The quintet was officially born in 2017, but it had a long gestation period; its members had played together for several years in an ensemble at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley. After saying many times that we should organize ourselves on the outside, we finally did.

Having played together so much for so long made the process relatively easy. We selected and rehearsed our initial repertoire, found our first gigs – both public and private – and were well received everywhere we went. We had the important advantage of already knowing each other well as players.

So we close out 2018 having gotten over that initial hump of being “up and running.” The challenge now is simply to keep moving forward, keep growing as a musical unit, and continue establishing ourselves as part of the Bay Area musical community.

That’s a great place to be, and it will be fascinating to see how events unfold in 2018. I hope that a year from now we will be able to look back on a solid year of growth, expansion, and opportunities taken.

Thanks to everyone who has been part of it in 2017.

#band #process