him that he enjoyed a long life, and was a big shot among the Hispanic New Yorkers.

Free Agent analysis https://3downnation.com/2025/03/06/what-the-hamilton-tiger-cats-paid-their-2025-free-agent-signings-how-they-fit-into-the-roster/ ***** The Lions and the Bombers led the league with most Canadians on the field for the most snaps, and as a result they will both receive an extra draft pick at the end of the second round. https://3downnation.com/2025/03/07/b-c-lions-winnipeg-blue-bombers-awarded-extra-second-round-pick-in-2025-cfl-draft-for-most-canadian-snaps-played/ ***** Andre Bolduc has agreed to be the Bombers running backs coach. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/07/bombers-add-andre-bolduc-billy-jean-to-2025-coaching-staff/ https://3downnation.com/2025/03/07/winnipeg-blue-bombers-add-andre-bolduc-billy-jean-to-2025-coaching-staff/ ***** Terry Wilson has died at 83. RIP. https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/terry-wilson-who-helped-stampeders-win-1971-grey-cup-dead-at-83-1.2266761 https://3downnation.com/2025/03/07/former-stampeders-elks-defensive-back-terry-wilson-dead-at-83/ ***** Henry Burris will be Florida A&M's assistant head coach this year. https://3downnation.com/2025/03/06/cfl-legend-henry-burris-promoted-to-assistant-head-coach-at-florida-am-university/ ***** Combine news https://www.cfl.ca/cfl-combine-historical-results/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/06/3-things-to-know-about-the-cfl-combine/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/07/photo-gallery-iconic-moments-at-the-cfl-combine/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/07/argos-mital-proof-that-strong-cfl-combine-can-turn-it-all-around/

Jose Valdivielso has died at 90. RIP. I had no idea that he became well known in the New York area as a broadcaster. https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/port-jefferson-station-ny/jose-valdivielso-12270432

March 8 Mississippi John Hurt - 1893 Dick Hyman - 1927 George Coleman - 1935 Gabor Szabo - 1936 Mickey Dolenz - 1945 Randy Meisner - 1946 Little Peggy March - 1948 Gary Numan - 1958

