Close your eyes and listen to the greats play: Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and “Pops” (Louis Armstrong) just to name a few.  Its all about the instruments how they were played together and apart from one another.  The sound of the music bouncing off the walls to fill your ears and soul.  What better way to experience it than with in the instruments it self.

 I choose a string instrument in the making of Grooveland because of the curves of the body is not unlike a woman’s for starters, then place it in the hands of a Master, holding it, manipulating the string to produce the sounds and tones that emits from with in as he makes it sing as Wes Montgomery did when he played a solo of Mi Cosa at the Half Note in 1965, which sealed the fate of Grooveland in becoming the vision you see and enjoy today.

I am very honored to have been asked to be a part of the Grooveland adventure as short lived as my trip was. The experience of amercing myself in the culture of Jazz and discovering the roots to the more popular music we hear today has forever changed my appreciation in the art.

ADALENA