Fall of 2024 marks the start of my 18th year on the faculty of the Department of Mathematics at Lehman College CUNY in the Bronx. My life as a mathematician continues to be informed by my musical experiences, and my occasional performances around New York City have lately mostly been in the now classic, somewhat “underground” Jazz clubs such as Smalls, Mezzrow, Ornithology, the Django, Cellar Dog and others. An enjoyable surprise took place at the Yale Club near Grand Central Station this past summer,…
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The main musical news for me these days is the anticipated release of my first recording in almost 10 years, “Tone Twister”, on Brian Lynch’s Hollistic Musicworks label. Tone Twister, which is currently in post-production, will feature the magic chemistry of Brian’s trumpet and Ralph Moore’s tenor, with the deep groovin energy of Gerald Cannon and Pete Van Nostrand on bass and drums. Gerald and I will be playing a sneak preview of some music from Tone Twister on June 29th at New York’s…
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After a busy spring focused on helping students learn Calculus, summer 2015 found me returning to the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (MPIM) in Bonn, Germany for another research visit. Besides proving theorems and otherwise exploring the mathematical landscape, this visit also included playing duets with talented teenage clarinetist Nikita Manin (on his way to the Stanford Jazz Workshop), and with cellist and master mathematician Matthias Kreck (in preparation for a special presentation of mathematics and music in New York next fall — details coming…
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After a busy spring and summer, I am mostly concentrating on mathematical research: For the rest of 2014 I'll be on Fellowship Leave (Sabbatical) from my professorship at Lehman College. This will give me time to dig deeper into my main research interests involving 3- and 4-dimensional topology. Mathematical research both stimulates and complements my music, and new compositions have been flowing these days, along with energized practicing and performances, including hitting at New York's musical gem, Smalls Jazz Club (http://(www.smallsjazzclub.com/indexnew.cfm) with the Tad Shull…
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