Last night, I was lucky enough to attend the New York Philharmonic’s performance of Mussorgsky’s Picture from an Exhibition. Good god, Phil Smith can play the trumpet. And apparently the flugelhorn as well – they played Gorchakov’s orchestration of the piece, rather than the well known Ravel version, which gives the alto sax solo in the Il Vecchio Castello movement to flugelhorn. I’d never heard the Gorchakov but really liked it. Harmonically simpler, but more intense. Still, after hearing the NY Phil’s trumpet section, I left not sure whether to hit the practice room or just quit.

Actually, my classical playing is sounding pretty good these days, as I’ve had a slew of orchestral concerts over the last month. My jazz playing, however, is more than a bit rusty, which is problematic, as I was just offered a gig playing bebop with a quintet at Opal this Tuesday evening. Nothing like sucking in front of a live (and drunk) audience to put you in your place. I’ll be woodshedding most of tomorrow in a feeble attempt to make up for months of lost jazz practice time.