March 22-April1

We have several East Coast concerts, from Pennsylvania to New York to Vermont to Ohio. I love to travel and play music. At the risk of sounding too dramatic, I'd say that I feel I'm meant to travel and play music. I grew up on the road, playing on my Mom's shows. (She is an accomplished bluegrass and classical violinist who has made her living performing with her band for three decades.) So I got used to visiting different areas of the world, and meeting people from different cultures. I got accustomed to that special kind of contemplation that goes with long drives, and the unrushed (and frequently wacky) socializing that takes place when you're with the same musicians for several days in a row. And, of course, the music-making is pretty fun stuff!

The highlight of the tour is the thrill of playing Zankel at Carnegie Hall. This is the Quartet's Carnegie debut and everybody is extremely pumped for this concert. Lots of high-five's backstage. We have a wonderful, appreciative, and attentive audience. The acoustics of the hall are, as expected, near perfect.

Previous to the NYC concert, we have a concert in Bay Shore (Long Island). After the concert, on our way back into NYC, we're running quite low on gas. This is by design, according to Bill: we pre-paid for gas, so why fill up before we return the van? We're all watching the computerized "remaining miles" display. It goes from 23 to 21 to 18 to 16 to 11. Just a little puddle of gas swishing around in that tank, and we're not even in Manhattan yet. Yikes! We finally enter Manhattan via the Queens Midtown Tunnel. The display says "6 miles" left in the tank. Then it suddenly jumps to 3!. We have several blocks to go in significant traffic. A couple minutes later, "Oh, man! Zero! Zero!", Scott says. Hmmm. Allegiance to Bill or jump out and grab a taxi? Just kidding, Bill! In the end, we make it, Bill returning the van running on fumes, exactly as he had planned.

Because we play so much during this period, and because I've simply had more time to digest all of the newness, I now feel settled into the gig. For me, the Quartet really is the perfect creative outlet. It's very gratifying to me to play with people who are striving tirelessly to make the music as good as it can be, and to take the ensemble full speed ahead into the future, innovating along the way. And I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to play both classically, and improvisatorily in one ensemble. There aren't many groups that afford that kind of opportunity.

Also on this tour, Bill is helping Erica Brenner "map" the edit points for the recording. Bill is really super-human in that, in addition to killing on the guitar (a rare combination of blazing virtuosity and deep musicality), he does so much else. He is a consummate, brilliant arranger; he is always thinking far ahead to upcoming projects and tours, really any business that needs tending to; and he is a phenomenal teacher. In addition to studying with Bill at USC, I studied with Jim Smith and Scott Tennant, who were both extremely key in my musical development. But I credit Bill for laying my technical and musical foundation. To this day, I find myself thinking (and teaching) in concepts that Bill imparted to me when I was his student some twenty years ago. He has a unique ability to break things down in order to get the student to understand what is happening, then to innovate ways to improve the student's playing. Bill is also a super nice guy!