Ten Musical Favorites of 2013

There have been some exciting to come through San Francisco in 2013; too many to name in this space in fact. Sadly, we've also lost many musical greats, and yet we continue to see and hear some new music emerge, thrilling audiences worldwide, and making spirits dance. Here's a list of some of my personal favorites and musical moments...

10. SFJazz Center Opens
San Francisco's newest venue, located on Franklin near City Hall, is the SFJazz Center which opened on January 23rd with "a star-filled line up “consecrating” the stage of the Robert N. Miner Auditorium." Hosted by Bill Cosby, the concert included pianists McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea, saxophonist and long time SFJazz Collective alum Joshua Redman, legendary vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, Esperanza Spalding, Mary Stallings, John Handy, Pete Escovedo, the SFJazz Collective, and the new SFJazz Center Resident Artistic Directors Regina Carter, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, John Santos and Miguel Zenón amongst other special guests. I saw two fantastic shows there, Hiromi with Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips, and later Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana's "Mehliana".

9. Trilok Gurtu's "Spellbound"
Describing this latest release, Gurtu's website actually provides the best insight, stating, "Two short snippets recorded live by Trilok Gurtu and Don Cherry, bookend the album “Spellbound”: a 33-second improvisation in a duo with Cherry on trumpet and Trilok Gurtu, who can be heard on the drum set especially converted and modified for his needs, forms the start of the new CD by the Indian percussionist, while a brief “Thank you, thank you very much” from Cherry for the applause of the audience closes the album. Trilok's last Bay area appearance was at Stern Grove, where he put on a wonderful show.

8. Billy Martin and Wil Blade's "Shimmy"
Drummer Billy Martin of Medeski, Martin and Wood and up and coming organist Wil Blades come together for a new duo project. After two highly successful shows in San Francisco and New Orleans, Martin and Blades are taking the show on the road. The duo's music is at once danceable and highly improvisational. This duo rolled through town and rocked the Boom Boom Room, later adding a horn section. Great album and a great show.

7. The 12th Annual Outsound New Music Summit
Every year, the Outsound New Music Summit showcases some of the most innovative and pioneering new music that is happening in California and beyond, and it gets better every year. Rent Romus' Lords of the Outlands, with special guests Hasan Abdur-Razzaq and LA Jenkins kicked off just one of the fabulous evenings; followed by Lewis Jordan's Music at Large and Kyle Bruckman's incredible "Wrack".

6. Sussan Deyhim at Yoshi's SF
“Sussan Deyhim is a fascinating original voice in music and the arts. Her rich and complex vocals are warm, beautifully sung, and always surprising. I’m proud that she is and has been a member of our ‘Voicestra’ for many years.” - Bobby McFerrin. On a Sunday night last October Sussan brought her incredible voice and trio to Yoshi's on Fillmore in San Francisco for what was a truly fantastic show.

5. Mehliana at the Independent
As I wrote in a previous column, there have been a few notable jazz-rock duos featuring piano/synthesizer and drums over the last few decades; Weather Report's Joe Zawinul and Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu's "Orient Express"; Drummer Bill Bruford's duets with Patrick Moraz, and later Michiel Bortslap, (Bruford would also record and perform simultaneously with six pianists in Colin Riley's Piano Circus!); Happy the Man and Camel's Kit Watkins and Coco Roussel; Marco Benevento and Joe Russo, to name but a few.

Following in their footsteps comes "Mehliana", (an amalgamation of their names), featuring keyboardist Brad Mehldau; a fabulous player well known by fans of guitarist Pat Metheny, and drummer Mark Guiliana, who like Russo and drumming legend David Van Tiegham before them, hails from NYC's cauldron of forward thinking percussionists. Mehliana returned to San Francisco at the Independent on Divisadero, and followed up their amazing SF Jazz Center last April, with yet another fantastic show.

4.  Ann Dyer's "Vak" at Yerba Buena Gardens
Inspired by the ancient Indian goddess Vak, who creates the world through sound vibration, Vak: Song of Becoming calls on ancient yoga philosophies to create an immersive sonic experience. The new work, commissioned by YBCA, comes out of a period in which Dyer withdrew from a successful recording and performing career as a jazz vocalist to explore her personal relationship to voice and self through the study of Indian sound practices. In the piece, Dyer experiments with these ancient principles in a new, contemporary context, creating a monumental work at a new intersection of art and mindfulness..." Dyer brought "Vak" to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and left me completely blown away. The choreography, music and performers were like nothing I had ever seen before. Breathtaking and one of the best shows I've seen in years.

3. "OoN - The BassOoN - Bass Duo"
"Bass and bassoon are not your usual musical duo partners. But when Paul Hanson and Ariane Cap met and talked about how they have both been using their instruments beyond their traditional roles, they felt an immediate kinship on so many levels. They agreed that what matters most is the music and not the 'tool'. They could relate how one could just fall in love with a sound. They understood the challenge and joy of hearing something inside and bending the instrument beyond its intended techniques to create new sounds. This amazing duo also just released their fantastic debut album, and I'll be reviewing it in detail in 2014. 

