Sean Ongley, Thru Magazine
John Book, This is Book's Music
George Harris, Jazz Weekly
Midwest Record


If you missed it, I also made the Oregon Music News top 10 albums of 2015: https://www.oregonmusicnews.com/article?articleTitle=top-10-oregon-albums-of-2015--1451331853--303--cat-dj-electro

In all the hullabaloo and craziness in the months of November and December, I neglected to keep my avid blog readers (you're out there, right?) up to date with the cd release.

Tricks of Light was released by PJCE Records on December 18 and is available for purchase HERE.

We've received some great reviews:
Review by Brett Campbell from Oregon Arts Watch
​Review by Parker Hall from Willamette Week
​Preview by Rob Cullivan from the Portland Tribune

PJCE released an awesome Podcast interview that features the stories behind some of the music.

Tricks of Light was featured on BandCamp's homepage for one day as an "up and coming" album.

I was featured in the Spokesman Review and I was interviewed on the morning news in Spokane! ​

On top of all of this, I directed my first 4th Grade Music Program on the same night that the Navy Commodores Jazz Band performed my piece, Cyan Thread at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. (Cyan Thread won the 2015 National Band Association Young Jazz Composer's Contest.) And just two days after that, the band and I embarked on a mini-tour for our CD release parties. The audiences were packed and the band was swingin'. Below is a slideshow of photos by Jesse Tinsley from the CD release show in Spokane at the Big Dipper.

THANK YOU for all of your support throughout this project. Be sure to pick up a copy of the album, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Just 23 days until Tricks of Light will be released on PJCE Records!

News:

• The album has been sent to Crave Dog for manufacturing. Physical copies should be delivered by December 15.
•  I've confirmed the final line up of musicians for the three CD release concerts! A great bunch of people!
• Posters have been made and will be plastered around Spokane, Eugene, and Portland.
• You can now pre-order the album online through PJCE/BandCamp!

December 19, The Jazz Station, Eugene, OR 7:30pm $10
Personnel:
Mark Taylor A1
Idit Shner A2
Steve Treseler T1
Steve Owen T2
Vanessa Sielert B
Justin Woodward Lead tpt
Vern Sielert tpt 2
Douglas Detrick tpt 3
Tony Glausi tpt 4
Dave Glenn tbn 1
Jenny Kellogg tbn 2
Matt Hettwer tbn 3
Bill Foster bass bone
Kyle Smith guitar
Torrey Newhart piano
Sean Peterson bass
Adam Carlson drums
----------------------------------------------
December 21, Jimmy Mak's, Portland OR 6:30pm $10
Personnel:
Mark Taylor A1
Idit Shner A2
Steve Treseler T1
Joe Manis T2
Vanessa Sielert B
Justin Woodward Lead tpt
Vern Sielert tpt 2
Douglas Detrick tpt 3
Tony Glausi tpt 4
Dave Glenn tbn 1
Jenny Kellogg tbn 2
Matt Hettwer tbn 3
Bill Foster bass bone
Kyle Smith guitar
Torrey Newhart piano
Sean Peterson bass
Adam Carlson drums
---------------------------------------------------
December 22, The Big Dipper, Spokane, WA 7:30pm $10
Personnel:
Mark Taylor A1
Idit Shner A2
Cameron LaPlante T1
Jeremy Hamilton T2
Matt Thistle B
Justin Woodward lead tpt
Brian Ploeger tpt 2
Andy Plamondon tpt 3
Brendan McMurphy tpt 4
Dave Glenn tbn 1
Jenny Kellogg tbn 2
Rob Tapper tbn 3
Bill Foster bass bone
Kyle Smith guitar
Torrey Newhart piano
Scott Steed bass/Ash Madison
Adam Carlson drums
(Special Guests Nic Vigil and George De la Rosa)

July turned out to be an incredibly busy month for me and Lance both! After a few more sessions of mixing, we're finally really getting there! I will be giving the "go-ahead" for the mastering stage of things this evening if all goes as planned.
Stay tuned for info on release parties!
Adam Carlson has finished the final video! Getting back to my roots with some Latin jazz on Danza del Alma. (Since the production of the video, Lance and I have fixed the awkward transition between the slow tempo and the fiesta tempo.)

It has been about 3 months since our whirlwind weekend of recording with the band, and since then Lance Miller, Justin Woodward and I have spent plenty of hours in the studio getting the tracks mixed up and sounding fantastic! I firmly believe that we will be getting the last of the mixing done this week- then we can start the process of mastering and getting the album manufacturing-ready.

Artist, musician and great friend Nic Vigil is working on the album art. I'm excited to see what he comes up with.

