I just found out tonight that one of my favorite trumpet players and friend has died.

I first heard Jimmy Howard when I was a student at West Virginia University around 1980. Jimmy was jazz trumpet soloist with the U.S. Navy Commodores Big Band from Washington, D.C.

The band came through West Virginia sometime around 1981. Larry Skinner (also a great trumpet player) was leading the band. In the afternoon, they did a trumpet section clinic for us at West Virginia University. In the evening the "Commodores" did a concert in the main concert hall at the Creative Arts Center at WVU. My friends and I were "blown away" with the band. Yeah, sure we had heard all the big bands coming through on tours. But, on that night, in that hall there was something great happening!

I think they were playing "Secret Love", and Jimmy comes out from the trumpet section to the front of the band. The two bar break into his solo practically knocked me out of my seat. Needless to say, Jimmy Howard played his a-- off that night. I kind of joked later and said to me friends, "Man I would give anything to play in that band or a band like that!" It was just a matter of months later that I got a call at 10am from Jeff Taylor to rush over to the Pentagon and do a concert with the Commodores, playing Jimmy's 3rd trumpet book! I had been in the Navy Ceremonial Band for about 6 months attached to White House and Pentagon activites around Washington, D.C.

I remember in the summer of '82, doing basic training in Orlando before I went to Washington, D.C. Towards the end of the 8 weeks, I had a day of vacation so I went to Disney World. I got a chance to hear Jimmy and talk with him during his break. Jimmy had retired from the "Commodores a year or two before and moved to Orlando, Florida to work full-time for Disney. He laid some words of wisdom on me that always helped me "keep my head together" when I was living in D.C. A few years later, Jimmy left the Disney gig and moved back to D.C. We met up several times for jam sessions at the Navy Yard Club. He was always teaching me but, not with words....with his horn.

Jimmy could play all over the horn. He had great chops. But for me, He was REAL. He didn't bullshit. His music was honest and real. It really affected me to be around someone like that. From Jimmy, I learned about "telling a story" and doing it with "soul" and "passion." Lastly, as much trumpet as Jimmy played, he was so humble about it.

I'm just happy that I had the opportunity to meet him. Jimmy Howard is the "real deal."

(Japanese)
今晩知ったのですが、友人でもあった、私の大好きなトランペット奏者が亡くなりました。

初めてジミー・ハワードの演奏を聴いたのは、1980年頃、ウェストヴァージニア州立大学の学生だった頃です。彼は、ワシントンD.C.から来た米国海軍ビッグバンド「コモドアーズ」のジャズトランペットソリストでした。

バンドがウェストヴァージニアに廻って来たのは、確か1981年だったと思います。ラリー・スキナー（彼もまた素晴らしいトランぺッター）がリーダーでし た。その日の午後、West Virginia Universityでトランペットセクションのクリニックをしてくれて、夜にWVUクリエイティブ・アート・センターのメインホールで「コモドアーズ」 のコンサートがありました。私と友人達は、バンドのレベルに「ぶっ飛んで」しまいました。そりゃあ、もちろんツアーで回って来るビッグバンドはひと通り聴 いてましたよ。でもその晩、そのホールでの音楽には、本当に特別な何かがあったのです！

確か、曲は「Secret Love」だったと思いますが、ジミーがトランペットセクションからバンドの前に出て来ました。ソロの最初の２小節で、私は文字通り、椅子から落っこちて しまったのです。その晩ジミー・ハワードがノリにのっていたことは疑う余地なし。後で友人に冗談で言ったのが、「このバンドか、このぐらいのレベルのバン ドで演奏できるなら、全てを投げ打ってもいいんだけどな！」そして、その数ヶ月後のある日の午前10時。ジェフ・テイラーから電話があり、ペンタゴン（国 防総省）に急遽呼び出され、コモドアーズの一員としてコンサートをすることに。何と、それがジミーの３rdのパートだったんです！その後、６ヶ月ほど海軍 式典楽団に所属し、ワシントンD.C.エリアでホワイトハウスとペンタゴン関連の仕事をしました。

1982年の夏、ワシントンD.C.に行く前に、オーランド（フロリダ州）で基礎訓練（軍隊の）を受けました。その８週間が終わりに近い頃、一日休みがあったので、ディズニーワールドに行きました。
そしてそこで、彼の演奏を聴き、休憩中の彼と話をする機会がありました。ジミーはその1、2年前コモドアーズを引退し、ディズニーでのフルタイムの仕事の ため、フロリダのオーランドに引っ越したのでした。その時、彼からもらった教訓は、ワシントンD.C.に住んでいる時に「集中を保つ」のに役立ったもので す。数年後、彼はディズニーの仕事を終え、またD.C.に戻って来ました。何度かネイビーヤードクラブでのジャムセッションで一緒になったりしました。彼 はいつも私を指導してくれた。言葉ではなく、楽器で。

