As I write this, it’s -15 outside. In fact, according to the weather forecast when you add wind chill and moisture it actually feels like -26. That is considerably colder than it was when I was in the Arctic in October and I’m fairly certain is the coldest temperature I’ve ever encountered. (It trumps Berlin in January which was -14 and my legs felt as if the wind was going to remove all the skin from them. I cried.)
I’m spending this month in New York – I arrived back on the 5th and leave next week, back in London on 29th.
Week one was industry week – I attended Jazz Congress and Winter Jazz Fest and most of my favourite people from the arts across the World (bar a few notable absences) were here so it felt oddly like home. With that week or so over, I’m spending the rest of the year filling up on energy and ideas, plans and strategies for 2019.
Last year was extraordinary and I got to see parts of the world I thought I never would, but it got a bit silly toward the end with the amount of work and travelling I was doing and I felt as though I crawled over the finish line depleted of life force. So now, back on form, I’m working to make sure 2019 is equally as extraordinary but with balance included this time so the plates I’m spinning don’t all end up smashed to bits on the floor.
Listening: I discovered the exceptional Val Jeanty last week at the Stone playing with Kris Davis, Tom Rainey and Tony Malaby. She blew me away and I need to hear more. Luckily she’s playing later this week with Jen Shyu and Linda Oh.
Tilman Robinson‘s Deer Heart continues to be on my frequently played list. Explorations of the psychological effects of dense sound. He’s a deep thinker. His piece for Australian Art Orchestra which sampled the audio interviews of an ANZAC soldier was profoundly moving and occupies my thoughts often.
As always my podcast consumption is vast. Endless Thread, My Favorite Murder, Athletico Mince, Reply All, Last Seen and Alan Alda’s Clear + Vivid all in my long list of favourites.
Reading: Scotland Her Story (Edited by Rosemary Goring), Symposium (by Muriel Spark), Rebus’s Scotland (by Ian Rankin), The Speechwriter (by Barton Swaim), The Choice (by Edith Eger)
Kim Macari 