Drummer and determined videographer Adam Carlson has been working on the last two videos from the session. Enjoy my original arrangement of "If I Loved You", featuring Steve Treseler on tenor sax and Sean Peterson on bass.

It's amazing how life can get so busy! Between playing with the Emerald City Jazz Kings, serving on a jury for the first time, applying for a lot of jobs, interviewing for said jobs, and substitute teaching... I've slacked off on updating this webpage with news about the album!

I just spend a couple of hours with Engineer Lance Miller and faithful side-kick Justin Woodward in the studio mixing and beautifying more tracks from the session. Next week we will be laying down some overdubs and getting some more mixing done. Hopefully we will be able to move onto the mastering aspect SOON! (I'm secretly hoping I can have copies available at the next Eugene Composer's Big Band show... hoping...)

Take a minute to check out the sweet videos Adam Carlson  has made for me! Kudos to his videographer skills AND his percussion chops!!

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since the recording weekend.... boy, I'm still exhausted! We had a magnificent time, played and recorded some darn good music, ate good food, laughed so much it wasn't even fun anymore, and now it's time to start working on the rest of the process. 
If you haven't seen my Indie Go Go campaign, visit http://igg.me/at/tricksoflight/x. If you'd like to pre-purchase your copy of the cd, it will help me cover some extra costs associated with manufacturing. Other perks you can get with your contribution include scores and parts to songs from the album, digital downloads, signed posters, or even a commissioned piece by me!

In an hour I'm headed over to pow wow with engineer Lance Miller and faithful sidekick and lead trumpet player Justin Woodward and start doing some mixing/listening to some sounds. I can't wait to get the rough takes all cleaned up. Hopefully we can be all mixed and mastered in June so I can send everything off for printing and have physical copies by July.

This morning I (slowly) uploaded the (not professional) video I took at our show at Roaring Rapids on March 19. After battling iMovie for a few hours, I was able to upload THIS YOUTUBE video of the band playing one of my newest pieces, Swang. After I finish up some arranging work I'll upload a couple more.

Adam Carlson was our auxiliary percussionist and videographer during the actual recording session. Once we get some tracks mixed up, I'll be working with Adam to get some more professional looking and sounding videos out onto the world wide web.

I've spent the last two days editing parts and scores for the upcoming recording weekend. So far 4.5 of the charts are completely ready to go, with 3.5 for me to edit tomorrow. I've really considered adding one more special track to the recording... a sort of meditation on "Tricks of Light"... We will see if I have enough time. Last weekend Don Aliquo told me that if I wasn't scrambling on the day before the recording something was seriously wrong with me! Hopefully I won't be scrambling, but the temptation to drop my silly blues opener and replace it with something a little more mysterious is real.

Invite your friends and family to our recording weekend kick-off party at Roaring Rapids Pizza on Thursday, March 19! I want to pack the house and fill the tip jar for the amazing musicians who are coming to play on the recording.

Here's the press release Kyle wrote for me:

Jessika Smith Big Band- Tricks of Light

University of Oregon alumni Jessika Smith and her band are performing at Roaring Rapids Pizza Company on Thursday, March 19. The show is in preparation for the recording of her first album Tricks of Light, and will feature some of the finest musicians from around the northwest.

Featuring new compositions and arrangements, Tricks of Light showcases Smith’s writing style as well as the skills of the individual musicians within her band. Covering a wide range of musical styles and colors, there really is something for everyone at this show.

The Jessika Smith Big Band features some of the finest musicians from across the Northwest, including Mark Taylor, Steve Treseler, Dave Glenn, Vern Sielert, Idit Shner, Torrey Newhart, Tony Glausi and more. The band also includes several U of O faculty members, alumni, and students.



Here's a full list of the awesome talent who will be playing on the show at Roaring Rapids:
Mark Taylor, saxophone (Seattle WA), Idit Shner, saxophone (Eugene, OR), Steve Treseler, saxophone (Seattle WA), Joshua Hettwer, saxophone (Eugene, OR), Vanessa Sielert, saxophone (Moscow, ID), Justin Woodward, trumpet (Eugene, OR), Vern Sielert, trumpet (Moscow, ID), Paul Krueger, trumpet (Eugene, OR), Tony Glausi, trumpet (Eugene, OR), Dave Glenn, trombone (Walla Walla, WA), Jenny Kellogg, trombone (Spokane, WA), Joe Freuen, trombone (Eugene, OR), Bill Foster, trombone (Cheney, WA), Torrey Newhart, piano (Eugene, OR), Kyle Smith, guitar (Eugene, OR), Dusty Carlson, bass (Eugene, OR), Sean Peterson, bass (Eugene, OR), Ken Mastrogiovanni, drum set (Eugene, OR), Adam Carlson, aux percussion/visual recording (Eugene, OR).