Road Warrior....

I get alot of emails/comments about my life on the road asking how can
i stand all this up and down!

Frankly when u love what u do as much as i do and your able to share it
with countless folks around the world.....there is no other option
ya dig?
There is no rhyme or reason to what we do......it's a kind of calling
i think.
Students are always curious about how they can get to the point of
doing the same thang.....i just say be prepared, professional and have
a good attitude/wk ethic and everything that's supposed to come to u
will....i think that goes with anything u do in life.

I'm now jumping on the second half of a Joshua Redman trio tour going
to Asia after i jumped off for a couple weeks to join the Charles
Lloyd Quartet for a European run...(which was amazing by
the way).
Have i ever told ya'll how much i like the Japanese culture? (even
though it can be a little rigid at times). :)

I can truly say that I am blessed to be playing music on a very high
level with some of the baddest boys in da buisness.....Wow.
Thanks fellas.(that nod is to Schway AND Chuck + company btw) :0)

RR

2008 Highlights

Hey Everyone!! Once again i've been a bad boy and haven't put a blog out in over a year!!! Forgive me once more.....i hate when i go to people's site and not see updated stuff....now i'm doing the same!!! Ughhh! Shame on me!!

Well anyway here's a review of last year! ;0)

Jan.

Aaron Goldberg Trio

My longest existing musical relationship is with two of my closest friends....Eric Harland and Aaron Goldberg.

It's been a pleasure to wk with these guys for the past 12 years.....so easy, so fluid to wk with them. And believe it or not we all still get along!!! :)

We started the year out playing at the now defunct (IAJE(International Association of Jazz Educators)Convention in Toronto Canada. It was coooold but fun to play there....sad that the convention is no more...it was a great place to catch up with old friends and meet new people. Hopefully it'll be revived somehow.

After that we went into the Jazz standard in NYC with special guest saxophonist Mark Turner. Wow that boy is baaaaaad!

As of this blog creation Marks recovering from a severe hand injury....i hear he's healing well though. We miss u bro!!

Later that month i played in St.Barths with my man John Ellis and crew... What a beautiful island!! We had a blast being the only Jazz group in a classical music fest!! Such great Hospitality!! Thanks Jill(and mom)!!

Right after that i hopped over to my homeland St.Thomas and did yet another benefit for the United Way...this time with all my homies Ron Blake, Dion Parson, Rashaun Ross and a host of others with the 21st Century band. Besides raising money for the orginization we paid homage to one of our mentors Jon Lucien. Man that was a blast!! We miss u Jon!! Thanks To Raymond ,Cherise and the whole United Way for bringing us hm!!

Feb.

I spent this month touring with the great trumpeter Chris Botti. It was a fun couple weeks..especially linking with my old buddies Mark Whitfield and Peter Martin. The hang on and off stage was great. We even went back to St.Thomas!!

Mar.

This month i started back up with Joshua Redman's Trio....the drum chair swapped between Brian Blade and Greg Hutchinson.

Going back to Hawaii was a blast....went whale watching for the first time... Loved it! Also saw a live active Volcano!!!

Yes i am living da life.....:)

The end of the month we went into the world renown Village Vanguard in NYC before recording Josh's next project called Compass which involved Brian Blade and Greg hutchinson on Drums plus Larry Grenadier and myself on Bass. Wow...what a great experience!! We all played together on half of the album!!! Yall gotta check it out!!!

To finish off the Month i had a great west coast run with my Charles Lloyd Fam.....i tell u...this group is growing with every Performance! Proud to say the last album we did(Rabo de Nube) was Jazztimes album of the year!! Check it out!!!! 

Apr.

Back in Dianne reeves camp for the month of Apr.....we did a 3 week European run. It was great to play with my old college buddy Antonio Sanchez who subbed for Greg Hutch on this run. He's gotta a new record out called Migration...check it out.

To end the month i did a rare "Reuben Rogers" group gig in Sacramento California. Always weird to get  back in that "leaders" saddle once you've been away from it for awhile. It was a blast though....thanks Kendrick, John and Danny and of course Ken for hooking it up!!

