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Cliff Colon |
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I first heard the "Cliff Colon Trio"
play with Mimi Fox Dec.
30th 2001 at Jazzbones in Tacoma. An incredible night of
music. The trio has a standing spot every Sunday at Jazzbones. The Trio
consists of Cliff on sax, Joe Doria on the Hammond B3, and John Wicks or
Brian Kirk on drums. They have a different special guest every week.
His dexterity both in his playing ability as well as the notes he
chooses goes right to my head. I told Cliff "I get his every
note, every space" which made him laugh because he's not sure he
gets himself. Keith Church (The JazzDog) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Biography from Cliff's Website Back in junior high I made my first goal as a musician. I told everyone that "I want to be the leader of the Tonight Show band". Sure, this was a pretty high goal to reach, and while it was a long shot, it was my motivation all the way through high school. At that time, saxophonist Branford Marsalis was the leader of The Tonight Show Band. Now, being the leader of the Tonight Show band didn't mean you are exactly the best musician in the world. What it did mean was that you are seen on television 5 days out of the week, and therefore are one of the most recognizable instrumentalists in the United States. That is what I wanted. I didn't want to be "the best", but I wanted to be recognized. I wanted to be known not only as a musician but also as a personality. At the time, that was a good goal for me to have. I went through junior high and high school with this goal in mind, and did everything I could to try and achieve it by practicing a lot, performing a lot, and putting myself in leadership roles. By the time college rolled around, I felt that I had a good head start in achieving the goal that I had set. After all, in high school I made it in all of the honor bands, I was a leader in my graduating class, I won music awards, and I received superior ratings at Solo Ensemble contest. However, from the first day in college, despite all that I had done in high school, I knew that I would have to start all over, because I was now the little fish in a big pond. What I did in the past meant nothing now. It was at this point that I realized that I needed to update my goal as a musician. There was simply too great of a gap between the point I was currently at, and being the leader of the Tonight Show band. I needed a goal that could be seen in the nearby future. Here it is: It is my goal to be the most well-respected musician amongst my peers. Notice that I did not say "the best musician". Being the best really only means that you as an individual are the only one reaping any type of reward. But, if you are well respected by your peers, that means that not only you, but everyone that you are associated with has somehow benefited from you as a musician. Sure, I might never be the best saxophonist amongst my associates, but why would I want to be? Usually, if you are "the best", you also have the biggest head and are a jerk. I do not want that. What I want is for the work that I do as a musician to be recognized by my peers and to benefit the entire musical community. With this goal I can constantly raise the bar. Right now, the people in my musical community are the musicians in the Puget Sound area. Once I achieve my goal in this community, my bar can be risen and the new goal will be to be the most well-respected musician in the state of Washington. If that goal is reached, then it will expand to the West Coast, and then to the country, and then the continent, and then the world. No matter what, with this new goal I can always have the finish line in sight, therefore keeping the motivation at full force. Sure, this goal is lofty and might never go farther than where it as now, but least I can rest assure that my musicianship will not be self-centered towards myself, but it will help push the envelope for my entire musical genre. One thing for sure, it should be one hell of a ride. |
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