The day started with a departure from St. Louis and a visit to Mel Bay, music publisher. Who hasn’t learned from Mel Bay Book I? Corey Christiansen—one of the finest jazz guitarists in the world—gave us a tour of the plant where they take a book through the entire publishing process, I’ll never look at a book quite the same way again. They had my book right outside Bill Bay’s—Mel’s son—office, now they could have done that for my benefit, but we arrived without word…thanks guys, I hope the book has helped out a lot of aspiring players. It’s all about the music, just like the reason we are here in the first place!!

Then we departed and set on a drive through the Ozarks, hilly green Missouri splendor, on the old road, felt like we could have been riding alongside Bonnie & Clyde, chugging along through dips and gullies as the cars sped by on nearby Interstate 44. I prefer it the old way…but you can probably tell that from my playing. Then a typical repast, the Missouri Hick, Q that was tasty, melts in your mouth and lays you back like a Dexter Gordon solo….mmmm hmmmm.

The road is cut deep in stone, here through the Devil’s Elbow region, chiseled out like a quarry, and the pavement is buckled and long forgotten, soulful and full of stories, waiting to be discovered. I suggest it.

Back to Springfield, a great group of kids and adults, teachers form the college, John in particular, they made us welcome and feel appreciated and it was a club with perfect vibes and sound. Ran into a couple of western swingers from Branson, Vegas of the Ozarks, they were cool cats and I know they were pickers that could take care of biz… speaking of Branson, Dave’s girl Carolyn was on her way to Branson with her group, Daughters of the Purple Sage, and we got a chance to say hey as they headed south to their gig…now what’s the chance of that working out? Just another example of 66 magic, only there for those of us who are willing to let it happen, which comes to think of it, is the secret of swingin and music.

With that, I think I’ll swing into this steak that Bob just made and head for the rack, got a big day tomorrow, we get through Missouri, bite off a corner of Kansas and head to Tulsa… Take me Back to Tulsa… swing on y’all.

A gentle reminder: We are doing this to support JazzMasters Workshop, a no charge music-mentoring programs for kids. Please consider a per mile pledge, we’d appreciate it. You can do it right from this site! Thanks.