May

Finally got back to the New Orleans Jazz fest!!!! Hadn't played there since before Katrina.....it was so good to get back. Such a greay energy from that city!! I love it!!

Played there with Dianne Reeves...once again she had the crowd in the palm of her hands.

After that we headed to the St.Lucia jazzfest where i did double duty with Dianne and my old Berklee buddy saxophonist Jacque-Schwartz Bart. He mixes jazz with music from his native land Guadeloupe......very lovely and original.

Next i got to do some gigs with my buddy Taylor Eigsti along with Eric Harland and Julian Lage.....man i love playing with those guys!!! We did some east and West Coast dates.....thanks to all who came out to celebrate Tay's new CD Let it come to you....check it out!!

Jun.

Ahhhh...Summer. I love this time of year!! What a great way to start it but with some great wine and Jazz!!

Started the month off playing with the Charles Lloyd Quartet with special guest Zakir Hussain at the Healsdsburg California Jazzfest in the Wine country ......what a blast!!

After that i headed to Australia with the Aaron Goldberg trio with Gregory Hutchinson on drums....it was good to play with my old Joshua Redman bandmates again....thanks Ingrid for hooking up such a great tour once more!!!

Jul.

After finishing some late Jun.Canadian and East coast dates i headed to Europe with the Charles Lloyd Group once more....always a treat to do the Summer festivals every July.....get to eat great food, run across old friends and play great music in great weather!! What a life indeed.....

Aug

I had the oppurtunity to tour and record with some new friends this month....Italian Saxaphonist's Daniele Scannapieco and Max Ionata along with my old friend Clarence Penn on drums.....we had a blast every night playing(and eating :)

At the end of the tour we went into the studio and recorded a cd called Tenor Legacy...Look out for it!!

Thanks Sergio!!!

Later that month i also got a chance to do a great gig in Haarlem Netherlands with the Dutch Pianist Peter Beets who i had the pleasure of recording with a year before!! That boy is a monster!! Check him out!!

At the end of the month I went back to the Johannesburgh Jazz fest in South Africa with the Joshua Redman trio.....i learned sooo much about South African history first hand. Thanks Pat!!! 

After the fest i visited Capetown for a few days......all i have to say is....WOW.......Such a great city!! Wonderful natural beauty!!! And so much to do and experience!! I recommend....

Sept.

Back in the Dianne Reeves Camp we started our Asian Tour in Taipei Taiwan.....we almost didnt make it because of the huge typhoon that hit the city the day before we arrived! It all worked out in the end.....Next stop was Japan.....We played the Billboard live venues which were formally Blue note venues(except for Tokyo which still has a blue note club). 

The Japanese sure know how to run a tight ship!! A bit rigid at times but always together....much appreciated here...:)

After stops in Fukuoka, Osaka, and Tokyo....we headed to Korea to finish out the tour.

I have alot of my shirts made in Seoul.....yes tailor made shirts for a fraction of the price you'd get them in the states!! Don't hate!!!!! :)

Thanks Hamilton Shirts!!!!

Oct.

I got to do another rare gig with my trio at the the Duane Library at Fordham University in Bronx NY.....such a great turnout!! Thanks to all who came out!! Special Thanks to Danny and Hutch!! Sorry for my sad playing!! :(

This month i also got a chance to record with a great friend and one of my favorite young tenor sax players Jimmy Greene. I know Jimmy from my Boston days when i was fresh outta St.Thomas.

Once more he put together a stellar cast of musicians...Eric Harland on Drums and Xavier Davis on Piano along with the great Lage Lund on guitar. The Cd is called Mission Statement....check it out!

Nov.

Once again i was on the road with the Joshua Redman Trio this time with Brian Blade on drums for one half of the tour then Eric Harland the other half! Maaaaan it was a blast. Playing in this pianoless trio setting has become my favorite most challenging, fullfilling musical experiences of my career. Kicks my butt everynight!!! Wow...thanks fellas.