Guitarist Bobby Broom Joins Chicago Jazz Orchestra & Strings On "More Amor," Wes Montgomery Tribute CD Due March 28 From Chicago Jazz Orchestra Records Album Release Concert with Broom & CJO Takes Place Sunday, March 16, 3pm Logan Center Performance Hall, Chicago Broom Also at Work on a Trio Recording In Tribute to His Mentor & Former Longtime Employer Sonny Rollins & Is Planning to Record His First Solo Guitar Album   March 6, 2025 Acclaimed guitarist Bobby Broom is the featured soloist on a new recording by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, More Amor: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery, due for release March 28 on Chicago Jazz Orchestra Records. The brainchild of CJO musical director/conductor Jeff Lindberg and Broom, the recording began with a seed planted in 2004, after Broom’s successful Montgomery retrospective concert performance with the big band and strings. “I was thrilled when Jeff contacted me about finally getting to work on this recording,” says Broom. “Seeing this vision through was an important collaboration for both of us.” For this recording, Broom and Lindberg enlisted three arrangers—Alex Brown, Tom Garling, and Charley Harrison—to create brand-new arrangements of some familiar and not-so-familiar Montgomery material, including “Four on Six,” “Somewhere,” and “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” Of particular significance for Broom is the fact that his longtime trio (bassist Dennis Carroll, drummer Kobie Watkins) make up the core rhythm section for the album. “For me, this project is a dream,” says Bobby. “Having the trio included was a no-brainer and provided a level of comfort and inspiration for me to create. For years I’ve longed to record in this setting, particularly with strings. But to do so in such majestic fashion, with this ultra-swinging big band, is beyond my wildest dreams.” Broom’s trio went into the Sound Mine Recording Studio in Chicago in late 2024 to record tracks dedicated to Bobby’s mentor and former employer of ten years, Sonny Rollins. With a working title of TYSR (Thank You Sonny Rollins), Broom, Carroll, and Watkins recast Rollins’s compositions from different eras in the Saxophone Colossus’s career. “Sonny has left us so much music to draw from, from so many periods in his long career,” says Broom. “I wanted to try to touch on some of the gems, like ‘Alfie’s Theme’ and ‘Strode Road,’ but also some more recent and perhaps hidden ones, like ‘Allison’ and ‘Kim.’” In further recording news, Bobby plans to begin recording his first solo guitar album in the spring of 2026, and he announces the re-release of Stand!, his first trio album from 2001 with the Bobby Broom Trio, featuring Dennis Carroll and Dana Hall on bass and drums respectively. The album has been digitally remastered and will be available on all major streaming platforms, via Clean Sweep Music (release date pending). Having recently performed a successful three-night run at the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, Greece, as well as performances at Berklee College of Music and City Winery Chicago, Broom continues to keep his schedule of bookings full. On Fri. 4/4, he’ll be part of a Benny Golson Tribute with the Ravinia Jazz Mentors at Bennett Gordon Hall, Ravinia Festival Grounds, Highland Park, IL. The Jazz Scholar Program is one of the Ravinia Festival’s many community outreach arms. It involves professional jazz musicians working closely with jazz-aspiring, Chicago-area high schoolers. Over the years, the program has yielded players like Marquis Hill, Rajiv Halim, Kyle Swan, and Isaiah Collier. Broom has been a Ravinia Jazz mentor for 25 years. Broom performs with the Ben Paterson Organ Trio at Chicago’s Jazz Showcase 4/10-13. Paterson is a member of the Bobby Broom Organi-Sation, which toured with Steely Dan in 2014 and is featured on that trio’s 2024 Jamalot CD. This fall (10/15), Broom will perform with the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra at Daniels Pavilion, Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, FL. And of course he’s looking forward to the More Amor CD release concert this month (Sun. 3/16 at 3pm), at Logan Center Performance Hall, 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago. “This concert premiere will be an important event for Jazz from the city of Chicago during this time,” notes Broom. “It will be a celebration and demonstration of the excellence that went into the making of this remarkable recording.” Photography: Tom Chadwick    Behind the Scenes: Wes Montgomery Tribute Album with the CJO & Bobby Broom  Bobby Broom Web Site  

RIP Roy Ayers! I saw him twice with Herbie Mann, when they had recorded these two albums.

Free Agent analysis https://3downnation.com/2025/03/05/what-the-ottawa-redblacks-paid-their-2025-free-agent-signings-how-they-fit-into-the-roster/ ***** Combine news https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/04/5-eye-popping-stats-from-cfl-combine-participants/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/05/10-current-cfl-players-who-raised-their-stock-at-the-cfl-combine/ ***** Rob Ralph will be the Lions' new Assistant GM https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/05/lions-promote-rob-ralph-to-assistant-general-manager-add-scout-will-ark/ https://3downnation.com/2025/03/05/b-c-lions-promote-longtime-scout-rob-ralph-to-assistant-general-manager/ ***** Jack Morneau has died at 99. RIP. https://3downnation.com/2025/03/04/ottawa-redblacks-mourn-grey-cup-champion-jack-morneau/ ***** Steve Charbonneau will be a Conservative candidate for a Quebec seat in the upcoming federal election. https://3downnation.com/2025/03/05/longtime-cfl-player-steve-charbonneau-to-run-for-conservative-party-in-federal-election/ *****

Happy Mardi Gras! Did anyone have pancakes for breakfast this morning? I have opened up this $4.99 cutout I purchased over twenty years ago. Great '50s New Orleans R&B. This is a 30-song single disc compilation taken from the 4-CD box of the same name.

