John Malmstrom

I’ve got a feeling that 2012 is gonna be a busy year for the Modern Swing Clarinetist.

Already, the various bands that I play with have more bookings than we’ve ever had at this early date — and some of them are really swell!

Performing with Jazzette at the Trellis Café 1/13

Starting on this Friday — the 13th! — my pals in Jazzette and I are I’m kicking off the year at one of our favourite hanuts, the great little Trellis Café. Then next month Swingology will take center stage with multiple gigs at cool venues that are new to all of us (more about that later, of course — or scour my “Gigs” page for details).

And in addition to all that, I’ve written a to-do list for myself that should keep me pretty busy. I’m mentioning it here, publicly, to keep myself honest! One of my items is to create some new sample recordings I hope you’ll enjoy. I’m aiming to lay down 6 or so very simple little tracks just to give folks an idea of how I sound these days. Here are the first two — What do you think?

Lullaby Sample

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Solitude Sample

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Another goal for my year is to meet and mingle with more Atlantic Canadain Jazz musicians. If you’re a Maritime syncopator, watch out, I’ll probably be lurking in your audience soon. And then there’s practice goals… that never changes… happily!

And finally, I just learned about a gig which I must confess, I’m especially excited about. Swingology has been contacted by Jazzeast, Nova Scotias’ wonderful non-profit jazz society, to entertain at a 1920s -30s “Speakeasy” themed fundraiser on March 30th. Youza! A made to order gig for us! Here’s how I imagine it’ll look. Hope to see you all this year!

My Jazzette pals and I are excited to be opening for the TwoFiskTrio at an Evening Of Jazz in Wolfville on Dec. 19th. Check out the crowd and the marquee at right, how swell is that? Rumor is TwoFisk (the Fisk Bros. on drums and guitar joined by legendary bass-man Skip Beckwith) is introducing material for Standardized, the new CD they’re cooking up. Wolfville’s Acadia/Al Whittle Theatre has great acoustics and soft seats and for those of you who’ve been wanting to catch me in the act with Jazzette, this may be a “closer-to-home” option. Here’s the swell poster with all the important info:

I recently had a great time making music with my Swingology pals + new addition Cynthia Myers. The little Trellis Café was bustin’ at the seams — so much so they had to turn away more than a few folks! For our friends who couldn’t join us, here’s a sample of the goings on.

UPDATE: This event is Sold Out!

Those of you who’ve been following along know that I’ve been living in two wonderful, but separate, vintage-swing-worlds this summer. Swingology’s Kirsten McDonald, a wonderful singer with whom I’ve had the joy of working alongside for the last year, has moved to pursue an exciting internship, and will be much missed. What to do? Well, what happens when you get some of your very best friends together in the same room? We’re all about to find out.

I’m so excited that Cynthia Myers (with whom I’ve been working since February as part of Jazzette), is going to be singing with me and my pals in Swingology: the best darn little classic Gypsy Swing outfit around. Feast your eyes on this fun poster announcing the event. Come on out to the Trellis Café on November 19th to hear the unveiling of this swingy “Dream Team!” The Trellis staff will be pushing back the tables and rolling up the carpet to make this a dance party (‘course you can just order up a great meal and listen, if you’re a mind to). There’s a $10 cover for this special event.