The list of musical figures whose lives were cut short is a lengthy one. For some their lives ended in an accident, others traveled a more self-destructive path, and still others were overtaken by a tragic set of circumstances. Booker Little seems to fall into the last of those categories. Little was one of the […]

Chris Potter is one of the greatest saxophonists alive today. He has performed and recorded with the who’s who in jazz—Pat Metheny, Kenny Werner, Ray Brown, Paul Motian, the Mingus Big Band, and countless others. The jazz elder statesman Dave Liebman has called him simply “one of the best musicians around.” Chris was born in […]

The Bridge Program at Hugh John Macdonald School has been a great success thus far. With an almost entirely new group of students to work with, we have come a long way in just a few short months together. Very few of the students have any musical training coming into the class, and many are […]

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is one of the brightest young stars on the music scene today. The New Orleans native has been thrilling crowds across the world for a few years now. He is a natural showman and a powerhouse on both the trombone and the trumpet. Andrews was born into one of the most […]

I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to be working with the students at Hugh John Macdonald. Throughout my education, I was blessed with having so many wonderful teachers and mentors, and now I can only hope to inspire these kids as much as I have been. The task at hand is not an easy […]