Technicolor is going out of business. https://variety.com/2025/film/news/technicolor-begins-to-shut-down-1236319436/

Dakota Prukop has agreed to become the Stamps' quarterback coach. I suspect that he will be available to join the game roster in an emergency. https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/03/stamps-name-dakota-prukop-quarterbacks-coach/ https://3downnation.com/2025/03/03/calgary-stampeders-hire-longtime-cfl-player-dakota-prukop-as-qb-coach/ ***** Eastern analysis https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/03/mmqb-answering-some-east-division-questions/ ***** More Combine news https://www.cfl.ca/combine/2025-cfl-combine/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/03/03/5-interesting-stories-from-top-invitational-combine-prospects/ ***** Sask analyses https://3downnation.com/2025/03/02/opinion-riders-president-craig-reynolds-still-searching-for-sustained-success-10-years-later/ https://pifflespodcast.com/blog/riderville-roundup-march-2/ ***** Five former CFL players have joined U Alberta's coaching staff. https://3downnation.com/2025/03/03/alberta-golden-bears-finalize-coaching-staff-featuring-five-former-cfl-players/ ***** BMO Field will receive a $150 million upgrade. https://3downnation.com/2025/03/03/bmo-field-home-of-toronto-argonauts-to-receive-150-million-in-upgrades-for-2026-fifa-world-cup/

I saw a number of tweets over the weekend (none with links) that said... 1) Hackman may have been dead for three weeks before his body was discovered. 2) Mrs. Hackman's body was found in another room with a bottle of pills. 3) The dog was found in a closet, and may have died from thirst.

I had a bad experience with Cigar Place. As a first-time customer, they wanted me to send them a copy of my driver's license. I told them that that wasn't going to happen. They said there was no Plan B, so I cancelled the order. Both their email and their rep sounded like they were reading from a script, so I guess this is their standard procedure.

I have been using mostly Vivaldi. I have had Brave on my desktop, but at your suggestion I am using it more. I read last week that Google is now insisting on the right to read your entire hard drive for any reason. So I suppose I will not be using Chrome anymore. I used Firefox many years ago. I didn't know it was still active!

AJ Ouelette has lost 25 pounds, and looks good. https://3downnation.com/2025/03/01/riders-rb-a-j-ouellette-reveals-25-pound-weight-loss-newly-shredded-physique/ ***** Free Agent analysis https://pifflespodcast.com/blog/jeremy-oday-does-excellent-job-of-addressing-riders-biggest-offensive-needs-in-offseason/

