I get excited about any opportunity to play with my group, Many Blessings, but I'm extra-excited about our gig September 6th at Jerry's Sandwiches with Andrew Trim's Quartet, because it's a benefit for building schools in Angola. I'm running the Chicago Marathon for RISE International, an amazing organization that builds primary schools and trains teachers in rural villages that were devastated by Angola's 27-year-long civil war. Read all about the charity and donate at my FirstGiving fundraising page. You can donate now online or make an open donation at the show.

We play first, at 9:30 p.m., followed by Andrew Trim's Quartet. Jerry's is a really great place, with a dizzyingly huge gourmet sandwich menu and craft beer list. Many Blessings has been getting more and more comfortable playing together this year, and we're excited to play some new-ish tunes as well as our version of "Cannibal Resource", a tune by Dirty Projectors, one of my favorite newer rock bands.

So, if you come out to any gig this year, make it this one! Hear great jazz by two different groups, have an amazing sandwich, and get a chance to help change the lives of children in Angola.

 




















It's a little last minute, but I wanted to make sure you all were aware of this Thursday's Many Blessings gig at the Velvet Lounge (8:30 p.m.) We played at the Velvet in April and had a blast, and we're excited to return with some new tunes and some more playing experience under our belt. I'm looking forward to debuting a new original piece called "Thaddeus," as well as some music by Marquis and Darius. Unfortunately, Marquis won't be on the gig, but we found a great player to fill his spot in the talented young trumpeter Ryan Imboden. See you there!

Lucas Gillan's Many Blessings, my jazz quartet with Marquis Hill, Jonathan Edwards and Darius Savage, is finally in working mode. We played our first gig March 2 at the Charleston, and we're gearing up to play the Velvet Lounge on April 1.  A lot of people came out to the Charleston and we had a lot of fun playing. It got me really excited for the places this band could go musically.  I'm quite pumped to play the Velvet because we will we'll be both tighter and more comfortable playing with each other this time around.  Also, the Velvet is such a great, historic venue that I think we'll be energized by the setting itself.  Marquis plays in the house band for the Sunday night jam session, and Darius plays there are all the time, so we should feel both comfy and inspired.  

Also: my birthday is April 3, so I'm turning the gig itself into a bit of a birthday celebration.  Everybody's invited, and there will be cake for all!  Don't bring any gifts, just your ears (and the $10 cover).  I really hope to see you there.

One final note: the beautiful poster you see above was designed by my awesome sister, Kelly Johnston.  Thanks, Kel!

I hope everyone had a great Holiday season. I'm looking forward to an awesome 2010.  It's been a few months since I've updated the site, so there are many good tidings to report!

-First, I'm very happy to announce that my creative jazz group, Lucas Gillan's Many Blessings, has reunited after almost three years of inactivity.  We have a new bass player, new music, and a new city to take by storm.  We're already talking to venues in Chicago about booking gigs in February and March, so keep your eyes on the gigs page.

-I recently joined a longstanding pop/Caribbean percussion ensemble called Pantastic 4.  I'm really honored to be a part of this group.  They've been around for over 10 years and have played countless gigs in that time.  I'll be playing drumset as well as marimba and Latin percussion.  

-I've started to play with a great young pianist/keyboardist named Greg Spero.  We're playing at the Red Line Tap on February 17, and there's audio of a gig I played with him recently on the Listen page.

-At the end of January I'll be going out on a mini tour with the phenomenal soul/pop band The Right Now.  I used to sub in the band way back, when they were called Eli Jones, so I'm really excited to play with them again, now that they're all professional and have a cooler name.

-A more personal note: my parents just moved to the Chicago area after living in Tucson, AZ for 17 years!  My dad is the new senior pastor at Naperville Covenant Church.  If you live nearby and are looking for a church, swing by on a Sunday morning!

-Just letting you all know that this side project that has been in the works for almost a year now (really? that long?) is entering yet another phase.  Our organist, Dan Dufford, did indeed move to Washington D.C., but we already found a replacement in Stuart Mindeman.  Stu and I have played together for years, and you may remember that we used to have a very active trio.  He sounds killing on the organ and I'm really excited to start playing some gigs and working out new music.  Of course, Terry (guitar) is sounding better and better all the time, too.

We just booked a New Year's Day gig at Pete Miller's with the trio backing up vocalist Bree Gordon (see video of that formation here), and we'll [hopefully] be booking many more gigs this fall and winter.  So stay posted, y'all.  

-In other news, Boogie Shoes is really taking off.  I've learned 30 tunes for our first gig this Sunday and we already have a demo CD and a website.  Don't hate on disco; this is some seriously good pop music.

-Also: I had the opportunity recently to contribute to a project by NPR Music called Jazz Now.  The point of the project was to get young folks active in promoting jazz on the Internet to single out CDs from the last 10 years that would be ideal entrees in to jazz fandom for jazz-agnostic young people.  The whole thing really took off in the jazz blogosphere, with dozens of bloggers from around the world contributing their own lists (see a compendium of their picks here).  So, check out my list and go tell your friends about how awesome jazz is!

So, instead of having the News feed that only displays one story for a little while, I've decided to put a blog on the homepage, which will double as a news section, but with which I'll feel a little more comfortable posting less relevant links and random thoughts.  First off: video documentation of this mysterious "Bob Perna" character I'm hanging around with:

So, I play with Bob Perna a lot, in case you didn't know (you might even say I'm his drummer).  In case you've never seen the band live, I thought I'd point you in the direction of the huge amount of videos that our singer, Bree Gordon, has been posting of recent Bob Perna gigs. 

She has a YouTube account called CraftyMcShnafty, where you will find a lot of videos of our recent gigs.  I haven't watched all of the videos, but of the ones I have watched, I'd probably pick How Sweet It Is, Our Love is Here to Stay, and 13th and Loomis (one of the few instrumentals Bree uploaded).

In other YouTube-related news, check out this video of one of my guitar students playing Enter Sandman.  Awesome.

-The Wyatt CD, "Welcome to America," is out now!  You can even purchase it on CDBaby.  I'm on two tracks, "Sometimes Ms. Hyde" and "Pretty Poison."  We're doing two CD release shows, one in Aurora and one in Chicago.  Check the Gigs page for details.

-I'm in a disco band! Yup, I'll be joining my girlfriend, violinist Anna Schweitz, in Chicago's hottest new '70s pop cover band, Boogie Shoes.  We even have a couple of gigs already.  Sets will include tunes like "Stayin' Alive," "Brick House," "I Wish," "I Will Survive," and much more.  Seriously fun music.

-I changed the header photo of the website; the old one was from like 10 years ago, and alas, I have aged.  I'll try to upload some more photos to the photos page soon, too.