Eye of the Tiger

I like to keep an eye on all of our clients... if I had it my way... I would be able to know what all of them are working on at any given time. I love watching our instruments travel around the globe... I like the photos of them at mardi gras and on stage with Bob Seger... I like the videos from your recitals and your community bands... the recordings you send my way... watching you all play the star spangled banner for the opening baseball game... there's something really romantic about that... I sort of think of our trumpets like a message in a bottle... thrown out in the ocean... i never know when i will get a message back... in the form of a photo, a video or just a letter saying how things are going. that's my favorite thing about my job. 

it's also the most rewarding thing about being an artist. i have had the opportunity to deliver in person many of my paintings. i remember one woman in particular that gave me a tour of her house... and had me help her hang them... telling me her dad was going to be so happy to see the images of old las vegas hotels... he grew up in the southwest and was coming to visit her for the first time. 

anyway... i enjoy this human connection to what we create here at harrelson trumpets. that's what we're all about. making music... making better music... making memories... 

jake baldwin is one of those memories... that is still being made. i remember the first time he came to visit the "shop" ... in our house in waconia... i was making coffee in the kitchen and i thought... oh another kid coming in for a lesson/try out trumpets... and jake wasn't very old then... i can't remember the exact year... but i remember how he played... i stopped what i was doing and just stood there... to listen... after he left... i just looked at jason and said... how old is that kid? wow... just wow...
and we both sorta laughed in amazement :) ... last year at the itg i had the pleasure of watching jake perform in the jazz competition at the dakota.... 

jake is involved in a couple of projects that he's pretty excited about that i wanted to share with you...
he's playing trumpet with this band TIGER SPEAK... and they just released their CD THIS WEEK!

jake's sending me out the album and i will do a proper review in the coming weeks...
he's also involved with this band.... THE LOVE EXPERIMENT this is the link to their myspace page... they are also on bandcamp

He plays Flugel in this group...  and I love their sound... they'll be on tour this summer with stops to include...  new york, philly, atlanta, baltimore, new orleans, houston and more to come...

i am a music junkie... and so there is no shortage of inspiration around here... jake is a big source of inspiration and it's great to watch everything he's involved in... keep it coming ... all of you! it's what this business is all about :)