A few days ago I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to have my Quartet featured at The Dayton Art Institute for the series Jazz & Beyond. The audience was very attentive to my original compositions and were incredibly respective for the art form that we work to preserve and to extend upon. The following night I returned to what is a more common scenario, background music. Although there were a few that were engaged, most were doing their best to talk over us.

Unfortunately, I am more accustomed to the latter environment. Most of us that pursue jazz are. This takes a strong commitment to the art form to want to continue, especially when you put in a great deal of time to mostly be ignored.

Sometimes it feels as though there is more night than day.