Eight moments from eight tracks, each from one of eight different live recordings on which Mike Heffley played trombone—six of his Northwest Creative Orchestra gigs, ca. 1988-1990; one with Anthony Braxton’s small ensemble gig at the Knitting Factory in New York, ca. 1995; and one with an all-star tribute to Julius Hemphill at Wesleyan University, ca. 1994, playing the works of, in collaboration with or in a tribute to, featured composers/improvisers Anthony Braxton, Andrew Hill, Vinny Golia, Oliver Lake, John Carter, and Julius Hemphill.

This is the first of two free albums that serve as a kind of Table of Contents for the first half of the 3-plus dozen albums posted after them. That first half comprises my original music, my private recordings, and my renditions of music in the public domain. Once Demos and BCsamplr1 are both posted, another such free sampler album (BCsamplr2) will provide a glimpse to a track from each of the second half—my collections of covers of the copyrighted works of other master composers/lyricists from the Great American Songbook tradition as transcribed in my three fat “fakebooks” (the “Real Book” and two others) for jazz nerds and pros, and of that of my selection of single notable jazz masters who have been influential in my midlife turn away from trombone to piano: Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Benny Golson, and Bill Evans.

My own most immediate musical interest in my Bandcamp bouquet is the material of the second half, which spans the first two decades of this century to the moments we’re all in now (more precisely, there is an overlap of the two “halves’” timelines, but it’s small). I’m still adding regularly to my work as a solo pianist, and expect to continue that for the next year or two. That said, I felt it edifying to document the foundation of my artistry and style as it evolved in the last two decades of last century, in various contexts, instruments, and genres. The early big-band gigs with stars of the music looms most portentous, but in my rearview mirror and the world's it is rather only a bright supernova that flashed and crashed quickly. Still, it makes sense here as the auspices enlightening all that followed with less fame and fortune.

Please follow the Community posts by my colleague and longtime scholar of my music Yul Agee Manu. His running commentary and interviews with me constitute a rich excavation of my music’s veins and contours, informed by his most critical, insightful erudition. He is truly The Man for all sounds Heffley.