For the last three weeks, my boyfriend Coren came to visit. He plays jazz saxophone, 🎷 so we've been calling it his 'Jazz Pilgrimmage', and not a holiday during term time......😬
Anyways, we squeezed in an awful lot! Coren brought all my favourite british goodies with him, so most mornings started with REAL tea 🫖and crumpets with marmite. YUM.

First thing we did was go to the the San Gennaro festival in Little Italy🇮🇹 .We heard Frank Sinatra playing in the streets, and shared fresh pizza 🍕and a cannoli. We also stopped by Grand Central, and I took Coren to the whispering gallery, if you don't know what that is, remember it and find it when you next go to NYC!

The next day we went to Brooklyn to see Harish Raghavan group (Alfredo Colon, Gilad Hekselman, Savannah Harris, Harish Raghavan and Miki Yamanaka). I was bummed because missing the bus 🚍meant we didn't get in for the first set, and had to watch from outside through the open door. However, the gods were smiling on us, as sat next to us on the bench was none other than Joel Harrison. We had lovely chats with him whilst listening to the band, something we couldn't have done if we'd have arrived on time and got seats inside! We managed to get inside for the second set, and all the music blew our socks off. A great first gig!🎶
Later that week we got the train🚉 to Port Washington to take advantage of some free student tickets to see the Dealfayo Marsalis quintet. I discovered the Marsalis family earlier this year when I got covid🤒. I proceeded to watch all of Wynton's online lectures, and I'm sure I'll be coming back to them for years to come. If you haven't heard of the Marsalis', you probably have heard one of them play, one way or another. They're an extraordinary family to say the least! We saw the most amazing sunset over the sea before this gig, I'll leave a picture below.

The next day the Jazz Pilgrimmage continued! We went to see Kurt Rosenwinkel at, oh I dunno....Just like, 'The Village Vanguard', nowhere special......Yes, it was amazing. I didn't know of Kurt before we went to this gig, so for anyone who'd like to know, he's an American jazz Guitarist 🎸who basically does it all, so he's got fans from every musical genre!
The next week Coren and I started learning 'My Romance' together after we heard Dealfayo Marsalis play his own duo version at the gig. I love learning by ear👂, and learning this tune with Coren each day reminded me how important it is to sing! As much as you can! Sing!
Later in the week, the LEGENDARY Manchester Collective (MC) came to NYC to debut their show 'Sirocco'. They've performed it about four years in the UK, but this was its first trip over the pond. Obviously I cried instantly when I heard them play. I'll try and lay out why below:
every individual in the ensemble inspires me to perfect my craft
every individual in the ensemble is a kind and warm human being
every piece (and their programs are extremely varied for a 'classical' group) was moving
everything that was said between pieces spoke to me in a personal way
There's more, but isn't that enough? I could watch this group play a thousand times over. And the great part is every time it would be unique. Firstly because a large part of this particular show is improvised, and also because everybody meant what they were playing so ardently. That's just what I want to do, and how I want people to feel when I'm performing.


^^^That's a very happy me and a very beautiful Simmy Singh who absolutely smashed it out of the park
Afterwards I had a lovely lovely catchup with the members of the group. Everyone was particularly tickled by a moment in the show where someone in the audience sneezed right at the perfect quiet spot. People were stifling their giggles,🤭 including the musicians. But did the performers turn up their noses? No! Rakhi, one of the violinists and founders of MC, found an opportune cadence to look out to the audience and say 'bless you', as naturally as if it was written in the music in front of her. We all let out a happy laugh, 😄 and the gap between audience and stage shrunk ever smaller.
Coren and I went to the Cheesecake Factory the next day. Cheesecake is his favourite pudding, and it did not disappoint. It's got to be done at least once right? I'd like to note here that I ordered a vegetarian burger (not a faux-meat, but actual vegetables) as my main, and the waitress, to my confusion, asked me how I would like it cooked. Well-done? I replied. But we had a good giggle about that over our cheesecake.

In the last week we visited the Queens Botanical Gardens 🌺which is free on Wednesday afternoons. It's in our nearest park, Flushing Meadows Corona Park. In this park alone, there's so much to do including a zoo and the Louis Arsmtrong Museum which we ran out of time for this trip. But that's okay! There's always more time, and our wallets were happy giving them a miss anyway.....😅
We paid a second visit to the Vanguard too🎼. This time to see Billy Hart's quartet with Billy Hart, Mark Turner, Ethan Iverson and Ben Street. It was awesome, and one of our favourite parts was Billy describing Ethan's playing as 'eloquent'. It truly was, there wasnt a better word for it, and what a lovely way to be complimented on your playing too🎹.
On Coren's last day we went to the Modern Museum of Art (MoMA)🖼. We spent about three hours there, and it's so extensive that wasn't enough to cover everything. However, we were both thoroughly inspired by the art and photography there. A very gorgeous way to spend the last day. We nipped to Central Park🍂 for some afternoon sun and a rest before heading home.


And that's it! I dropped Coren off at the airport ✈️this afternoon. I'm sitting down writing this 💻and making a plan for the next week. My parents will be here in Friday, and I can't wait! Hope you've enjoyed hearing about the last three weeks of music and fun. I've enjoyed writing it all down. 🥰

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