Hello everyone! Here is my end-of-summer ramble. First: the bad news!

I had a rough road for several months last spring health-wise with a herniated disk, causing severe sciatica in my right leg - to the point where I lost strength and control. Very scary. I had to cancel some important gigs last summer including Bill Evans and Randy Brecker's Soul Bop project.

However, after a back operation, I am back in business. Note to all you drummers: TAKE CARE OF YOUR BACKS!!! It will hit you without warning, and believe me, it is debilitating!

Right now, I am local in NYC for the most part, recording tracks in my studio for clients, and doing local gigs around town with Chrissi Poland  (www.chrissipoland.com). Chris Tarry (from Metalwood - www.christarry.com), Adam Klipple, and I have a band: "The New Unmentionables," and we've been getting it together to go to Canada in the Fall-Winter.

I'm also doing hits with Oz Noy (www.oznoy.com), Vinny Valentino (www.vinny.com), Dean Scala (www.deanscala.com), and all the usual suspects. I finished up a new drum sample CD called "Primal Drums" with my friend Gilad, a fantastic Israeli percussionist! Gilad's percussion and my drum parts were recorded at CliffSound, my home studio, and I am proud of the quality coming out of there. "Primal Drums" will be available this Fall from Big Fish Audio.

Speaking of CliffSound...

I did a major upgrade to Apogee converters and got a Universal Audio 2-610 for my overheads, and ADK custom shop preamps (AP-2s), with some vintage transformers installed for the kick, snare, and toms. It has REALLY made a huge difference!

In other performance news...I recently played a week-long gig with Lee Ritenour at the Blue Note here in NY. It Featured Lee, Melvin Davis on Bass, John Beasely on piano, and Bill Evans on sax.

We had a blast - what fantastic players!

Last Spring, I was over in Europe doing a month-long tour with Bill Evans. We had a blast playing frisbee every day (oh, and some gigs too....LOL)! For this tour the lineup was me, Ric Fierabracci on bass (www.ricfierabracci.com), Christian Howes on violin (www.christianhowes.com), and a young gun from Chapel Hill, NC, on banjo named Ryan Cavanaugh (www.myspace.com/banjoryan).

Let me just say this is an interesting band. We did some gigs this Summer that were fantastic - including one called "Smilefest," in North Carolina. And...guess where I was the next day? How about Watkins Glenn for the vintage grand prix series?!

Can you say "PIT PASS"??

Played a nice gig at the Blue Note, NY (again), with Yaron Gershofsky (pianist and musical director of the Manhattan Transfer) along with Conrad Korsch (bass), David Mann (sax), and Lew Soloff, (trumpet). We sold out a Monday night! I hope we will be doing some more gigs - there is talk of a week in London coming up, but we'll see.

Finishing touches are being applied to the first release of "Hemispheres," a band I am in along with Ric Fierabracci and Phil Turcio, from Australia. I just found out the TJ Kirk will be mixing this record!! He is one of my favorites. Looking forward to hearing what he will do with my tracks!

This is a killing record that I am very proud of. It should be available this Fall. It's tough getting it recorded when all three of us live many time zones apart (hence the name!!) 

Had a great trip to Indonesia and performed at the JAVA Jazz festival in Jakarta with Vinny Valentino’s Colorfunk band. The lineup included Vinny, saxophonist Marshal Keys, bassist Baron Browne, and Gilad.

This was the first time I played with Baron (also the bassist with Steve Smith’s Vital Information and Jazz Legacy bands), and I really look forward to playing again soon. We had a great hook-up!

Best to everyone!!!

- Joel