2. Stick Men

"Stick Men is a rock trio like no other. Playing instruments not seen or heard every day, and writing captivating, challenging music, they embody the tradition of progressive rock and created by musicians with extensive experience playing together. Pat Mastelotto and Tony Levin are the rhythm section of the legendary band King Crimson. Mastelotto is in demand all over the world as the premier drummer for progressive rock. Levin plays an unusual instrument -- the 12 string Chapman Stick -- in Crimson, with Peter Gabriel and others. Markus Reuter is a composer/guitarist who designs and plays his own unique touch style guitar.

Their newest and best work yet, DEEP features heavy rock pieces “Concussion”, “Horatio”, the 11 min. tone poem “Whale Watch” and the musically amusing “Nude Descending Staircase.” Mixed by Machine (producer for King Crimson, Clutch, Lamb of God), this is a must have for King Crimson and Progressive Rock fans..." Stick Men rolled into the Regency on Van Ness awhile back, (along with Arian Belew's Power Trio), and the "double trio" finale rocked the house.

1. Richie Havens, George Duke, Donald Blackman, Lou Reed, and Bobby Parker
Lastly, a nod to a few of the great musicians I've known or seen, who have moved on this year; Richie Havens, George Duke, Donald Blackman, Lou Reed, and Bobby Parker to name only a few. True musical giants whose like we'll never see again. As I wrote previously, "I will leave you with my favorite tune by Duke of the era, from his album, "The Aura Will Prevail"; the aptly named "For Love, I Come Your Friend", by the late great George Duke.

Coryell, Bailey and White Revisited

Back in 2006, Chesky Records released "Electric", "a blistering set of jazz, blues and classic rock anthems as performed by the pioneer of jazz-rock, Larry Coryell, with veteran 'Return to Forever' drummer Lenny White and former 'Weather Report' bass player Victor Bailey". "Coryell and friends have an all-out blast working their way through a track listing of rock and blues tunes, bending and stretching covers of well-known cuts popularized by Led Zeppelin (Black Dog), and Sly and the Family Stone (Sex Machine), as well as Miles Davis' "So What" (from his seminal Kind of Blue album) and Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" into a rockin' musical adventure. "We tried to straddle the lines between 'jazz', 'rock', 'funk' and 'fusion' and whatever other names people want to put on music," comments Bailey…" This amazing trio would go on to record another album in 2006, "Traffic".

Chesky Records described Traffic, as the "...CBW's highly anticipated follow-up to their 2005 debut", and continued the "CBW tradition of blending virtuosic original compositions with immaculately conceived interpretations of jazz and classic rock standards. Original songs on Traffic include go-for-the-throat throwdowns like "Judith Loves Jazz," "Door #3" and "Overruled," while covers of Thelonious Monk's "Misterioso" and Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression" are also featured.

Though Coryell & Co. have been acclaimed for their raw, in-your-face sound, they also know how to apply finesse when necessary. Traffic even finds CBW unplugging for gentle acoustic respites like "Jake's Lullaby" and "Joyce's Favorite." "It's not only a detour from the rest of the program, but I think it's a needed one in the first decade of the 21st century," Coryell says of the featured acoustic numbers. "I just don't think we can go all the way through with loud rockin' stuff, so we offer a few detours on this record."

Other sonic highlights include a rare documented instance of Coryell playing slide on "Misterioso" and Bailey's two-handed tapping technique on several tracks throughout the album. Recorded in St. Peter's Episcopal Church in New York, Traffic uncompromisingly captures the immediacy of uncompressed live music in a sonically rich environment; CBW just let the tape roll and channeled the spirit of the moment. "Monk told me one thing that I will never forget," Coryell recalls." He said, 'Wrong is right, baby!' And on this record, we all took his advice. We all made mistakes with authority and it sounds good." I'm happy to say these tunes have stood the test of time. Here is a clip from the trio's tour of Russia in 2006.

The "Quantum" CD Release Shows

"Caught a great gig by E. Doctor Smith (aka today's birthday boy Eric Smith) at Hotel Utah in SF last night. The master of the Zendrum performed music from his new CD Quantum, along with guitarist Jack Wright and bassist Tom Shiben. Excellent stuff crisscrossing prog, avant, funk and fusion territory. Learn more here: http://edoctorsmith.com/ (and happy birthday dude!)..."

Kind words from my friend, Anil Prasad of the incredible musical archive Innerviews. We wrapped up our 2 city, CD release tour at the Hotel Utah Saloon with another long time friend, John Moremen and his Flotation Device, after playing a show Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC a week or so earlier. Great attendance with family, friends and fellow musicians made for some inspiring moments with Jack and Tom...

E. Doctor Smith in digitalDrummer Magazine

I was honored when Allan Leibowitz, editor of digitalDrummer magazine asked to do a feature on me for the November 2013 issue. Here's the text of the article below!

"Not only is he a great drummer, but E. Doctor Smith is also a bit of an inventor. However, when he saw the Zendrum, he gave up on his own invention and showed his genius on the new instrument." -Allan Leibowitz, Editor digitalDrummer.

