I'll be doing some work on the website, so things may be a little janky for the next couple of days. Please bear with me, and in the meantime, you can keep up to date at my Facebook page.

Friends and Listeners,

Well, it's been a long and winding road since the Quintet headed into Bay Records for 11 hours and 13 bagels' worth of recording last May, but our new CD, Contextualizin', is finally available for sale and download, and should be hitting the airwaves at a jazz radio station near you.

There are two options for purchasing online: CDBaby, where both actual copies of the CD (yes, people still buy those!) and MP3 downloads are available; and the iTunes Store.

Please pick up a copy or four, and if you enjoy what you hear, you can leave a review at either CDBaby or iTunes. (You can even leave one if you don't like it!)

Also, if you're in the Bay Area, you can support local record stores by picking up the CD at Groove Yard (Oakland), Rasputin (San Francisco, Berkeley, San Lorenzo, or Mountain View), Amoeba Records (Berkeley), or The Jazzschool Store.

UPDATE 2/17: All About Jazz is featuring the album's title track as its free download of the day! Hop to it!

GIG UPDATE: Don't forget our Bay Area CD Release show is scheduled next month for Wednesday, March 10 at the beautiful Coda in San Francisco.

And in the meantime, I'll also be joined this Wednesday, Feb. 17 in an evening of standards and jazz classics by pianist Michael Coleman (of Beep) and bassist Noah Shencker at Sundance Kitchen restaurant, steps from Japantown and Fillmore Street in the Kabuki Cinemas building. Come on down!

Hi Folks, Happy New Year to you all! As you'll see in the press release below, the Quintet's new album hits radio & retail in just under a month, which I'm excited about. We still don't have a venue for a CD release show (RIP Anna's), but are following up on several leads, so you'll be the first to know. In the meantime, here's the official press release announcing the new record:

Ian Carey Quintet to Release Second CD, "Contextualizin'," February 16

Band Led by Trumpeter/Composer Ian Carey also Includes Evan Francis, Adam Shulman, Fred Randolph, & Jon Arkin

January 21, 2010

Ian Carey's 2006 debut, SINK/SWIM, drew some critical attention to the Oakland-based trumpeter's original music and forward-thinking quintet, but his new recording, Contextualizin', is sure to turn heads in the direction of this gifted jazz trumpeter/composer. The new CD will be released by Carey's Kabocha Records imprint on February 16.

"Sometime when I was in my twenties," says Carey, now 35, "I realized that there are so many great, amazing players out there that the context in which I do what I'm doing is going to be how I differentiate myself, and for me that's writing my own tunes and doing my own things within them."

Carey's striking compositions--and one standard, "Just Friends"--are performed by the tight group of improvisers with whom he recorded SINK/SWIM (also on Kabocha) and has frequently worked in Bay Area club settings for the last six years. Saxophonist and flutist Evan Francis is his fiery front-line partner; Adam Shulman switches between piano and Fender Rhodes (playing with "understated virtuosity," in the leader's words); bassist Fred Randolph and drummer Jon Arkin ground and propel the music.

In the CD notes, Carey describes his realization that "What I played would help shape how I played (and vice versa, as it turned out). A song could be a story in itself, or a vehicle to inspire improvisational storytelling. (And sometimes, when everything is happening just right, it can be both.)"

The dropped "g" in the CD's title, Carey adds, "is a play on the high-concept, analytical stuff that people come up with to talk about their music." But when it comes to the music itself, Carey "asks deep musical questions," says composer/educator Bill Kirchner, "and comes up with compelling answers."

Born and raised in a musical family in Binghamton, New York, Ian Carey moved with his family to Folsom, California (near Sacramento) in time for high school, where he was inspired to begin studying jazz trumpet seriously. He studied classical trumpet for two years at the University of Nevada in Reno (also performing with the Reno Philharmonic), then enrolled in the New School in New York City and earned a B.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music.

At the New School Ian studied trumpet with Cecil Bridgewater, Vincent Penzarella, and Charles Tolliver and composition with Bill Kirchner and Maria Schneider, as well as taking small group classes with Joanne Brackeen, Andrew Cyrille, Billy Harper, and Reggie Workman. He also performed with the likes of Eddie Bert, Rory Stuart, and Ravi Coltrane, and at venues such as the Blue Note and Smalls. Carey led his own Brooklyn-based quartet for several years before moving to San Francisco in 2001.

In addition to leading the quintet heard on Contextualizin', Carey has played around the Bay Area with the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, 8 Legged Monster, the Realistic Orchestra, vocalist Betty Fu, and pianists Ben Stolorow and the late B.J. Papa. His main focus, however, has been on composing and performing original music with the quintet. In his CD booklet notes, Carey recalls a meeting with the saxophonist Steve Lacy in which Lacy observed that the trumpet "is a discursive instrument -- you know, it tells a story." With those words in mind, Ian Carey aims to say something with his music. He aims to tell stories.

