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eturned to Chicago, which is his hometown,and bassist Matthew Golombisky also endedup in Chicago after being forced out of NewOrleans by the flood. The three of us made upthe New Orleans portion of the band, and Jebasked [vibraphonist] Jason Adasiewicz, [cornetist]Josh Berman and [saxophonist] KeefeJackson to be the Chicago component. Wemet for a week in late February, early Marchof 2006, and rehearsed and played four gigsthat we recorded.”At the same time, Albert expresses hope formusical diversity growing in his hometown.“There is a gathering movement of creativemusical activity in New Orleans,” Albert said.“One aspect of that is the Open Ears MusicSeries, which I founded and co-curate withJustin Peake and Dan Oestreicher. The idea ofOpen Ears is directly descendent from some ofthe musician-run series in Chicago, specificallythe Emerging Improvisers presentations at theHungry Brain. I spent some time picking Josh’sbrain about what made their stuff work at theBrain, and his advice and guidance have beencrucial in our success with Open Ears, which hasbeen running for about a year-and-a-half now.“I haven’t really given much consciousthought to the traditional New Orleans–Chicagoconnections,” Albert continued. “There seemsto have always been some flow between thecities, but my initial draw to Chicago was simplythat I liked the music that was being madethere. The first Lucky 7s performance, whichhappened to be Mardi Gras 2006 at the EmptyBottle, elicited an appropriate line from [percussionist]Michael Zerang: ‘The last time NewOrleans cats started coming up here, it was prettygood for the music.’” —John EphlandEastman School of Music in New York.Whereas many aspiring jazz artists who make itto the East Coast tend to migrate to New YorkCity—especially if they’ve gone to school inManhattan—Wendel headed back to LosAngeles, which provided him with a diversepool of musicians who weren’t necessary jazzplayers.“It’s such an industry town; you get a lot ofexperience doing commercial film work, youcan also end up in different genres—hip-hop,rock—that’s why my resume is pretty wideranging.”The city also allowed Wendel to focus ondeveloping a singular voice.“Here, people are more isolated and it givesyou the space to hone your craft without all theintense, crazy pressure of New York. In NewYork, there are so many brilliant musicians—you can get lost in the mix and lose your senseof identity or a sense of where you’re headed. Ifeel lucky, because I’m entering my solocareer a little older and I have a good networkof friends. It won’t be like starting fromground zero.”—John Murph