Jonster's Thoughts and Jonisms

  At this Jazz jam session in Boulder Colorado USA, Mark Diamond would always introduce each player before they came on stage. Being from Fort Collins, for me, he would typically say something like, “tonight, we have a special guest, all the way from Fort Collins, (an hour drive from Boulder) Jon Long on Trumpet”. I remember on Nov. 3, 2013, at the Boulder Outlook, a hotel bar, after Mark and crew finished a smoking set, and I’m next to sit in on “the list”. I’m sitting there, valves oiled, trumpet in hand, “known” songs ready to call, nerves under control. Then, Mark says over the mic: “Tonight, we have a very special guest”….me getting ready to go up and play, banging my valves, blowing warm air in my trumpet, walking toward stage…..”world renowned saxophonist”….wth?!….”RICHIE COLE!!!” What?! I go back to my seat in the darkly lit bar, sheepishly abandon my trumpet and sip on my wine. Then get a 3 song set of killing bebop in stereotypical Richie Cole style, super fast b...

  Jon Barb Dec. 2019 Not all marriages are bliss and happily ever after and virtually all "teen marriages" end in doom and disaster. I understand that we are not the norm. Barb and I have been married since August 22nd, 1981. She was 18, I was barely 19. We had a 6 month old baby boy(Josh). We were best friends for 3 years before that. At 15 years old, I fell in love with her. I never questioned our friendship. It just was. That's how love started and continues today for me. Jon Barb Priest Aug 22 1981 And so, Barb and I are celebrating another anniversary today. Perhaps there is a formula for this type of success. I've always been asked what our "secret" is. I don't have an answer. Perhaps there are things that we "do" that could be contributing factors in long term successful marriages. And so, I've compiled this list of things that may be important or not. These are purely from my perspective. I have not consulted with Barb for consensus...

 Released Jan. 21, 2022 Play in Spotify Credits: Jon Long is the producer, creator and plays EWI on nearly every sound you will hear. Cover Art by True Archdale Vicious is available on every streaming site on the planet. Here's a few... https://open.spotify.com/album/0BUbJYyPcXltKcGgxUEFKW?si=RKiNK5ATSHeKl01Lf7cVow https://music.apple.com/us/album/vicious/1599871630 https://open.spotify.com/album/0BUbJYyPcXltKcGgxUEFKW?si=FbJNoJ8ZTK62ps0BSDBiRg All songs mastered by Mark Raynes There’s a bunch more stuff here: https://soundcloud.com/jon-long-52905 … https://longtones.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/jonwlong

 I saw the kids, all Indian boys and girls between 8 and 10, as we went through security at the Coimbatore airport, a bunch had their bags re-checked manually, careless packers, obviously. They had some type of uniform on. I saw them again at the gate. I wondered where they would be sitting. They all seemed super excited. I didn’t really pay attention after that and since I was in row 1, didn’t notice where they sat. As we taxied to takeoff at 11:15 AM IST, it was just another flight. Except I had an aisle seat with an empty seat to my left, very rare for a domestic Indian flight that was fully booked. I guess someone didn’t make their flight for some reason. Anyways, the plane accelerates for takeoff and I heard the entire back 10 rows erupt in oohs and ahs and whoas and wows and screams. Then it reached peak decibels as we took flight. I didn’t look, but I’m sure all the kids had their hands in the air waving them with as much enthusiasm as they sounded, like they’re on ...

 For my Mom who asked for a thorough account of my experience. I remember the last time I went to an Indian hospital. It was today. Here's the story as I weave in and out of real-time and past tense, since I'm not that fast of a typer on my phone. On the way, I saw an elephant painted like a gypsy, Hindu signs on its forehead, led through the busy rubble filled streets and gutters by its owners. Cars, bikes, carts, kids, goats, dogs and cows competing for the same path thru the rubble as if it’s on a regular. This is just a typical Indian street in the middle of Coimbatore, a typical Indian city. Nobody seemed to notice the elephant but me, on my way to the hospital. This visit is the 3rd to a hospital in India on the 14th day of my 6th trip to India in the past 2 years. 3 days to the hospital in over 160 total days combined in India? That's about my average in US Indian hospitals are nothing like you would see in the states, not even in Montana. The crowds of the stre...

