oh so easy to love

Last night, I spent a couple of hours at The Dakota... Jake Baldwin's Quintet was featured on the early set and it was truly an awesome night.

The group consists of: 

Jake Baldwin: Trumpet,
Nelson Devereaux - saxes
Brian Courage - Bass
Joe Strachan -Piano
Miguel Hurtado - Drums

Last night they played 3 sets... for a packed house! A hearty mixture of standards (with a new twist) and originals... I asked Jake a little about the group and he said, "I love playing with this group
because, although it has my name, everyone in it contributes to the music that we play so within a set we can go a lot of places musically." And they did... it was hard to watch without smiling... it's quite obvious that everyone involved loves what they're doing... loves being on stage... and was excited to play to the crowd.

In just one short week Jake is headed out East... there is never a dull moment... he  is playing a house party with Love
Experiment on the 28th.... he has been busy writing/arranging horn parts for the new Love Experiment he will be
recording while on this trip... and at the same time preparing for his own recording with Ra Ra Ru. 
They will be performing live at the Lily Pad in Cambridge on September 3rd from 7pm-8pm and then recording their first album on september 8th. 


Ra Ra Ru was originally conceived as "anti music school mentality jazz." But
basically ... "we take all of the things we like, throw them into a song and try to
make some sense of it. Some of the music is really twisted, but in the best kind
of way."

http://rararu.bandcamp.com/

This band features:
 
 Jake Baldwin- Trumpet
(fellow minnesotan) John Cushing - Trombone
Asher Kurtz - Guitar
Nick Neuburg - Drums/Percussion

Jake is certainly on the top of my list for young musicians to watch... he seems to have his heart in a bit of everything musically... and this is just the sort of thing I admire. I am, myself, a person with an eclectic taste in music... and it's great to watch someone so talented try his hand at a little bit of it all. To hear more of Jake's music... or see where he'll be playing next... check out his website: http://www.jakebjazz.com/the-music.html or just keep an eye out here. I will certainly be following him along the way.