I'm just playing through this Duke Ellington tune "I've Got It Bad..." again. I'm playing some changes my teacher from way back in K.C. John Elliott put on the sheet (Duke changes?). The melody, the harmonic movement (in G: juxtaposing ii and the iii chord from dominant in the A's, to minor in the bridge and back for instance), the lyric, the mood... all just add up... what a fantastic tune! So simple but so beautifully constructed.

Need to pick up and play the flutes as well.

Had my regular Thursday lesson with Jim yesterday. I got the second half of Zan Getsu. Another great piece. This is the last gaikyoku (ornate, trio w/shamisen and koto) piece that we learn in the dojo (optional level notwithstanding). Next week we'll move on to the last of 4 levels of the honkyoku (zen music). At the end of that we'll go all the way back to the beginning ("Kurokami") and turn the music upside down (facing away from me) and I will be the teacher and Jim will be the student and we'll go through all of the pieces again on the review level. That's the thing about shakuhachi - it never gets LESS challenging. The well runs deep. There's always something that will give you all you can handle. But if you make the effort, great things can happen. Its almost imperceptible, the growth. The key seems to be - as with all things musical - to LISTEN! There is a whole, wonderful, highly advanced tradition already established. Somewhere in there is YOUR voice. Somewhere. At the top of a mountain maybe... Wherever that is.

Happy to be going back to the Bateaux tonight for our first gig since New Year's Eve. Not a moment too soon. Although this winter does seem to be flying by like none (in a cold climate) that I can remember. Is this a function of age? Or has it just not been nearly as bad (cold, snowy) as, say, last year? Or am I just settling into nature's seaonal cycles? Or do I just have too much time on my hands to sit around and debate such shit?

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Anyway, it'll be nice to play some bass again.