Dec.

Well...i ended the year the way i started it....with my best friends and musical compadres....E and A with the Aaron Goldberg Trio.

We had a blast for a week in Switzerland.....visited some cities i had never been to. It wasn't to cold and we didnt have to wake up early any of the days(the worst thing about traveling)!!! Yeeees! The Swiss now how to eat by the way. :)

Thanks for hooking up such a great tour Rog!!

After Switzerland we spent a week in Italy doing a 7 city tour. It's unbelievable how much people like jazz in Italy!!! When ever we would pull up to these town/venues my first thought was always.....are people gonna be at the gig in such a small town? Sure enough everytime it was packed!!!!! Thanks for the great tour Toti!! (Despite your crazy driving )   :0)

Well thats it folks.....i'm months late with this so maybe i'll stop with the year reviews and do a periodic blog.....of course if i dont...forgive me again!!! :)

Peace.

RR

07 Highlights..

Hey yall......it's been almost a year since i wrote a blog......alot
has happened since then fo sho.
Where do i start??? Well let's see....

Nov.06 - Got a chance to do a whole tour in Norway with Dianne.....we
went to a few cities i had never been to. We got the chace to play in
some tiny towns where everyone and their moms(literally) came to hear
us play.....The Norwegian government sponsored the tour so that made
going to these small markets possible. Loved the trip despite the
cold weather!! :)

Jan.07- Visited Chile for the first time......got to do it with a few
of my long time compadres......A dawg, E and Josh. We played in
Santiago and Vina del Mar.
That was a Fabulous trip....the folks loved the music and treated us
very very nice........Thanks Felipe!! (oh yeah, won some cash at the
casino for the first time also!!! ha ha ha)

Right after that trip i was able to take part in a live CD/DVD with a
Japanese Rock Pop star named Tomoyasu Hotei......
Flew over to Tokyo had 3 days rehearsal and did the show.......man
that was a great time. Everyone was soooo professional.
Thanks Terreon, Simon,Ebony, Luis,Tiffany and of course Hotei!!

Feb.07- Man that was a crazy busy month.....i don't think i had more
than 3 days off!!
It was great to link with my old buddy Eric Reed......we played 6
nights at the Village Vanguard with his group. The line up was Willie
Jones on drums, Stacey Dillard and Seamus Blake on saxes and Eric on
Piano.Every single night was smokin!!!

That month i co produced my first project(that wasn't mine)......it
was for a German/American Vocalist named Stephanie K.
The record came out great!! It featured Aaron Goldberg,Eric
Harland,John Ellis,Ryan Scott and myself. Look out for it!

Mar 07- Had a chance to do some interesting recordings with some
great musicians(and people)....Kate Mcgarry and Keith Ganz + friends.
We recorded 60 2 to 3 min songs for some childrens books over the
course of 3 days.....
It was a challenge to keep everything fresh from song to song....but
i think we pulled it off!!!

Later that month i had the chance to go back hm to St.Thomas and be
featured with the UVI jazz ensemble. I also did a master class at the
University. Thanks to all the kids and (Kids at heart) :) that came
out.....i had alot of fun.

April-May 07- Had a great time playing alot with the great Charles
Lloyd who i have been playing with for the past 3 years or
so......Jason Moran replaced Geri Allen on this tour. Man did J rock
it!!! Turns out that the concert we did in Basel Switzerland is gonna
be a live CD!! Look out for it next year!!!

Thanks to all that came out to support me and my group in NY and
Boston. I finally found sometime to do my OWN gigs!!! They were
Grrrrreat!

Jun-Jul 07 It's great to be playing with my old compadre(and boss)
Joshua Redman again....I was a part of his Quartet from 98 to 01. We
had a nice lengthly run of 7 weeks this summer.
This time around it's just trio with no piano. A nice change of pace
for me.....very challenging context. i absolutely love it.

