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music

Honkin’ in Lima, Peru

honkin' in peruIn 2007 I traveled to South America to perform at the XVII Festival Jazz en Lima, Peru, with the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra. One of the highlights of the festival was a concert we performed in the Lima neighborhood of La Victoria. This is where I met a young saxofonista named Claudia Medina.

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athletics

Honkin’ Long Rides

Y3 CTS #-6
Unlike last year when my season got off to a slow start, my athletic endeavors have been going full swing all winter. My spouse decided that this is the year she wants do the Seattle-to-Portland (STP) bike ride, and I said, “well if you do it, I’ll do it too.” Yikes. What did I get myself into?

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Honkin’ with Diva (1998)

Here is a video of me playing with the Diva Big Band at the 1998 Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The tune is “You Stepped Out of A Dream” and I am the first soloist after the melody.

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Honkin’ on Hartley

Walter Hartley’s piece for three bass saxophones and piano: “Abase: So Low (it can’t be published)” with Jay Easton, Scott Granlund and Ward Baxter. This was performed at a party celebrating the 200th birthday of Adophe Sax. The saxophone is such a bad-ass instrument!

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Honkin’ on the Solstice

I love summer…or Triathlon Season as I now call it.

The sun comes up at 5:11am and sets at 9:11pm. It’s light when I get up early and it’s still light when I take the puppy out at 10pm.tri-01 The light energizes me and I feel at my most inspired, motivated and creative best this time of year. Summers here are glorious and this is payback for the darkness of November and December in the Northwest.

On the Solstice, I played saxophone on a float in the Fremont Solstice Parade with a ten-piece Brazilian/Funk band backing a large Samba dance troupe. Rolling down the street playing for thousands of euphoric people lining the street was a blast! But aside from this and a little honking with the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, my attention is elsewhere this summer.

My goal is to participate in

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Honkin’ for Brazil

EntreMundos Jam SessionWell this is the year that the last of the baby boomers turn 50…including myself! To celebrate, I’ve been thinking of what to do to mark the half-century point in my life.

Lately the direction of my musical life has been headed towards Brazil. I’ve always loved Brazilian music and

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Honkin’ in October

SWOJO-Ingrid-Jensen_Cynthia-MullisI played an arsenal of saxophones, clarinet and flute on two really cool performances this month.

These Earshot Jazz Festival concerts were with the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra and the Cornish Contemporary Big Band…two groups that are doing good work in keeping the modern jazz big band flourishing into the 21st century.

Ingrid Jensen and Darcy James Argue are both world-class musicians and this was a great opportunity to hear them in Seattle. I was honored to be playing in concerts with these great musicians.

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Honkin’ on KEXP

I recently played saxophone on a session for Sonarchy Radio as the leader of Analog Honking Device. It was aired on KEXP 90.3 FM and is now available as a Sonarchy Radio Podcast.

Here is the direct media link: 
Sonarchy Radio Session: Analog Honking Device 

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Analog Honking Device/Sonarchy Session videos are {HERE}

Sonarchy Radio: Analog Honking Device
Produced by Doug Haire at Jack Straw Studio, Seattle, WA
Cynthia Mullis (tenor sax), Chad McCullough (trumpet)
Steve Kim (electric bass), Chris Symer (acoustic bass), Chris Icasiano (drums)

This session was recorded in Seattle on March 16, 2013 and was more condensed than previous live concerts. The biggest challenge was keeping things moving for the sake of a radio recording — we performed 7 tunes in the hour. For this session I invited Chad McCullough to join in on trumpet and we had some freakish

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Honkin’ in July

julyRight now in my life, I have several diverse interests that each take a lot of focus: web design, triathlon training, school, projects, family…and music. Sometimes it seems like the honking becomes way too infrequent in the mix. Then sometimes it takes over and I gladly indulge in the musical momentum. July has been a perfect blend of saxophone, exercise, web design and fun.

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Ruminatin’ on Women in Jazz

allison-millerOver the weekend I attended the Ballard Jazz Walk and the Ballard Jazz Festival Mainstage concert. Kudos to Matt Jorgensen, John Bishop and all of the people who worked hard to produce yet another great year of the festival. I was pleased to see some Sisters included in the Brotherhood aspect of the festival and it got me thinking about what the “Women in Jazz” thing means to me personally and my mixed feelings about it.