After Two Decades of Playing Together, the Billy Hart Quartet – with Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson and Ben Street – is Distinguished by its Stylistic Openness on Just New York Times Feature "No one works the toms like the untouchable Hart, and his work alongside Street for the last 20-plus years continues to impress, especially alongside the effusively ornate Iverson. Adding Turner’s bending clarion calls makes for some bold playing." — DownBeat "Hart shows no signs of slowing down with his elite quartet; once again delivering top shelf contemporary fare." — Glide Magazine After twenty-plus years of shared activity, the Billy Hart Quartet – with Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson and Ben Street – is still distinguished by its stylistic openness, a consequence of setting out to embrace all the things that drummer-leader Hart likes to play. “If ever there was an example of contemporary jazz that draws extensively on all the ‘traditions’ while infusing some of the melodic clarity associated with the more challenging end of popular song, then this is it,” wrote Kevin Le Gendre in Jazzwise of the quartet’s album One Is The Other. A drummer of enormous experience, who has played through many of jazz’s idiomatic upheavals, Billy Hart, now 84, favors a ‘multi-directional’ sound approach, and his younger confrères respond accordingly, each piece subtly opening another door. The quartet is an alliance of four highly individual improvisers. As pianist Ethan Iverson has noted: “A jazz group is a sensitive mechanism. You’ve got to play together and listen hard, but there’s also a way you need to stay your own course.” It helps that the group has three strong writers in Iverson, Turner and Hart himself. Iverson contributes four contrasting compositions to Just: the sly, floating “Chamber Music”, the eruptively motoric “Aviation”, the abstract blues “South Hampton”, and the pretty, lilting “Showdown.” Mark Turner and Hart himself each bring three tunes. Turner’s pieces are “Billy’s Waltz”, both a graceful dance and a vehicle for blues-conscious swing, the up-tempo vamp “Top of the Middle”, and the freely expressive “Bo Brussels” with a theme that continues to unwind in unexpected ways. Hart’s contributions include updates of two of his well-known tunes, “Layla-Joy” and “Naaj”, both returned to on multiple occasions in his long career, and the title piece, whose emphatic beat may trigger memories of the days when Billy was the driving force in Herbie Hancock’s band, or Eddie Harris’s. In this group, older pieces are made new. The present take of “Layla-Joy” opens with Mark Turner phrasing like Coltrane in ballad mode, before the tender melody is splintered and the group moves into spacious and exploratory group improvising. In an interview with Jazz Times, in the early days of the BHQ, Hart said of his colleagues: “They’re brilliant contemporary conceptualists. Playing my older tunes, I’m not playing any freer with anybody than I play with them. Mark profoundly understands Coltrane, but also has total command of Lennie Tristano’s vocabulary. With Ethan, it’s like playing with Thelonious Monk or Andrew Hill one minute and Herbie Hancock the next.” It has remained a forward-looking group thoroughly grounded in the music’s history. * Billy Hart first appeared on ECM half a century ago, on Bennie Maupin’s classic The Jewel In The Lotus in 1974, returning in the 1990s as Charles Lloyd’s drummer of choice to play on The Call, Canto, All My Relations and Lift Every Voice. The Billy Hart Quartet with Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson and Ben Street was formed in 2003 and, after a debut album issued on the High Note label in 2006, came to ECM for All Our Reasons in 2012, which also marked first appearances at the label for Ethan Iverson and Ben Street. In addition to the BHQ work, Turner and Iverson collaborated on the duo album Temporary Kings (2018), and Billy Hart and Ben Street reappeared as rhythm section for Aaron Parks on Find The Way (2017). Saxophonist Mark Turner has recorded also as a leader for ECM, his discography including Lathe of Heaven (2014), and Return from the Stars (2022), as well as albums with the cooperative trio Fly (Sky and Country and Year of the Snake). Bassist Ben Street’s credits include work with the quartet of another veteran drum innovator, Andrew Cyrille (on The Declaration of Musical Independence and The News). Street was also featured as part of the Ethan Iverson Quartet on the live album Common Practice (2019). * Just was recorded in New York’s Sound On Sound Studios in December 2021. For further information: Billy Hart, Drummer :: Official Website and www.ecmrecords.com Billy Hart · Just ECM · Release Date: February 28, 2025 For more information on ECM, please visit: ECMRecords.com | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter # # #  

