Hello My Friends;

I send you greetings from Italy.  I've just finished the second leg of our trio tour (with Yotam Silberstein & Paul Gill) - where we performed  at the Padova Jazz Festival for four nights.  The festival exceeded my expectations in every way, it was amazing!  I had been invited to Padova as part of the "SmallsLIVE Presents:" concert series that I've been developing.  My idea is to produce concerts at  jazz festivals in Europe under the SmallsLIVE banner and to present different groups associated with the club.  Because Smalls' reputation for great New York City Jazz is enough to attract audiences it's not entirely necessary to have all-stars in the band.  In this way we can showcase lesser-known and younger talents to European Jazz fans and offer promoters an economic alternative to presenting concerts.

At Padova we played two concerts per evening.  We played a trio set early and then did a "special guest" concert later in the evening.  Our guests included prominent Italian jazz musicians such as Roberto Tamborini (trumpet) and Carlo Atti (tenor).  For the final concert we had the great Jesse Davis, who now lives in Verona, perform with us  Each show was sold out with people spilling into the hallways and stairs.  The audiences were enthusiastic, incredibly attentive and really warm.  I was truly pleased to see large groups of college-age audience in attendance.  I was also very happy learning how many people knew about Smalls and had watched our shows on the live-stream.   People asked a lot of questions about the club and I even did a television interview where I discussed Smalls, Mitch Borden and the culture of musicians that make Smalls their home.  Overall is it was a resounding success and I'm sure will be the start of something that will continue to grow and benefit musicians and this music as well as the beautiful people of Italy.

Our next stop will be Spain where we have been invited to perform at the Barcelona Jazz Festival and will have Melissa Aldana as our guest for one concert.  From there we go to Valencia and then finally Madrid before coming back to New York City and our beloved home at 183 West 10th street in Greenwich Village.  Ciao!