Have you ever seen a sound heard a feeling bled a tear Have you ever seen a woman 200 years old walking shoeless on coal hot dirt bundle on her head bigger than her immaculate dress as a wedding hanging as a flag on stick thin poles all light lost behind her skeleton teeth Have you ever seen a dog laying as dirt skinny as fleas Have you ever judged a man with no legs on a wheeled board his arms as oars the color of his skin the color of the street Nobody cares Nobody stares Nobody helps Nobody dares and another with missing teeth on his shoulder a bag a burden in the dirty heat going to the temple past the goats to the temple past the water where the mosquitos breed past the kids playing with the earth smiling and laughing past the blind old man with a single rag for the only thing that separates us all clothes and a stick past all things to the temple for gratitude for being alive Have you ever seen yourself from the hearts of a billion people How can you picture th...

This wedding was in a castle in Southern France. Perhaps I didn’t cry enough. Perhaps I held back my tears too much. The pain in my throat...perhaps it was love, trying to get out. Perhaps love trying to get in. The anticipation of what was to become a most amazing and inspirational wedding ceremony, hung in the pre-ceremony air as if we all knew. Even the birds, the wind, the light, the stone walls, floor and ceiling. Just like all weddings, you kno w what to expect. That’s when the pain starts. This wedding though, was different This wedding was for my niece, Hannah Long. This wedding was attended by all my brothers, “The Boys” (Jeff, Jay, Jon and Joel). Yes, we’ve come a “long” way from California, 1964, when our Dad died in a car accident, leaving my Mom to raise 4 boys in Montana. This was the first time “The Boys” were ever out of the US at the same time, let alone in the same country. This wedding was only my Moms second grand kid’s marriage. This wedding was attended by my wife...

Hello, Baxter, Barb and I arrived in London Gatwick Airport at 6:15AM today. We're staying tonight at a decent hotel at the Heathrow airport where we will depart for Marseille tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM, with a 5 hour layover at the Paris airport. Today was spent working, sleeping and eating. Our evening adventure was amazing. We took an hour long Uber drive through London at rush hour and ended up at Jamie Olivers Fifteen, a restaurant of impecable quality. Perhaps the best food I've ever had. On our route, we saw some London awesomeness in architectural and royal history.   But, we were pretty jet lagged, so, all we could do was eat. We're sleeping soon and looking forward to Southern France tomorrow, where we will hook up with Joel in Marseille, if he doesn't have another Expedia mishap, or get's lost in some museum.

Wow me. I still am playing the trumpet nightly and loving every minute. Due to Essential Tremor, I can't play as intensely as I need to to stay in shape and practice. But, because I knew I would someday feel the effect of this stupid disease, and because my brother  Jeff Long  got it and adapted by learning the EWI, I was able to ease into the steep learning curve of playing the EWI as well. I am not missing a beat. Katharine Hepburn, Ozzie Osbourne and John Quincy Adams had ET. It effects 10% of the population. It sucks, but, it's not progressive and honestly, I probably wouldn't even know I had it if it weren't for the trumpet. But, it does come out in my voice, mouse movements and even shaving. Nothing I can't live with. The EWI is now my main instrument and I'm able to get to the same zen space as the trumpet, in fact even more. The EWI(Electronic Wind Instrument) has given me infinite dimensions of sound, with the same trumpet-ish valve like playing that I...

Departed Chennai on Wed. night, fell asleep on the plane before take off, woke up upon de-boarding 5 hours later to find myself in Bangkok, taxied to the hotel and hooked up with Jay and Lea. Ate mussels, crab cakes and other asian deliciousness. Barely made a flight to Cambodia(Seim Reap) due to lack of attention to time, bad Uber service, horrible rush hour traffic thru the heart of industrial Bangkok, watching the sunset as we moved along at 3 miles per hour. With less than 30 minutes before our flight, Jay had to "go", then got his bags searched, found a cork screw and sent him on his way. Meanwhile, I got to the gate, found a long line to the bus that eventually took us to the plane. Bought 2 cold beers for $1, just as Jay sprinted around the corner, pissed, sweating and just in time. We consumed the beer on the bus, a nice asian woman taking our empty bottle as we boarded the plane. We filled out paper work for various government requirements, the entire 40 min flight...

  I’m just waking from a sleep which began in Pondecherry, India in the middle seat of a van we rented and driven by a private driver.   Saurav in the back seat sleeping between Pandiyan and Binil. For $30, this driver picked us all up at our houses, hotels, hostels on Sat. morning, dropped my excess bags off at my new home(Park Hyatt), drove down the southern coast of India, 4 wheeled it through thick jungle roads of thick palm, coconut and Palmeria trees to the boys orphanage, then, to Pondecherry, with many stops along the way to indulge us in all sorts of road side experiences or off road pee breaks, complete with parrots, dogs, goats, bugs, wine and cigarettes for my buds. I was at the mercy of the 5 Indians that I normally work with and are now escorting me through unimaginable adventure. The late night beach trip was unfortunate in that it resulted in me acting like a fool on children playground teeter totters and spinners similar to the ones we used to get slivers on i...