My electronic musical journey began back in the ‘80s when I started programming sequencers, computers, and drum machines with my friend Stephen Bray, who was writing songs and working with Madonna in New York, then in LA. I also experimented with a Dynacord Rhythm Stick they had lying around. I was a big fan of Bill Bruford’s drumming and the Simmons electronic drums that he used in his groups Earthworks and King Crimson. I was really excited to get my hands on a basic 5-piece Simmons SDS9 kit, then to add 6 more pads, a Roland PM-16 interface, a Yamaha TX-7, and an Alesis HR16. I used that kit on and off until 1995, when I made my first Drummstick.

Some musical friends, who had once opened for Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and knew about my e-drumming, asked me if I’d ever thought about creating a “drumitar” like Futureman had done with his Synthaxe. While mulling the idea over, I remembered having seen singer Bobby McFerrin tapping on his torso during a duet with Wayne Shorter, which had conjured up images of how Alphonso Johnson and Tony Levin approached the Chapman Stick. That was the inspiration for the design of the Drummstick, a 2” x 6’ piece of oak with 16 triggers that would be played vertically. I went to Radio Shack and a to music store to buy parts, and a few weeks later, the Drummstick was born. Since then, I have played the Dummstick and toured with a number of bands and recorded several albums on the Edgetone Records label in the SF Bay Area where I live. I’ve been honored to have had some great jams with some amazing folks—Bon Lozago, Howard Levy, and Bill Kirchen, to name just a few!

I first saw a Zendrum at a NAMM show back in the ‘90s and thought it was great, but I still preferred the ergonomics of the Drummstick. One day, a friend surprised me with a maple ZX he’d just bought, and happily let me program it and try it out. The first thing I did was to flip it up vertically, so I could play it the way I play the Drummstick. Although the straps weren't in the right places, it worked well enough. After 20 minutes or so, I'd programmed the ZX to a playable level. It was so incredibly responsive. I immediately loved it.

In 2007, I finally made the switch. The Zendrum Corporation’s David Haney built a beautiful, black “Jimi Hendrix ZX” for me, which was modeled after Hendrix’s Fender Stratocaster. After I replaced the strap locks, so that I could play it vertically, it worked like a charm. When Haney and John Emrich announced the new Zendrum, “EXP”, in late spring, I took a look at it, saw that it had been redesigned to allow greater left hand trigger access and to be worn vertically, and I knew I had to have one. I bought the first ever production model, and it’s been a dream come true.

Live, I’m a hybrid of new school meets old school, so I use a MacBook Pro with BFD2 and GarageBand for my basic kits, along with an Alesis DMPro. I also use iDrum to trigger my pre-recorded samples. My rigs vary depending on the size of the venue, and my sound is fed into either a Fast Track Ultra 8R, a Tascam US-1800, or PreSonus USB/MIDI interface. I use either an Alesis iMultiMix 9R or a Mackie mixer and a pair of Mackie SRM450s. For recording, I mostly use GarageBand, Logic, and ProTools. I also enjoy using Darin Kadrioski’s Zendrum editor app, ZenEdit.

My Zendrum technique is based on my nearly 20 years of playing the Drummstick. My left hand carries a lot of the snare, open hi-hat, crashes, and sample triggering. With my right hand, I do my signature finger rolls, as well as carry the basic kick, ride, closed hi-hat, snare, and toms, split between multiple fingers. I was really happy when I discovered that I could put the EXP on over my right shoulder, ala Hendrix. This gave me more range with my left hand, allowing me to use the EXP’s additional triggers more comfortably. So far, I haven’t used any pedals, but you never know.

I am a perfectionist when it comes to the audio quality of my drum sound. E-drums allow me to control reverb, EQ, and volume, no matter the venue—indoor, outdoor, wherever. This is something you don’t get with acoustics, especially when it comes to percussion, because not all sound engineers are created equal. I also enjoy the ability to pack up in 15 minutes and being able to fly with a Zendrum, a USB interface, and a laptop anywhere in the world!

Equipment list:

Zendrum EXP
Zendrum ZX
Drummstick x 3
Dynacord Rhythm Stick
Fast Track Ultra USB MIDI Interface
Tascam US-1800 USB MiDI Interface
PreSonus Audio Box USB MiDI Interface
Alesis DMPro, D4 and Trigger I/O
MacBook Pro with BFD2, GarageBand, iDrum
10 piece Simmons SDS9 kit
6 piece Ddrum D2 kit with Hart Dynamics mesh heads
Roland Octopad
Meinl Cajon
Mackie CR1604, 2 x Mackie SRM450

Lisa Engelken's "Little Warrior"

San Francisco has seen some fabulous jazz vocalists roll through town in recent weeks, Karyn Allison, Rhondi Charleston and Ann Dyer to name but a few. I'm happy to add Lisa Engelken's name to that esteemed list with her latest effort, "Little Warrior".

