So I’m sitting here at my desk when the realization hits me that my work is so much more than playing piano, so much more than making music, so much more than work. My “work” is where I can experience a taste of freedom. It’s now been over a decade since I first began to understand music making as a spiritual practice. Rather then reaching in to try to find it, I was opened to, instead, letting go to receive it. That realization was definitely a page turn, so to speak, in the journey. Many page turns, or bends in the road later, I am walking the path of (purposing to be) keeping the “space” open as I go along. Not just at the piano, but, in a way, to live my entire life open, and prepared to sit down at the piano bench, in a position to receive. Or perhaps better put now, to connect (to others around me, to God), and to be (to use Kenny Werner’s words) a clear channel. In recent years, I’ve begun to recognize the intuitive signals, and develop  the trust (to use my words) in God, enabling me to let go and move out of my own way. This is not just for playing the piano, this is for all life. And though I stumble continually as I walk, I am free to get up and continue again. Frankly, this is what motivated me just now to stop what I was doing (in this case, sending invoices), and do my best to give words to the space I am finding. It is about being led, and intimately trusting that leading. It has been proven to me over and over again. And I am struck once more by the wonder of where I’ve been led, and the awesomeness of getting to be in that (“God”-)space; the space of being connected, beyond myself, as my life’s work. I could uber-generalize it and recount the saying “Find a job doing what you love and you will never work a day in your life”. True. And so much more. I am a blessed guy. That’s all.   

What a remarkable ride! We started Mainstay Mondays on a trial basis on Memorial Day, 2016, and wound up the year on December 19 - 30 shows later, with Mainstay Mondays having permanent status, and 50 shows(!) planned for 2017. This is a most unique series, where I partner with a new guest artist (occasionally more than one) to create a new collaborative show each week. And this series may be the most uniquely suited to me of anything I've done. I've learned so much here, and if I were in the habit of blogging daily (or a least more often, as in times past), I could probably fill many web pages. Hopefully you are connected with my Facebook musician page, where I do share happenings a few times each week. The picture above is from the final Monday show of 2016, with guest Lester Barrett. Scroll down on my Facebook page a bit to find more shots posted from that evening. And come see me some Monday in 2017     :) 
Joe's Facebook musician page