I just got back a few days ago from a tour I went on with Paul Giallorenzo's band, GitGo. We hit the midwest and northeastern United States, as well as one night in Canada. We had a great time in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Montreal, Buffalo, and Detroit, and returned to a warm hometown audience in Chicago. What a pleasure to see so many old friends, and to have a chance to meet some new ones too! I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd visited Buffalo - eight years! - nor could I believe that it had been six since I had seen Montreal or Detroit. I'm thankful that all of these places are still going strong, it's a lucky thing to bet to travel with great people and play creative music for people who care to listen. Many thanks to Paul, Mars, Jeb, and Jeremy for the good times and great war stories.

As for the future, I'm playing tonight with some friends from Amsterdam, who are here to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Bimhuis, which is a fantastic club in Amsterdam. One of the best in the world, really. I've had the good fortune to play there twice in my life, and I hope to play there again someday. There is a strong connection between the improvised music scenes of Chicago and Amsterdam, and I'm happy to be a part of that continuum. Very much looking forward to playing music from the Amsterdam Real Book for tonight's concert.

And, next week, there's something special coming. I'll be bringing a band to the Hungry Brain on 12/7. Just found out last night that I'll be doing this, so not quite sure yet what band it's going to be. But, I'm sure it will be worth your while to come out, if only for the reason that it's the second-to-last week of the weekly Transmission Series that has been going on at the Brain for the last dozen or so years. It started up just before I came to town, and I've been a regular there pretty much since I set foot in Chicago. So, it's a great honor to be asked to play there for the penultimate week of the series. Come if you can, no reason to miss it! Okay, time for me to get warmed up for tonight...