ジミーは楽器をあらゆる面でマスターしており、あご唇も強かった。しかしそれだけではなく、私にとって、彼は「本物」だったのです。決して偽らない。彼の 音楽は正直で、真実でした。彼のような人と接することができ、感動でしたし、影響も受けました。私に、楽器で「物語る」ことと、さらに「魂」と「情熱」を 込めて物語る、ということを教えてくれたのは、ジミーなのです。最後にもう一つ。ジミーは、あれだけすごいトランペットを吹く割には、その事に対してもの すごく謙虚でした。

彼と出会うチャンスに恵まれただけで、私は幸せです。ジミー・ハワードは「ホンモノ」なのです。

During the past week, I've been in Sendai, Sapporo, Gifu and Nagoya. Sapporo and Nagoya are two of my favorite cities in Japan. This was my first time to Gifu and Sendai.

In Sendai, I played with some good, young musicians. Club was full and we had a nice jam session after the LIVE. I must thank Miho Horino for doing such a great job setting-up the gig. She is a really good blues singer/guitar player. She is still in high school! Next year she will be going to North Texas State University.

On Saturday, I performed in Sapporo at Slow Boat with Ryo Fukui's Trio. I always enjoy playing with those guys. A few weeks ago, Ryo hosted the legendary bebop pianist, Barry Harris.

Sunday I flew to Gifu and caught up with Tokyo pianist Jonathan Katz. We played in a quartet at a cool jazz cafe called, Cafe Bagu. Played some nice music and met a lot of really nice people.

Monday we moved the band to Star Eyes in Nagoya. A nice, young vocalist named Akane joined us for a fun evening of "standards."

During the next week, I will continue this tour with gigs in Miyazaki, Kagoshima and Fukuoka. Also, I have 2 performances at the Tokyo Jazz Festival and a gig at the Artists cafe on the 43rd floor of the Tokyo Dome Hotel while I'm in Tokyo for a few days.

In a few hours I'm catching an early morning train to Sendai, Japan. This is my first trip to Sendai. I've heard great things about it for many years. I'm really looking forward to this trip. I play in Sendai tomorrow night, Sapporo on Saturday, Gifu on Sunday, Nagoya on Monday and back to Tokyo for a Tuesday night gig and Yokohama on Wednesday. Sapporo and Nagoya are two of my favorite places in Japan. This is my first trip to Gifu, also.

Sooo busy this week. I'm trying to learn, absorb and memorize about 30 new songs for gigs I have this next week with about 6-8 different bands. At first it feels impossible. But, I keep rotating from the computer (taking care of other business related things) to the trumpet and/or piano and then out for a walk or just a few minutes break and back to listening and then start the whole cycle over again. You kind of go through a period where you feel like you're losing it. It feels like you drowning under too much information. But then I reach a point where I can really feel myself retaining the information. It's so easy to just give up and quit during this process. But, if you just persist and continue on, it's amazing how much you can learn in a short period. The hardest thing for me is to just have the confidence that I can do it and relax and not get overwhelmed. Also, I don't spend too much time on any one thing...only a few minutes and then on to something else. I don't want my mind to get too tired and want to give up

I enjoyed that gig sooooooo much!

"In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick. She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out
of bed; she was in so much pain.

By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies and was on 24 various prescription medications. The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her. She was in so much pain, and so sick...she just knew she was dying.

She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughters name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of.. She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to FL (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd.

On March 19th I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS. (Multiple Sclerosis)........more

Well summer is finally here. Today was really hot and humid in Tokyo. I'm one of the crazy people in Tokyo that actually likes it when it's really hot and humid. I haven't turned on my a/c yet. This morning I finished the Open University session at Senzoku Gakuin. We had a nice 4 days. i worked with an ensemble of 6 members from Tokyo, Yokohama, Sendai, Okayama and Saitama. It was a pleasure to work with these young people. This morning all of the ensembles gave a concert. It was really amazing to see the improvement in them in only 4 days. Some students were painfully shy, others were very energetic and out-going. I noticed when we were trying to compose a group composition that most of the students were really afraid to express their creativity. I didn't know if they were to shy to express themsevles in front of each other or maybe just afraid to make a mistake. Anyway, it will be interesting to see which students come to Senzoku next year and then to see how they "open-up" over the next few years.

Recently, when I have had some freetime, I've been looking at some interesting things on the internet. I thought I would share a few interesting websites with you.

I don't know about you but, I have always been interested to hear airplane pilots communicating with the controller at the airport. I found the following links. Depending on the time of day that you listen, sometimes it's really active/busy.

New York-JFK-Tower
NASA Picture of the Day
New York City Police Department
FREE Online Videos at YOUTUBE.com
type ANY word for the search

(Japanese)