ELLA FITZGERALD’S UNEARTHED LIVE CONCERT ALBUM RELEASED THE MOMENT OF TRUTH: ELLA AT THE COLISEUM OUT NOW FEBRUARY 28TH ON VERVE RECORDS THE FIRST LADY OF SONG MEETS THE DUKE’S MEN ALBUM RECORDED AT 1967 CONCERT WITH MEMBERS OF THE DUKE ELLINGTON ORCHESTRA “IN A MELLOW TONE” ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEO OUT NOW WATCH Early Praise for The Moment Of Truth: “Ella packed the house and still packed a punch.” — Jazz Weekly “One of the countless examples of Ella Fitzgerald thrilling an audience with her talents.” — LIFE “Ella sounds exuberant.” — WRTI “A glorious celebration of Fitzgerald’s genius” MOJO ★★★★ ““Another remarkable musical treasure has emerged from the vaults of Verve Records.” — Jazzwise (March ‘25 issue) ★★★★ February 28, 2025 — Today, Verve Records shares a new and never-before-released live concert album from the First Lady Of Song, Ella Fitzgerald. The Moment of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum, is out now on all formats. The recordings were mixed and mastered in stunning clarity from the original analog multitrack tapes, resulting in pristine high-fidelity audio typically unheard of for a live concert recording of that era. Listen to the album here and watch the animated music video for “In A Mellow Tone,” directed by Sharon Liu, here. The Moment Of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum on June 30, 1967, and was recently unearthed in the private tape collection of Verve Records founder Norman Granz. The album spans nine tracks, most never heard before, and features Ella accompanied by members of The Duke Ellington Orchestra at its prime. The resulting recordings underscore Ella’s reputation as a renowned live performer (“utter perfection, personified” —The New York Times). There was never a moment when Ella didn’t deliver; every night was her Moment of Truth. This live album marks a particularly interesting time in Ella’s career. In the summer of 1967, she was in the middle of an especially rewarding three-year tour run and recording collaboration with Duke Ellington, and was incorporating hit pop songs of the late-60s into her concert repertoire—two of which are presented here for the first time on record; “Alfie” and “Music To Watch Girls By” are both standouts on The Moment of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum. Encouraged by members of The Duke Ellington Orchestra on stage with her, Ella is both playful and powerful— she cracks jokes with the audience before stunning them with her unrivaled voice. Ella’s band includes the rarely-heard but hard-swinging trio of Jimmy Jones, Bob Cranshaw, and Sam Woodyard, while the Ellington band captured here at its peak, featured Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges and Russell Procope. The First Lady Of Song meets The Duke’s Men — and it’s something to behold. THE MOMENT OF TRUTH: ELLA AT THE COLISEUM 1. The Moment Of Truth - 2:52 2. Don’t Be That Way - 4:33 3. You’ve Changed - 4:37 4. Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) - 4:43 5. Bye Bye Blackbird - 5:02 6. Alfie - 5:43 7. In A Mellow Tone - 4:41 8. Music To Watch Girls By - 3:56 9. Mack The Knife - 4:53 Recorded at The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA on June 30, 1967. BAND DETAILS: Ella Fitzgerald – vocals The trio: Jimmy Jones – piano Bob Cranshaw – bass Sam Woodyard – drums Members of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra: Trumpets: Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Herbie Jones, Cootie Williams Trombones: Lawrence Brown, Chuck Connors, Buster Cooper Reeds: Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope # Artist and Track Title Time 1. Ella Fitzgerald - The Moment Of Truth - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 02:52 2. Ella Fitzgerald - Don’t Be That Way - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 04:34 3. Ella Fitzgerald - You’ve Changed - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 04:37 4. Ella Fitzgerald - Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 04:43 5. Ella Fitzgerald - Bye Bye Blackbird - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 05:02 6. Ella Fitzgerald - Alfie - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 05:44 7. Ella Fitzgerald - In A Mellow Tone - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 04:42 8. Ella Fitzgerald - Music To Watch Girls By - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 03:57 9. Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife - Live At The Coliseum / Oakland CA / June 30 1967 (Live At The Coliseum) 04:53 ELLA FITZGERALD THE FIRST LADY OF SONG RELEASES NEW SINGLE “LET’S DO IT (LET'S FALL IN LOVE)” FROM UNEARTHED LIVE CONCERT ALBUM WATCH THE VISUALIZER HERE THE MOMENT OF TRUTH: ELLA AT THE COLISEUM TO BE RELEASED FEBRUARY 28TH ON VERVE RECORDS February 7, 2025 — Today, Verve Records is proud to release Ella Fitzgerald’s “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love),” the second single from her never-before-released live concert album, The Moment of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum. “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” offers a sinfully playful twist on the highly esteemed Cole Porter classic from the 1928 Broadway show Paris. Ella adds her own sprinkle of magic by not only extending the chorus of the track, but by switching up the original melody and mixing in pop culture references of the time. Listen to the new single here. Watch the visualizer here. The full live album, The Moment Of Truth: Ella At The Coliseum was recorded at the Oakland Coliseum on June 30, 1967, and was recently unearthed in the private tape collection of Verve Records founder Norman Granz. The album spans nine tracks, most never heard before, and features Ella accompanied by members of The Duke Ellington Orchestra at its prime. Listen to the first single and title track “The Moment of Truth” here, watch the animated music video directed by Sharon Liu here, and pre-order the album here. Ella’s band includes the rarely-heard but hard-swinging trio of Jimmy Jones, Bob Cranshaw, and Sam Woodyard, while the Ellington band captured here at its peak, featured Cat Anderson, Cootie Williams, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges and Russell Procope. Ella alongside her band was a sight to behold. There was never a moment when she was not doing her absolute best work. The first lady of song strikes again with a song that makes you want to move to the sweet rhythms and melodies she seamlessly weaves together. “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) is sure to be food for the soul and a treat for your ears. BAND DETAILS: Ella Fitzgerald – vocals The trio: Jimmy Jones – piano Bob Cranshaw – bass Sam Woodyard – drums Members of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra: Trumpets: Cat Anderson, Mercer Ellington, Herbie Jones, Cootie Williams Trombones: Lawrence Brown, Chuck Connors, Buster Cooper Reeds: Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope Connect with ELLA FITZGERALD: Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube # Artist and Track Title Time 1. Ella Fitzgerald - Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love) (Live At The Coliseum) 04:43

