I just learned that, on February 13 and 14 at Catalina Bar (Hollywood), Steve Tyrell will be making his final performances as a singer. Perhaps best known for his iconic vocal of The Way You Look Tonight in the 1991 movie Father of the Bride, that turn was but a small part of his legacy. Over the […]

Happy New Year Edition I have always found New Year’s Eve to be a time for reflection, more than a time for elation. For those who feel the opposite, what are you celebrating that night? That ’25 is over? That ’26 is beginning? I understand the idea, but I cannot connect the dots between those […]

Nothing in The Who’s Tommy is jazz, yet whenever New Year’s rolls around, the line from the tune “1921” pops into my head. I simply change the “’21” to whatever the new year is and I sing that lyric 100 or more times.    “Got a feeling (’26) is going to be a good year, […]

With this being the last edition of The Weekender before many of you take off for the holidays, we thought it would be nice to share with you some of our holiday thoughts, events and traditions. Our Signature Cruise Experiences team is significantly larger than it has been in the past, includes folks of all […]

What a thrill when one of our favorite team members is honored. Lee Mergner, our Jazz Consultant, will become the 10th recipient of the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award on January 7 in a ceremony to be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The best city in the world during the Holiday Season is New York City. No contest. Prior to the Pandemic, my wife and I always found a reason, some good and some not so good, to enjoy a few days in the city. We shopped, dined, walked up and down 5th Avenue and took in […]

Still Looking for a Perfect Holiday Gift? I cannot take credit for the list below. A great friend of mine, who is not a jazz fan — at least not like you guys are — turned me on to the New York Times list of the Top 25 Best Jazz Albums of 2025. Not knowing what […]

Earlier this week, I learned that Inge Dulfer, Candy’s mom, passed after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. From the photo below, it is easy to see from where Candy’s beauty came. Though Inge has not sailed with us for several years, she was a regular companion on The Smooth Jazz Cruise for a long […]

Next Month, We Sail In a little over one month, our ’26 Cruise season begins on the Celebrity Summit cruise ship with two new programs. David Foster: The Hitman Cruise is a five-day music festival at sea. When that cruise docks, the seven-day sailing of Christian McBride’s World at Sea begins. Same ship, different music. For the […]

It’s the weekend of Thanksgiving and everyone’s on the run,They are cooking and shopping and finding ways to have fun.But amid all the excitement, while we enjoy those near to us,It is time to count our blessings and acknowledge what is dear to us. We all cherish health and the hope of success,We value restraint […]