The Brian Blade Fellowship
It happened over a five-year period. I'd talk and play with [pianist] Jon [Cowherd]. Jon and I started writing music, and we were joined by other people along the way: Melvin Butler and John Walden (saxophones), Dave Easley (steel guitar), first Jeff Parker then Kurt Rosenwinkle (guitar), Chris Thomas (bass), and Daniel Lanois (guitar). [Joni Mitchell also guests with the Fellowship on the new Blue Note CD "Perceptual".] Attention to tone is a unifying element--how we touch our instruments. And we like to keep each other guessing