Engelken builds on the success of her previous and critically acclaimed album "Caravan", with a musical journey that takes the listener to far away places like Brazil,  conjures melodies of Wayne Shorter or pays homage to works of Joni Mitchell and her works with Jaco Pastorius. However Engelken never imitates, and adds her own unique and fresh arrangements, making "Little Warrior" a another gem in her sparkling catalogue.

"Little Warrior" begins with the "Foggy Bottom", (perhaps a nod to the One Step Down, an old jazz club in Washington, DC which Engelken's former stomping grounds and once home to the late, great Shirley Horn who regularly performed there), is a beautiful tune with Hammond organ, trumpet and a funky groove that made me want to dance on Pennsylvania Avenue again.

"Viva la felicita", is one of my personal favorites; absolutely gorgeous and reminded me a bit of both the Brazillian singer Flora Purim and the horn section of the group Chicago at their grooving best. Songs like "You Wear Those Eyes", "Throw It All Away" are also great examples of not only Engelken's vocal talents;t her deft arrangements and use of the horns and organ were just wonderful and full of what I like to call admirable restraint; a perfect blend of beauty and power.

The title cut "Little Warrior"continued to pleasantly surprise, with drummer Matt Swindell propelling the horn section to new heights, along with the hilarious and mischievous "Housemate from Hell" and the fabulous trumpet work, piano and drumming on "Sea Journey", finds Engelken "letting her hair down" and the band in full swing.

"Undertow" feature Engelken's lyrics over the classic Wayne Shorter tune "Nefertiti", one of my all-time favorites. Like her treatment of Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" on her previous album,  (yet another favorite!), Engelken doesen't disappoint, and I absolutely loved her arrangements and rendition of Joni Mitchell's "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire".

Engelken close the album with the balladic "Blue Valentines" and the lovely little "All I Do is Dream of You", featuring some tasty brush work by Swindell, who continues to support Engelkens music in a fashion most admirable.

"Little Warrior" is perhaps Engelken's best effort to date, and her prowess as both a fantastic jazz singer, as well as an accomplished arranger and composer can no longer be denied, if it ever was.

Bravaccio Piccolo Guerriero!

Resonance Jazz Comes to the Old First Church

Resonance Jazz Ensemble, a one-of-a-kind jazz octet, performs their “Summer Time” concert, featuring a selection of arrangements and original jazz works for chamber jazz ensemble by composers from the 20th and 21st centuries. The performance will include tunes from Resonance’s newly released CD entitled Introductions with original music by bandleader Stephen McQuarry, as well as McQuarry’s creative arrangements of jazz standards, pop tunes, and classical favorites.

The only jazz ensemble in Northern California with this unusual instrumentation, Resonance jazz octet is comprised of saxophone, flute, violin, viola, ‘cello, double bass, keyboard, and drums, resulting in a rich fusion of orchestral and big band sounds.

Resonance melds together a mastery of both classical and jazz artists of richly diverse musical backgrounds who have performed with many legendary artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Louie Bellson, Clare Fischer, Dave Anderson Quartet, Terrence Brewer, Joe Lovano, Jethro Tull, Oakland Jazz Choir, Mingus Amungus, Gloria Estefan, as well as the Marin and Berkeley Symphonies, the Woodminster Theatre Orchestra, and the California Pops Orchestra.

Resonance Jazz Ensemble
Featuring Nancy Bien, 'cello; Ted Burik, bass; Greg German, drums; Georgianna Krieger, saxophones; Michelle Mastin, viola; Stephen McQuarry, piano; Michele Walther, violin; Laura Wiley, flutes

Old First Church
Sunday, August 25th @ 4:00PM

TICKETS
$17.00 General
$14.00 Seniors (65 and older)
$14.00 Full Time Students
(Children 12 and under are free)


"Song to John" from Richard Jett on Vimeo.

Remembering George Duke: 1946-2013

George Duke, one of the greatest keyboardists I've have ever seen, passed away this week at the age of 67. Duke's career saw him play with everyone from Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, and Frank Zappa, to Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke, Diane Reeves and a who's who of the greatest musicians of his generation. Duke will be missed; his battle with leukemia took many who didn't know by surprise.

I first saw Duke in 1977 with Frank Zappa and his incendiary Mothers of Invention, featuring the incredible Ruth Underwood on mallets, Napoleon Murphy Bock, Chester Thompson and Tom Fowler, at Washington, D.C.'s now defunct Capital Centre. Duke was an amazing keyboardist who could hold his own with anyone, however he was a fantastic vocalist; Zappa's brilliant and complex "comedy music" was made even more enjoyable by Duke's soulful and gorgeous singing. A true musical genius, Duke will be greatly missed.

That Zappa concert left a great impression on me and my fellow musical friends, and after his sting with the Mothers, we jumped on any and everything we could find Duke: his beautiful work with the Brazilian singer Flora Purim; his amazing solo albums, like "The Aura Will Prevail", one my all-time favorites. We soon learned Duke would be joining drummer Billy Cobham and as fate would have it, they were actually going to be opening for British keyboardist and former Yes alum Rick Wakeman.