Media Contact: Terri Hinte
www.terrihinte.com

Hi Listeners: I'd like to officially announce the upcoming release of the Ian Carey Quintet's long-awaited (by me, at least) new album, Contextualizin', on Kabocha Records, February 16th, 2010.

The album, which was recorded last May at Berkeley's Bay Records, features my long-time group of Adam Shulman on piano and Fender Rhodes, Evan Francis on alto saxophone and flute, Fred Randolph on bass, and Jon Arkin on drums, playing a set of eight original compositions, plus a re-imagining of the standard "Just Friends."

The album will be available for purchase and download at CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon.com and other online outlets, as well as in select Bay Area record stores. (Yes, they do still exist!)

Stay tuned for announcements about our CD release show, samples, and other goodies. Have a fine holiday season (please go to some jazz shows!), and I hope to see you in 2010!

Hello jazz aficionados, friends, stalkers, and people who stumbled here looking for pictures of "Wynton Marsalis shirtless":First, I'm genuinely stoked (as the kids say) to announce that the new, as-yet-untitled album by the Ian Carey Quintet is nearly finished. (I'm 90% done with mixing, which will be followed by mastering by Bay Area sound guru Ken Lee, then duplication, then...) The disc will feature 8 of my original compositions and one re-invented standard, and I hope to have it out by late fall.I also wanted to tell you about a few shows I've got coming up which I think you'd enjoy. First up is this Friday, when I'm going to be playing with the Ben Stolorow Quartet, on a double bill with his new project with his sister Stephanie called "Stoli Rose" (Get it?!)We'll be going on second, and playing original music by the band, plus a couple of rarely-heard jazz classics. Come on down!WHAT: Stoli Rose + Ben Stolorow QuartetWHO: Stephanie Stolorow, vocal; Ben Stolorow, piano; Ian Carey, trumpet; Noah Shencker, bass; Bryan Bowman, drumsWHEN: Friday, September 18, 8pmWHERE: Square One Yoga Collective, EmeryvilleHOW MUCH: $10 (That's only $5 per band!)Next up is a straight-ahead jazz hoedown at the Epicenter cafe with the great Jack Riordan plus Adam Gay and Bryan Bowman. We'll be hitting the standards/jazz classics shed.WHAT: Ian Carey Quartet w/ Jack RiordanWHO: Me, trumpet; Jack Riordan, guitar; Adam Gay, bass; Bryan Bowman, drumsWHEN: Wednesday, September 30, 6-8:30pmWHERE: Epicenter Cafe, San FranciscoHOW MUCH: Free!

Hi listeners--hope you're enjoying your spring and getting all the stimulus dollars you so richly deserve. It's been way too long since I posted an update, so here we go: I'm currently about a month into my annual music sabbatical, and enjoying having the time to practice, write, and listen. (And with so many people out of work, I'm definitely not taking it for granted.) It's also great to be able to get out to hear some of the great musicians around town, and hit some fine jam sessions at places like Savannah's, Club Deluxe, and 33 Revolutions.

I have two pieces of musical news to share--first, that the original Ian Carey Quintet (with Adam Shulman, Evan Francis, Fred Randolph, Jon Arkin and myself) has two local shows coming up. The first show:

What: The Ian Carey Quintet
When: Wednesday, April 15, 8pm
Where: Anna's Jazz Island, Berkeley
How Much: $10

Anna's is a great club, and one of the few jazz-only venues left in the Bay Area, so you should definitely come out to support it (and us)! We'll be doing a mix of originals, standards, and rarely-heard jazz classics. And the second show:

What: The Ian Carey Quintet + RW3 (with Kasey Knudsen, Nate Brenner, and Jon Arkin)
When: Monday, May 4, 9pm
Where: The Make Out Room, San Francisco
How Much: No cover

This will be a fun show in the Mission. We're sharing the billing with RW3 (a trio featuring Kasey Knudsen, Jon Arkin, and Nate Brenner, all great local improvisers). We'll probably be doing an all-original, more adventurous set than at Anna's--so each show should have its own different appeal. I encourage you to compare, contrast, and pester the band with questions about why my charts are so incomprehensible!

The other piece of news, and the reason it's great to have these gigs (besides the fact that it's great to have gigs at all these days), is that it'll be a chance for us to get fired up for (drum roll) ... recording our second album! That's right, we're finally getting back into the studio in May, which is exciting and terrifying (like many things these days).

Anyway, that's the latest. Oh, and one other thing: for any of my friends in the East-East Bay, I'm going to be playing a concert at Los Medanos College in Pittsburgh with the LMC Night Big Band on Tuesday, April 7, around 7:30pm. The band is led by local jazz heavyweights Erik Jekabson, Mike Zilber, and Jeff Marrs, and is chock-full of Bay Area talent. (And the Pittsburgh High School Jazz Band is opening up.) So come on out!