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You can reach Bud Shank |
January 2007 Apologies for the hiatus in the delivery of Budnotes over the summer. Bud suffered a series of medical problems that set him back for a bit, but the doctors finally figured out what was wrong and how to fix it, so come September, he was back on the road to do a big band concert at Kampah near Houston (the concert that Katrina blew out in 2005). In mid-October Bud and Mrs. Bud traveled to Taiwan to do a concert in Taichung. This city has a can-do mayor who hosted the show which drew an astonishing fifteen thousand people! Then he threw a multi-course banquet for the Shanks and a cream of the crop group of Taiwanese entrepreneurs. Taiwan is an amazing place for the arts and just about everything else. The Shanks sneaked off to Maui for a week of R&R in November, the only travel of the entire year that wasn't for work. A lot of nothing was done in that lovely place. Then Bud was off for two weeks to Rio and Sao Paolo, doing concerts and a recording with old pal Donato and his band. The day he arrived home, bags were exchanged and the Shanks headed out on a plane to New Orleans to meet up with a bunch of other jazz types on the Norwegian Sun for a cruise down Guatemala way. Unfortunately the weather was awful. The last day was so bad they wouldn't let people out on the deck or into the pools because of Gale Force 8 winds. Costa Maya has turned into a tourist hell anthill. Belize apparently is not all it is supposed to be (or where it is supposed to be), and Guatemala disappeared under a fog and a driving rain that kept most, including the Shanks, on the boat. Glad we didn't pay for that trip! But the music was great, and Bud and Phil Woods had a joyous star turn together. Next up Bud heads for New York City to record with Bill Mays in early January.
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