Todd Allen Design: TAD rocks NYC

Have we told you lately that we have the greatest clients in the world? Last week was proof: Vandoren sent us to the Big Apple to photograph a dozen of NYC's most famous woodwind musicians for their We Are Vandoren campaign.

How famous, you ask? Well, we had Grammy-award winners David Sanborn, Paquito D'Rivera, and Jon Manasse; Grammy nominees Jimmy Heath and Bruce Williams; and the highly acclaimed JD Allen, Ralph Bowen, Sharel Cassity, Dennis Diblasio, Mike Dirubbo, Pascal Martinez and Lenny Pickett.

We were especially excited to work with Sanborn, one of the biggest contemporary saxophonists in the world (24 albums and six Grammys). He played on Stevie Wonder's Talking Book album, jammed with the Rolling Stones, and toured with David Bowie. Remember that great sax solo on "Young Americans?" That's him.

Then there's Jimmy Heath. He's performed with nearly every jazz icon from the past 50 years, including Coltrane, Dizzy, Miles and Wynton. But our favorite part of his career may have been just before this shot was taken, when he said Todd has "Justin Bieber hair."

We agree with Jimmy on this one.

After that we met another David Bowie connection: Lenny Pickett, tenor saxophonist and musical director of the Saturday Night Live band. It's a good thing cameras have gone digital, otherwise we would've run out of film by this point.

Another day, another degree closer to Bowie.

Believe it or not, all this excitement was just a lead-in for the grand finale, the VandoJam. That's where we got together with Vandoren artists Ralph Bowen, Denis Diblasio and Mike Dirubbo for an exclusive midnight session at Iguana Lounge.

Mike Dirubbo, VandoJamming.

Of course, the trip could only end one way: With a monster pastrami on rye from Carnegie Deli. We took home some of their incredible cheesecake too, but forgot it in the hotel room fridge. Sorry for such a sad ending to a happy story. But at least we can sleep at night knowing that no one can ever take the pastrami away from us.