It's a long story, but I'll try to be brief. I have heard John Carlson (and the Willow Creek Band) on the radio many times and enjoyed his vivacious style alto saxophone playing, and his Michael Brecker influenced tenor sax playing. Well...Wayne Watson came to sing at our church and his road manager, now solo artist Bill Pickup, was using some cool music for the prelude. It turns out to be John Carlson and the Willow Creek Band. They recorded some of their original arrangements that were used at Willow and called the CD "Preludes" which is no longer available. (John has since released an expanded version of Preludes entitled Preludes II)
I would use this CD to get ready for concerts and solo performances because it helped me zero in on my sound very quickly. One song, "How Excellent is Thy Name" was so groovy that I used it in my concerts and solo performances and I learned John's solo so well that people couldn't tell that I was playing along with someone on the CD!
So, I wind up doing an interview for a mom & pop radio station for I don't know what reason, and the interview is from a pastor's perspective on Christian radio. It turns out that John Carlson was listening (just wait - I'll explain) and when I talked about playing big band music he looked me up and emailed me.
As it turns out, John had left Willow and is now serving at Parkview Evangelical Free Church in Iowa City - only 39 minutes away. We began exchanging emails and discovered that we have a lot in common. I set up a time to get together and talk shop and see what God has been doing in our lives and on January 12th I enjoyed coffee with one of my fave saxophonist! I'll tell you more later. Tye out.
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