This was an odd double bill, but we had a lot of that in the '70s. Now I loved Rick Wakeman; he was another brilliant composer and a great musician, but after Cobham, Duke, bassist Alphonso Johnson and guitarist John Scofield tore up the crowd, there wasn't much left for Wakeman and his band.  As for Cobham and Duke, they would go on to record the now legendary "Live in Europe", in Montreux, Switzerland.

Cobham and Duke would return, this time to George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium. My friends and I managed virtually front row seats for that one. We left agog and apoplectic after Duke's mesmerizing keyboard playing, his hilarious banter with Cobham, and his signature solo where he basically tells a story about a woman by using his synthesizer to mimic her voice. Priceless.

I would go on to see Duke many more times over the years; with Stanley Clarke; with his own phenomenal band with Ndugu Leon Chancelor, and many others, however those early shows with Zappa and Cobham were unbelievable; both masterful and hilarious. There has been much written about Duke this week; The Washington Post's Terrance McArdle has written one of the best I've read, however I will leave you with my favorite tune by Duke of the era, from his album, "The Aura Will Prevail"; the aptly named "For Love, I Come Your Friend". George Duke will be loved forever.

Mickey Hart's "Superorganism"

According to Mickey Hart, "A superorganism is a complex organism composed of many smaller organisms. A band is a superorganism, so is the universe." In the past two years, Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead/Mickey Hart Band) has sonified the Universe, the Golden Gate Bridge, the America's Cup, and now, he is going even deeper.

On his new record "Superorganism", due out August 13, 2013, Hart is breaking new ground by combining music with science and the human body.  "For the last few years I have been creating music from the source sounds of the cosmos and now the body." The album cover features an MRI scan of Hart’s brain as well as his brain activity, as captured through an EEG cap. Hart will be performing live with the same EEG cap on his upcoming 70th birthday tour.

"These sounds are noise—harsh, strange—and it is only after dancing with their essence face to face that music can be created. This time we journey into the micro, the hidden worlds of rhythm within us, within our bodies," says Hart. "My brain wave signals are re-imagined in sound using a cap with electrodes that can read the throbs and signals of the brain. I have also sonified the sounds of stem cells, and heart rhythms for this recording. " On Superorganism, Hart has once again paired up with longtime collaborator and Grateful Dead lyricist, Robert Hunter, as well as, many special guest musicians.

The band will also kick off their Superorganism Tour in Healdsburg, CA on August 1. (They'll be in San Francisco at the Fillmore on September 6th). They will be joined by the Tea Leaf Trio (Trevor Garrod, Reed Mathis and Cochrane McMillan of Tea Leaf Green) for most of their stops. Mathis will also play with Mickey Hart Band each night.

In addition, Hart will perform with an EEG cap on his while he plays the sounds of his brain. For an example of how this works, check out this video of Hart’s talk at the AARP convention in New Orleans last November.

For a glimpse of Superorganism, here is a six minute soundclip from Hart's website features snippets from the new album.

From the Drummstick to the EXP, Part 2

My previous blog looked at my journey from my original percussion controller, the "Drummstick", to the newest Zendrum, the "EXP". When the Zendrum EXP finally arrived, I was ecstatic, especially after having seen early photos of it posted on my facebook page. I'd already set up all of my studio gear in advance and when I was in Europe, I downloaded a copy of the updated ZenEdit, and even mapped out the EXP's trigger placements. I quickly learned that I actually needed to be more flexible, because those early set-ups didn't last very long!

Everything worked great; even my wireless MIDIJet Pro performed perfectly. I'd used the settings from my Zendrum ZX as a starting point, and they translated to the EXP quite easily. One of the first things I noticed was the wonderful placement of the strap locks for me by David Haney. Haney knows my penchant for playing vertically, and on the model he made for co-designer John Emrich, the lock seemed to be placed lower, to accommodate Emrich's left-handed style of playing, one of the best new features of the EXP's design.

Emrich appeared to play his EXP a bit horizontally, and seemed to have no difficulty in accessing the 9 triggers on the lower left side of the EXP. I however, don't play the Zendrum that way, and endeavored to use my right hand  to reach those triggers. That worked for me much the same way Chapman Stick players use their right hand to reach the strings at the top of the fretboard. After a few days spent getting the EXP to perform as well as the ZX did, I still found I wasn't using the left side as much as I'd hoped. Suddenly, I'd remembered Emrich's video of the EXP, and how he switched positions to play the EXP, either sitting or standing, or by changing the way he hung the EXP on his shoulders. Simultaneously, I recalled a recent Washington Post article on the Jimi Henrdix Experience's rare appearance at a theater in DC, and his right-handed guitar playing.

 Without another thought, I quickly switched the "neck" from my left shoulder to my right shoulder ala Hendrix and voila; both hands had a full range of access to both sides of the Zendrum, just as a Chapman Stick player might; I had my vertical approach and my left hand was free to roam about the body as never before! The wonderful, serendipitous irony of Jimi Hendrix and his black Stratocaster; calling the newest Zendrum the "EXP"; my black, "Jimi Hendrix" ZX; and my experiences with both creating and playing the Drummstick had now come full circle. As soon as I reprogrammed a few of the EXP's triggers, I was truly good to go. My ability to "finger roll", and to suddenly have 29 triggers to play with, (compared to the 16 triggers of the Drummstick and the 24 triggers of the ZX), was both exciting and enlightening. All the crashes, splashes, chinas and assorted percussion that were missing before, are now part of my regular setup. I could now also trigger multiple samples and chords.