Trombonist Reggie Watkins Centers Himself In, But Branches Out From, His Pittsburgh Home on "Rivers," Set for March 28 Release On BYNK Records Recording Features 12 Original Compositions, Performed by a Crack Steel City Quartet of Pianist Michael Bernabe, Bassist Eli Naragon, Drummer Jason Washington Jr. Performances Scheduled at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, Carnegie, PA (3/29); Con Alma, Pittsburgh (4/30 & 5/14); The Bop Stop, Cleveland (6/20); Small's, NYC (6/23)   February 28, 2025 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—trombonist-composer Reggie Watkins’s adopted hometown, and one of America’s richest jazz cities—is at the heart of Rivers, Watkins’s fourth album as a leader, to be released March 28 on BYNK Records. But the album doesn’t confine itself to the City of Bridges. Ever the restless explorer, Watkins uses a Pittsburgh-based, post-bop jazz quartet featuring pianist Michael Bernabe, bassist Eli Naragon and drummer Jason Washington Jr. to take on the world. Even the title of the record (the first to comprise all Watkins originals) isn’t as specific to the city as it may seem. Of course Rivers refers on one level to Pittsburgh’s geographic foundation, the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio. “You can’t get away from river culture,” Watkins says. “Whatever you do, wherever you go, there are always those three rivers you have to cross.” At the same time, however, the album (and its title track) also nods to Sam Rivers, the innovative Boston saxophonist who is one of Watkins’s inspirations. Watkins also pays tribute to other musical inspirations and friends from locations far and near. The wily opener “Blues for 3-D” is dedicated to the three D’s (trombonist, composer, and Oklahoma native David Gibson, as well as Andre Hayward and Steve Davis); playful but angular “Ocularity” tips its hat to Texan geniuses Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry; and the high-stepping “Blue 6” takes its cues both from New Yorker Thelonious Monk and from Jimmy Knepper, the California trombone great who is one of Watkins’s prime heroes. Even the far-flung locations themselves receive salutes on the album, as with the fond (and self-explanatory) closer “Shanghai Strut.” Even so, Pittsburgh—and the life and career Watkins has built for himself there—remain a constant presence on Rivers. “Hide n Seek,” with its blissful feel and affectionate romp of a trombone solo, is an ode to his children. “Meditations,” a tune that is exactly what its title promises, nonetheless suggests the placid ebb and flow of the river waters that remain the city’s defining feature. “I’ve just always had this connection to the city and the people and the jazz scene here,” the trombonist notes. “Musicians from Akron and Cleveland are coming to Pittsburgh and vice versa so now you have influences going in both directions.” Naturally, he expresses that bond in part through the powerful chemistry he shares with the album’s locally based band. “There’s special meaning to hooking up with talents like Eli, Michael, and Jason, who was only 23 when we first played together but played beyond his years,” says Watkins. Taken together, Rivers is the story of all these things rolled into one—and hence, a story of Watkins himself. Reggie Watkins was born August 24, 1971, in Wheeling, West Virginia, 60 miles outside of Pittsburgh. A music lover and aspiring brass player in his teenage years, he tried his hand at trumpet and tuba before finding the trombone in high school. He found it again, on another level, when he discovered J.J. Johnson while studying music at West Virginia University. Thereafter he dove headlong into jazz. After graduating, Watkins worked for a few years as a musician on the cruise ship circuit before moving to Pittsburgh in 1998, where he worked with noted drummer and native Pittsburgher Roger Humphries. At that point, legendary trumpeter and big bandleader Maynard Ferguson came calling, and Watkins toured with him for several years, becoming his musical director as well. From Ferguson, Watkins went to pop singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, with whom he worked for six years. Watkins recorded his first album, 2004’s A-List, while still with Ferguson, and his second, 2010’s One for Miles, One for Maynard (released in 2014), while with Mraz. His third, Avid Admirer: The Jimmy Knepper Project (featuring pianist Orrin Evans), came in 2016 after Knepper’s daughter Robin gifted Watkins her late father’s trombones. In addition, Watkins has recorded as a member of the funk ensemble Steeltown Horns, whose debut album 5 Years of Funk was released in 2023. For the last eight years, Watkins has recorded and toured with Orrin Evans and his three-time Grammy-nominated Captain Black Big Band. He is featured on their albums The Intangible Between (2020) and Walk a Mile in My Shoe (2024). The CD release show and after party will take place Sat. 3/29 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall aka The Carnegie Carnegie in Carnegie, PA (Greater Pittsburgh). Watkins will also be performing at Con Alma in Pittsburgh, Wed. 4/30 and Wed. 5/14, as well as at The Bop Stop, Cleveland, Fri. 6/20 and Smalls, NYC, Mon. 6/23. Interview with CBS/Pittsburgh (February 2025) Photography: Sienna Watkins    EPK: Reggie Watkins "Rivers"  Reggie Watkins Web Site  