Aug 07- It was good to link up with my fav trio with Aaron and Eric
featuring Mark Turner for a six city tour of Italy. Goodness they
know how to eat in Italy!! Even roadside truck stops know how to do
it up!!!! I love it!!
Small note: "Mark is truly one of the most original saxophone voices
of our time"...check him out if you haven't.

Which brings us to Now Sept 07...

1.It was a pleasure to record with Dianne Reeves for the 3rd time
earlier this month.....we recorded quite a mixture of songs. A little
something for everyone....look out for it late this year or early
next year.

Also i'm proud to have accepted a position at the University of
Greensboro North Carolina's. Music Dept. Special thanks to Steve
Haines(head of jazz studies) for the invite. Had my first visit last
week....it's gonna be a fun year. :)

I'm writing this entry on my flight back to the states from South
Korea.....was over there with Charles Lloyd.....this timeTrio)no
piano) instead of Quartet!!
My chops better improve in these configurations!!!

Man that was a long ride over there.....to almost not play!! It
rained non stop the evening of our concert.....and it was an outdoor
festival!!!! Ughhhh!
The folks stood in the rain with umbrellas and plastic coverings as
we played a shortened set under a half covered stage(while still
getting wet).
Thanks for trying to brave the weather with us folks!!!

As you can see on my Itinerary page....it's gonna be a crazy busy
fall also. I'm hoping to start writing some music for my next project
threw it all.
Keep you posted on that fo sho......

Can't promise that it'll be soon that i'll write again. But i sure
will try.....forgive me advance ok!! :)

RR

Highlights...

Hey everyone! It's been awhile since i last blogged
something.....i've really been humping it!!!!!! People always ask me
how can i stand all the travel. Quite honestly....i don't really
think about it much. It all becomes a blur once i finally get the
bass in my hands.
Since i last blogged i've been to Europe,toured the states,to
Australia twice(wheew) and just came back from Japan.....
Here are the highlights.....

1.Played a celebrity showcase in Nevada with Dianne Reeves(late
jul)....alot of fun staying and playing in a casino
atmosphere....things don't shut down!!! kinda like NY........

2.Had 2 spectacular nights in Atl. mid Aug. Thank you to all my VI
extended family that came out.....it really touched my heart to see
all of you. words can't express......thanks for sharing the night
with us.

3.Played 3 unbelievable nights at the Sydney Opera house in Australia
with the Sydney Symphony and Dianne Reeves(+ trio)!!!
So sweet to feel the sound of woodwinds and strings smack you in the
neck....:) love it.
The audience was soooooo into the show.....it inspired all of us to
give it that extra thang!! than you Sydney!!!

4.Played a private engagement for "Tiffany's in London with DR.
Guess who sat in with us for a couple tunes??Actor Kevin
Spacey.....great guy....and he sounded good!

5.The Monterey Jazz fest:.....had the oppurtunity to play hear with 3
groups... Dianne Reeves,Aaron Goldberg trio and last but not least
the legendary saxaphonist Charles Lloyd.
It was his 40th anniversary of a record that he recorded live at the
same festival......that same piece of vinyl catapulted him into some
serious mainstream success!! It was an honor to be part of this sax
masters festive occasion.

6.AUSTRALIA(trip 2).....Aaron,Eric and I did a 3 city tour
introducing the trio to the Aussie's......we were embraced with very
open arms. We also did masterclasses in the 3 cities we
visited.....Jazz is alive and well in Australia folks!!!

7.RR trio in JP: Wow....words can't express how much i appreciate
all the support we got in every city and venue.
The Japanese folks loooove this music.......thanks for coming on the
Journey with us folks!!!
Special shout out to Kohei!!! We gotta do it again bro!!!!

Well everyone...thanks for coming by...i know yall got alot of better
things to do than hear me brag about my travels!!! :)
Take care and do leave a message letting me know how your are doing.
I promise it won't be so long till my next blog....
Out....