There were more surprises waiting for me with EXP, like the MIDI volume control knob on the back; it was just amazing to watch the fader move on my GarageBand Pop Kit as I never had that feature on the ZX. After successfully programming and storing several kits, I was even able to recreate my composition, "The Girl of a Thousand Days"; a melodic piece I used to perform on the Drummstick with bells, vibes and chimes. The EXP's extra 13 triggers provided me with even more melodic combinations I'd never before had access to.

With the EXP now functioning well, it was now time to delve into the world of ZenEdit, the software program for the Zendrum created by Darin Kadrioski. Using a Tascam US-1800 USB/MIDI interface, my first task was to download and use the latest version, (2.4.1) to backup my new EXP settings on the MacBook. ZenEdit saw the Tascam and loaded my "old school" edits from EXP perfectly. I haven't tried to load any setups from ZenEdit to the EXP yet, but with these new setups, that will be coming soon.

 All in all, the EXP has been a dream come true, and I'm super pleased at what Haney and Emrich have created. For me, it's the best of both worlds; It can be played vertically, or horizontally; as a melodic, or an all-world percussion instrument.

The sky's the limit really; I'm about to record several projects over the coming months, while exclusively playing with the EXP in tandem with Chapman Stick, trumpet, keyboards, MIDI guitars, 7 string basses; musicians from Portugal, France and England, and music ranging from jazz to folk, rock and avant garde! The adventure indeed continues, happily now with the Zendrum EXP.

The Men of Steel

I was in Europe when "Man of Steel", the latest update to the Superman was released. I'm a long time comic book fan of both the DC and  Marvel superheroes, and after recovering from jet lag, I finally managed to catch it. As regular readers of my columns know, I have a thing about remakes, especially when it comes to comic book heroes. The biggest challenge these film makers have is to make those classic stories relevant, to find a new way to retell those iconic tales with each new generation; and without sacrificing the things about them that made them great. With the exception of the gratuitous, CGI destruction of Metropolis during the last 30 minutes, this is perhaps, one of the best of the Superman films or TV series made to date. Now I've seen every single film and TV series ever made about the Man of Steel, so I will share my thoughts about each of them, and why I think this latest version ranks among the best.

I'm afraid I'll have to leave the animated versions out for now; there's been a ton of them to feature Superman and Superboy. Most of them are horrible, very few have great plots and just as important, great animation. I'll revisit them in a later column, but for now here's a brief look at the best known film and TV versions.

Superman: 1940-1950
Not much to say about these old serials with Ray Middleton and later Kirk Alyn, except these were the first; made during World War II and after, they followed the formula of the day; low budget effects, gangster bad guys, and cheesy animation. Alyn and Noel Neill (Lois Lane in the George Reeves Superman series), had a cameo appearance as the parents of  a young Lois Lane in the 1978 Christopher Reeve film.

The George Reeves Era: 1951-1958
 This was the most popular of the early Superman series and one of the best known. Good music and a decent cast usually overcame the silly plots, and Reeves was actually a very good actor, however, being typecast as Superman and pressures both internal and external proved too much and Reeves ended up taking his life in 1959.

The Christopher Reeve Era: 1978-1987
Clearly the all time favorite of all the actors to play Superman, Reeve brought the franchise back to life. Although a bit campy, an all-star cast featuring Marlon Brando, Susanna York, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine gave the Superman films the credibility and stature that would propel the the films to legendary status. After "Superman II", (which features a plot similar to the latest film and Terrence Stamp as General Zod), the following films were terrible; actors like Robert Vaughn, Richard Pryor and others couldn't overcome horrid plot lines. Helen Slater would play "Supergirl", alongside Peter O'Toole, Mia Farrow, Faye Dunaway and Brenda Vaccaro, but by then, the franchise had "jumped the shark" and the Christopher Reeve era came to an end.

Superboy: 1988-1992
With music and titles akin to the Christopher Reeve era, the TV series Superboy sought to cash in a franchise already on life support. Played first by James Haymes Newton and later by Gerard Christopher, Superboy suffered from all of the aforementioned ills of bad plots and a low budget.  Lights years away from the 1950s in terms of animation, it never took off. The creators of Smallville surely learned from the mistakes made in that show and improved upon them, most notably by never having "Superboy" in costume, and by capturing the teenage angst made famous by Joss Wheadon's popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Lois and Clark, The New Adventures of Superman: 1993-1997
I'll confess, I never liked the Dean Cain/Terri Hatcher Lois and Clark series, despite its early rating success and popularity. Its focus was more on their romance; soapy and silly, much like the Wonder Woman series with Linda Carter, or the Greatest American Hero with William Katt and Connie Selleca.  There was never any real drama; the villains were stupid, the plots even more so. Eventually America agreed and it was cancelled.