Combine results https://www.cfl.ca/2025/02/28/invitational-combine-leaderboard-top-5-from-every-drill-2/ https://3downnation.com/2025/02/28/top-results-from-the-2025-cfl-invitational-combine/ https://www.cfl.ca/2025/02/28/11-advance-following-invitational-combine/ https://3downnation.com/2025/02/28/cfl-promotes-11-prospects-from-invitational-combine-to-national-including-pair-of-quarterbacks/ ***** Richie Sindani has retired. https://3downnation.com/2025/02/28/toronto-argonauts-receiver-richie-sindani-taking-year-off-from-cfl-moved-to-retired-list/

I've never been much of a film buff, but I've seen all five of those. My feeling at the time (and I may have been wrong) was that not many people saw Night Moves. I enjoyed it.

Free Agent analysis https://3downnation.com/2025/02/27/what-the-calgary-stampeders-paid-their-2025-free-agent-signings-how-they-fit-into-the-roster/ ***** More on the Combine https://www.cfl.ca/2025/02/27/5-players-to-watch-at-the-invitational-combine/ ***** BC uniform numbers https://3downnation.com/2025/02/27/b-c-lions-unveil-numbers-for-free-agent-signings/ ***** The Redblacks' training camp this year will be at Queen's in Kingston. https://3downnation.com/2025/02/27/ottawa-redblacks-to-host-2025-training-camp-in-kingston-sources/