I love my job

Sometimes, I play a concert that I enjoy so much that I'm reminded again of why I was drawn to music in the first place. We didn't perform any of my top ten favorite pieces last night, and in fact the orchestra only performed half the time. The rest of the time, we were on stage, listening to one of the world's greatest classical guitarists, Christopher Parkening, joined by one of the most remarkable singers I've ever heard, a baritone with incredible musicianship, remarkable control and dynamic range and musical expression of a degree that it makes me want to play the trombone like this man sings. His name is Jubilant Sykes, and everyone in the auditorium was mesmerized by his singing.

I'll be buying a CD the two of them produced together, and I'll put a sample up of their work, but it just will never be able to reproduce the experience of hearing them live. This guy has a huge voice, capable of drowning out the orchestra, and as one reviewer said, at times it seemed like the ceiling would come down.

It was an amazing way to spend an evening...and I got paid to be there.