Smallville: 2001-2011
A killer opening theme song, really great music, the handsome Tom Welling, and a formula made famous by the aforementioned Buffy series, helped make Smallville the series Superboy never was. The series introduced Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Jimmy Olson, and Lois Lane in a way never done before. A great ensemble cast kept the series alive, (Terrence Stamp was the voice of Jor-El, and even had a cameo by Christopher Reeve before his death), however it may have reached to far with crazy plot lines, and the under-budget introductions of Green Arrow, the Legion of Superheroes and others. The series made a point of never showing Clark Kent in the Superman togs until the very end, and followed the modern versions of the Superboy stories and graphic novels. Despite the flaws, Smallville may be remembered as the best of the Superman TV series.

Superman Returns: 2006
Brandon Routh did a decent job of reviving the franchise in Superman Returns; like the Spider-man reboots, the 2006 version takes all of the previous into account and tells a story that attempts to bridge the nearly 25 year gap between it and the Christopher Reeve films. On its own, a decent film, especially with Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, however Routh had to battle several hurdles; the love America has had for the late Reeve, and the modern popularity of Welling. Too much too overcome perhaps, and Routh eventually decided to eschew the opportunity to play the Man of Steel again.

Man of Steel: 2013
I'd watched Henry Cavill in the BBC's most recent take on Henry VIII in the "Tudors". Cavill was great as Henry's best friend, the 1st Duke of Suffolk, but I was shocked to see him cast as Superman. Cavill was great however, and his British accent was gone, (I can't say the same for Russell Crowe and his Australian accent).  Great cast with Lawrence Fishburne, Amy Adams, Christopher Meloni, Richard Schiff, a superb Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, my biggest complaint about the film was the over the top final 30 minutes of the film where Superman and General Zod basically destroy Metropolis, (couldn't they take the fight to the moon?).

Costner and Lane were indeed excellent as Jonathan and Martha Kent and really made the film for me. Their homespun, mid-western ethics and common sense are what made Clark into the "human" he would grow to become. Director Zack Snyder gets it and this is why the Man of Steel and the TV series Smallville succeeded with John Schneider and Annette O'Toole as the Kents. At least Glenn Ford's all too brief appearance as Jonathan Kent in the 1st Reeve film briefly touched on this all important part of the Superman story, and the other TV and film Kents never really did.

Russell Crowe was OK as Jor-El, although it's still a little weird to see African-American actors playing characters that were traditionally white in the original comic books, like Fishburne as Perry White, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the Avengers or Idris Alba as Heimdahl in Thor, but if Hollywood didn't cast these great actors, we likely wouldn't see any black actors in these films at all. Perhaps our society is changing for the better, one role at a time.

Taking into account our penchant for CGI driven film making, and a story told more times and more ways than any other superhero franchise save Batman, Man of Steel is a fantastic retelling of the Superman story, one that will stand the test of time and still pays homage to all those who donned the red and blue cape and costume before.

The 12th Annual Outsound New Music Summit

Every year, the Outsound New Music Summit showcases some of the most innovative and pioneering new music that is happening in California and beyond. Many of the artists scheduled to perform on the 2013 12th Annual Outsound New Music Summit (left to right Opera Wolf, Kevin Robinsons from KREation, Jordan Glenn's Wiener Kids, #Max, Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, Joe Lasqo, Ritwik Banerjir, Ilya Rostovtsev, The CCRMA Ensemble, Matt Davignon, Fuzzybunny, Hasan Abdur-Razzaq, David Molina's Transient, LA Jenkins, Rent Romus' Lords of Outland, India Cooke, Karl Evangelista, Lewis Jordan, Kyle Bruckman's Wrack).

Now in its twelfth year, the New Music Summit will feature during cutting-edge experimental and ambient music, twitter-fed performances, improvising software musicbots, electro-acoustic performances, found-object and tape-player interactions, as well as traditional instrument ensembles bending the acoustic paradigm in new and startling ways. Featured during the seven-night festival will be cutting-edge experimental and ambient music, twitter-fed performances, improvising software musicbots, electro-acoustic performances, found-object and tape-player interactions, as well as traditional instrument ensembles bending the acoustic paradigm in new and startling ways.

Fourteen bands will perform throughout the week, including the finale on Saturday, July 27 of Kyle Bruckmann's Wrack, with guests Darren Johnston and Jeb Bishop, premiering …Awaits Silent Tristero's Empire, a 2012 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commission.

"The New Music Summit is the 'little festival that could,' said Outsound Presents founder, Executive Director and curator, Rent Romus. “We present music where most fear to tread. We feature unique world premieres, amazing unknown young artists, and seasoned masters deserving of more credit across the myriad spectrum of music, many of which reside right here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Summit is special on the West Coast because it supports the local community in a professional festival environment."