RR

Europe Jul.06

Hey everyone....long time since i've sat down to write a
little......of course i promised myself i'd do it more.....and i
didn't!!!
Aaron Goldberg's tour feat. saxophonist Chris Potter was amazing a
couple weeks ago.
Chris has such a fabulous sound and great imagination on his
instrument.......definitely one of the masters of our time.
Always good playing with my old buddies A and Hutch! That's a given!
We were just in Italy for that tour!!! I must say....the Italians
know how to eat!!!!! Every night was a spectacular meal!!!

I've been out with Dianne and crew these past couple weeks doing our
yearly summer european tour.
For those of you that don't know......Europe has an abundance of
Music festivals going on in the month of Jul. every year.
I have no idea exactly how many.....but it seems i've been to atleast
60 different ones over the past 10 years!!!
Of course there are the big ones like North sea Jazz fest,Vienne Jazz
fest, Montreaux Jazz fest, Kongsberg jazz fest......
But it's the not so known ones in the small towns that i like the
most.......the whole town as well as whole neighboring towns come out
to enjoy the music in LARGE numbers.
As a matter of fact we went to a small country of 2 million called
Riga, Latvia. My first time there...... The people were so nice!!!
Europeans have such a great appreciation and respect for Jazz music.
(so do the Japanese)
I wish we had a little more of this in the states!!! :(

I'm in another fabulous city today....Copenhagen!!! Such a vibrant
place!!! Things close to early though!!! Ughhhh! :)

Okay Okay......my prediction of Dallas winning it all was off! I'm
really glad for Miami though!! Especially Alonzo Mourning and Gary
Payton.....they can retire with class now!!!!

While we're on sports........the world cup has been going on the
whole time i've been over here......i actually was in Italy and
France for each countries respectful big games to make it to the Finals.
Unbelievable how much these folks love soccer!!!!!!!
Tonight is the final match to decide the cup........Italy against
France.
My $$ on France!!!!! :)

Ahhh...Musical Bliss!

This past week i had the oppurtunity to play with a fabulous cast of top rated musicians in NYC. Mr. Joe Locke on vibraphone,Geoffrey Keezer on Piano & Keyboards and Mr.Terreon Gully on Drums. This was one of those rare gigs where i played both electric and acoustic basses pretty evenly across the board when it came to reportoire.
Let me tell you.....this was a week to remember...every night was on a musically high level..... plus these are some of the nicest cats on earth! I love it when that goes hand in hand. Thanks fellas.....and thank you to those who came out and supported.

On my way to start a month long run in Europe next week....hope to write a bit more over there....always something interesting going on over seas.

I wanna send my condolences out to the masterful latin jazz pianist Hilton Ruiz's family. Hilton died misteriously in New Orleans a week ago. He had been a in a coma for weeks prior. The word is that he may have been beaten to death......no one knows the truth right now.
I only met Hilton once at the Newport Jazz Festival some years back....he seemed to be a very nice cat.His music shall live on.

My prediction for the NBA finals stands!! Dallas in 6!!!!


RR

p.s. You can now post comments on my blog!!!! Look for the pencil sign!

Thank you all!

So it's been about 2 weeks since my unofficial CD and website release and i've recieved some unbelievable support from all over the world!!! I've been able to link with so many folks from decades past!! It touches my heart to hear from all of you.
THANK YOU!!!

Just getting hm. from my Mexico run wish Joshua Redman.....we played at the cities annuaul Jazz fest last night.....Boy were those people excited to hear some Jazz music!!!! Had to be about 2,000 folks.....mostly young!!!!
This was definitely one of those in and out gigs....fly in......hit.....fly out. Luckily i've been to Mexico city a couple times before and had a couple days to explore it. Very nice city.
During the weekend i was with Dianne in Sonoma CA as well as Los Angeles.....The gigs were great.....i also got the oppurtunity to catch up with some old college buddies who are doing some great things in the film scoring buisness out there. That's a whole other world i tell you!!!!

So Miami is beating up on Detroit!!! So unexpected!! I gotta change up my predictions now! Good thing i have no money on these series this year!!!
NBA finals - Dallas and Miami.......Dallas in 6.

RR