Spring is here. TOTALLY here! After a fantastic winter tour with the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble and a super-relaxing and ad (more…)

Greetings from Brooklyn! As we enter the final months of the calendar year, I choose to reflect for a moment on the joys, pains, successes, and failures that have brought me here. Life, as an art, can be a continuous revolution of mind, body, space and time – which is to say that if we remain open, we can always learn new things, have new experiences, go new places, and hurtle irrevocably towards our future.

I have released two records, logged over fifty days of touring in at least a dozen countries, worked as a sideman on few more records, and perfected my flaming bourbon BBQ sauce. The New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble‘s eleventh album “Double Edge” (Brixton Records), including my original composition “Skala”, contains well some of the finest ensemble & solo playing in the bands history. Gato Loco‘s eponymous second album (Winter and Winter) is a raucously live record with an explosive new sound that’s taken European clubs and festivals by storm. “Gato Loco” is well on its way to notoriety, already having received several positive reviews including a critic’s choice award for new jazz records on Qobuz Magazine.

With all of this momentum, I can’t help but be excited for things to come. Indeed, more trouble is right around the corner: next week Gato Loco is going to blow through Germany, hitting festivals and masterclasses around the country, then returning to NYC to open for Bhangra funk band Red Baraat at Brooklyn Bowl on November 28th. Between November and December I’ll be sneaking in a little time with Amour Obscur to hit it at the Coney Island Rock’n'Roll Roadshow on select dates around the Northeast, then returning just in time to fly to Europe with the NYSJE for our annual winter tour, contuning the DECADE LONG TRADITION of Christmas in Florence! Amidst all this traveling, I am quite pleased to be joining the ranks of the West Side Brass, a classical/pops brass quartet with whom I greatly enjoy my time. Finally, looking ahead to 2012, there is no end in sight: Poland, South America, and more.

The moral of this story is, I need to post blogs more often. Thanks for reading, and as always, you can get my most up to date schedule right here at http://ricbecker.com/gigs

It’s an average Tuesday here in Brooklyn. Click here to read horn player Jacquelyn Adams’ personal account of a busy week in NYC, including a set with Gato Loco, a Queen tribute, and seeing the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble play. See ya ’round!

Well, that favorite of all seasons – the summer touring season – is finally drawing to a close. After over twenty concerts on the road with the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble and two tours with the Easy Star All Stars, including five concerts in Mexico, I am ready for a little break from travelling! But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of music to come. Amour Obscur has quite a busy fall playing all over town, Gato Loco is lookin at some juicy prospects, and yours truly will be hopping around the boroughs, playing music wherever the opportunity arises.

In addition to a single Gato Loco gig in Salzburg, Austria this October, we are also getting ready for our first proper European tour in November, during which we will be hitting stages in Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and possibly even more. As usual, the New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble will be doing it’s annual Christmas in Italy tour, followed by a New Years’ Eve party (already confirmed!) in Spain setting off about a week of shows in our favorite Iberian country. We’re also looking ahead to some pretty exciting stuff in 2012, but you’ll just have to wait and see. Cheers!