Tuesday, March 31, 2009

NYC musical weekend

Had quite the musical time of it this past weekend. I went up to NYC to check out two shows by legendary Deep Purple/Trapeze singer and bassist Glenn Hughes. He's been a favorite of mine for many years, but I never got the chance to see him live until now. Simply awesome! While I was in New York, I also managed to catch a set by drummer Johnathan Blake's quintet at The Jazz Gallery. Johnathan is a fantastic jazz drummer who put together a smokin' band including Jaleel Shaw on alto sax, Chris Potter on tenor sax, Robert Glasper on piano, and Joe Martin on bass. All those guys are first-rate players who also lead their own bands. I saw Glasper's band a couple of years ago at Bonnaroo and knew I'd have to check this band out this weekend. Glad I did. The weekend was almost too much music to handle. And I can't forget the trip to the Downtown Music Gallery to pick up a whole bunch of avant-garde CDs. That place is dangerous to the bank account, man!

I haven't played anything myself for over a week now. I've just been feeling a bit hollow musically. Not sure why. Between the music I saw this weekend and reading Bill Bruford's illuminating autobiography, I'm starting to feel the need to create again. Being in NYC for even just a weekend clarified my love of exploratory music and my intense need to be musical. Now I just have to get back in the music room and get my guitar chops back.

In a slight bit of bad news, it looks like Music V2 is apparently going down the drain--that's where I host my long-form pieces that are too big for SoundClick to handle. I'm currently searching for an adequate replacement. My V2 page is still up, and you can still download from there at the moment, but I suspect that won't last long.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sorry for the radio silence

I was having a bit of a dry spell, there. I've got the intro down for my little rock number that I mentioned last time, but that and the idea to use lots of cowbell throughout are about it. Fortunately, I spent a bit of time in the last few days playing both bass and guitar. The bass playing was inspired by seeing Stanley Clarke in concert this past week. He played acoustic upright bass only, but he might actually be better on that instrument than on electric bass, for which he is better known. His fingers absolutely fly across that big old bass fiddle!

Check this stuff out!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Rock out, man!

I'm starting work on a new rock instrumental. This is the first one of those I've done in a couple of years. I'm sure it'll have some jazzy bits, but I've been getting some of the rock feel back in the last few weeks and have the need to express that. I'm envisioning something fairly lean and mean.

To get myself in the mood, I just listened to a big dose of Kansas on the stereo. Great '70s, man!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

New songs: Millennial Muse Parts 1 & 2

Photobucket


Millennial Muse Part 1:



















Millennial Muse Part 2:



















Yet more guitar/drums duet stuff. These are the first pieces that I've recorded with my Heritage Millennium DC semi-hollow guitar. I used the same amplifier setting as the other guitar/drums duets, so see if you can tell the difference. Personally, I think the Millennium gives a richer, more lustrous sound, but takes away a little bit of the bite that the Heritage Les Paul adds. Two different voices, and both very cool.

I'll have more to say about the Heritage Millennium, and all of my guitars, in the coming weeks. The weather is finally getting nice enough to do some outdoor photography of all my lovely guitars. I still intend to do a "Guitar of the Day" feature soon. Maybe I'll start tomorrow.

Friday, March 6, 2009

New songs: Prehistoric Fish Parts 1-3

Photobucket

























































These are yet more guitar/drums duets, which I recorded last Wednesday but got too lazy to upload and glorify with artwork until tonight. Why call them "Prehistoric Fish"? Why the hell not?

I actually recorded all three guitar parts over the drum performance found on Part 1, but then recorded new drums for Parts 2 & 3, since I liked all three guitar performances and wanted them to shine separately.

Contributors

Followers