 Today marks 5 years of playing Jazz trumpet for me. Prior to that was a post college 23 years of non-playing. And even in college, I couldn't really improvise. I can now. As I get better, and as I am consistently practicing, listening and playing with other live musicians, a simultaneous calibration of my perspective of what is good is occurring. Relative to 5 years ago, I'm good. Good, is the baseline. Good is always changing. On a scale from Suck to Great, Good is in the middle. Great is when I feel like I'm playing at the top of my ability, Suck is when nothings happening. I've realized that, despite my desire to play great, I experience a range of outcomes, nearly every night I'm performing or practicing. What I've noticed in the past year is that playing good is a state of being. At the beginning(5 yrs ago), I wasn't sure if I could consistently not suck. Now, I feel that greatness can happen every night. In fact, it does happen almost every night, alo...

  Here are some realizations that I have come to over the years as I'm figuring this music thing out. It's not just learning how to blow and play, but learning how to listen and hear. Seeing sound is basically seeing time. It's more about turning parts of your brain off than on. Remember, it's all about the music. Music is not playing notes, playing parts, theory. Forget all that. Just play!!!! Practice your ass off. You really can't practice too much. But, even if it's a small amount of time, make it count. Practice your ass off. When you play, it's your soul talking. Music is not a sum of precisely placed notes or the result of thousands of hours of practice. Music is separate from technique. Some amazing music can happen when a musician is putting his heart and soul into it. Pushing through worldly limitations, the music shines through, despite technique, taking the musician and the listener beyond this world, beyond technique. The phrase pushing the env...

3 Years and Still Playing  3/2/2013 Today is the 3 year anniversary for me and my new Trumpet life. I've been playing non-stop, every day since. It's been a blast! I've been lucky to have had many great musical experiences, including all the crazy gigs with the awesome funk band Futaba, subbing with another great band: The Lindsey Obrien Band for Bandswap, my latest adventure: The Steve Johnson Group and sitting in and gigging with some amazing, talented rhythm section players: Mark Raynes, Mark and Myles Sloniker, Roger Barnhart, Steve Thurston, Alwyn Robinson, Mark Diamond, Andy Weyl, Kalin Capra, Chris Kroger, Peter Knudsen and many more. My school yard has been the jam sessions at the Brad Goode Jam Session in Boulder, Tavollas and the Jaeger, in Greeley, The Pourhouse in Loveland and the Sunday jam at the Boulder Outlook. The Longtones, of course, threw down everything from Bitches Brew inspired grooves to ballads at many Avo's gig's. What started 3 years ago a...

Being 50 Now that I’m 50, I have a perspective on my perspective on life that I never had before. It’s almost like reaching a summit. I can see all around for miles. It’s the most symmetrical age. Halfway to 100. Excuse me……. … life flashing before my eyes……… …………Where are my new superman glasses. ……~0.o~……..Ok, I’m back. Things I’m suddenly pondering: Age 50, divide by 10 = Dollars per day spent on pills Age 50, multiply by 6 = Dollars per year spent upgrading perscription on glasses Age 50, multiply by 20000 = Amount that should be in retirement account($1Million) Take that($1M) and multiply by -1 = Actual amount in retirement(Relative to $1M,$0) Age 50, 300 good nights sleep per year Age 50, 365 good naps per year …… Surprisingly, I feel less old than I would have thought. I have pictures of long dead relatives from decades ago that really looked old at 50. And it wasn’t just the wacky old clothes or the Post-WWII hair-do’s. They still look old to me in pics. Perhaps I benefit from ...

Trumpet Rennaisance   On Mar. 2nd 2010, after 20 something years of not playing, I decided to start playing again. Of course, I played some long tones to get in shape. The first night out was awkward. I felt like a little kid with a lunch box going to kindergarten for the first time. I seriously was scared to death. But, I even more seriously want to do this. I sat in with a trio at the Pourhouse Jazz Jam in Loveland CO. made up of grad students from UNC. I had 3 songs memorized. I had to read Freddie the Freeloader. My solo chops were probably about as good as they were back in college. I pretty much sucked but had moments of not sucking. The difference was, I had a new ambition to be good that I didn't really have back in college. My lips were somewhat in shape(partially due to long tones), so I could actually last through a couple songs. So, with renewed confidence, the next night, I showed up at Jay's Bistro in Fort Collins CO.. Mark Sloniker, piano, has been headli...