The Festival begins on Sunday, July 21 at 3:00pm, with a free Communications Workshop for Independent Musicians, led by Bay Area bassist/bandleader and arts organizer, Lisa Mezzacappa, followed by the popular and free Touch the Gear Expo from 7:00pm-10:00pm. A hands-on experience with sound-producing gear and instruments, Touch the Gear is an interactive, family-friendly event that allows the public to roam among 25-30 musicians and instrument inventors with their various different configurations of “gear” -- everything from oscillators and electronics, to planks of wood with strings attached. An avant-garde “Maker’s Faire,” all attendees get to make sound and experience how the instruments work, in an environment that demystifies technology, while inspiring creativity.

This event is free to the public.

On Monday, July 22, the New Music Summit presents its annual Composers Symposium from 7:00pm-9:00pm. With the theme Compositional Trace Medium and Traditional Strata, this conference will feature the 2013 New Music USA Metlife Creative Connections recipient composers Rent Romus, Lewis Jordan, Matt Davignon, Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, and Ilya Rostovtsev, discussing the elements of their compositional styles and how they navigate the worlds of modern compositional techniques and processes, combined with individual forms of experimentation. There will be a Q&A segment for attendees. This event is free to the public.

The music takes off on Wednesday, July 24, at 8:15pm, with three original perspectives on composition and improvisation in an acoustic program entitled Drift Flow Swing. Featuring the bands Opera Wolf (Joshua Marshall, Crystal Pascucci, and Robert Lopez); KREation (Kevin Robinson, Aaron Kahn Caroline Cirone Tony Gennaro, Evan Jiroudek, John Schwerbel)and Wiener Kids, (Aram Shelton, Cory Wright, Jordan Glenn)the boundaries of acoustic instruments will be stretched to their limits. This event is $12 General ($10 advance), and $10 for students.



On Thursday July 25 starting at 8:15pm, five electronic and futuristic tricksters and masters of digital synthesis will explore the theme Vibration Hackers -- featuring theTwitter-fed, audience participatory computer programming group #MAX, followed by Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, performing his computer sound synthesis 3D soundscape piece, Knock, Knock…anybody there?. In what will truly be an improvisation between man and machine, Ritwik Banerji and Joe Lasqo will perform on saxophone and piano alongside their improvising software musicbots “Maxine” and Maxxareddu” with Warren Stringer providing live interactive video. Ilya Rostovtsev will explore the sonic potential of acoustic instruments within an electro-acoustic studio composition in a piece entitled Understatements (2009-2010). The evening concludes with the CCRMA Ensemble--fromthe Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics--performing an improvisation featuring Roberto Morales-Manzanares' "Escamol" interactive systems, Chris Chafe's multi-channel celletto, Rob Hamilton on the Berdahl Resonance Guitar, and daxophones built by John Granzow. This event is $12 General ($10 advance), and $10 for students.

On Friday, July 26, the Summit will present a triptych of bands that explore both live and pre-recorded sounds whenever they occur, in Emanation & Artifacts: An Evening of Objects, Electronics, Tapes, & Found Sound. The evening begins with Transient, the electro-acoustic, ambient, experimental soundscape project of David Molina, who incorporates found-object instruments, field recordings and electronics. The Pmocatat Ensemble is an 11-member group led by Matt Davignon, playing and manipulating pre-recorded tape-based sounds (taken from the members’ acoustic instruments), and played back according to the conducted graphic and textural scores. Fuzzybunny is a high-powered electronic improvisation and composition trio consisting of Chris Brown, Scot Gresham-Lancaster and Tim Perkis, which The Wire calls "a total meltdown of the senses.” This event is $15 General ($12 advance) and $10 for students.

Saturday, July 27 is the New Music Summit Finale, with The Axiom, featuring three world premieres of fiery compositional free-form jazz. Starting the evening is Rent Romus' Lords of Outland featuring Hasan Razzaq & L.A. Jenkins, presenting a new suite of original compositions, The Proceedings of Dr. Ke, inspired by the essays of experimental psychologist Dr. Charles Ponce. Lewis Jordan's Music at Large with Karl Evangelista, will also debut an original suite of music, Only Children, incorporating scored and improvised sections, and spoken word. Kyle Bruckmann's Wrack features special guests Darren Johnston and Jeb Bishop, and will make the world premiere of …Awaits Silent Tristero's Empire, a 2012 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commission, inspired by the fiction of Thomas Pynchon. This event is $15 General ($12 advance) and $10 for students.

Outsound Presents, a nonprofit arts organization
12th Annual Outsound New Music Summit, Presented by Outsound Presents and KFJC 89.7FM
July 21 – 27, 2013
Community Music Center
 544 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110
All Ages, Wheelchair Accessible
July 21-22: free
July 24-25: $12 General ($10 advance) / $10 Student
July 26-27: $15 General ($12 advance) / $10 Student                                                    
Festival Pass $45 ($38 advance)
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/381977
Web: www.outsound.org/summit

Travelogue Europe: Portugal, Spain and the Pyrenees

On Tuesday, we left the chillier confines of "merry olde" England and arrived in warm, and sunny Lisbon, Portugal. I was reunited with a long-time musical ally, the Angolan-born, Brazilian raised Carlos Martins. Carlos was an excellent host, and showed us a side of Lisbon not seen by most tourists. Lisbon was surprisingly buoyant; the kids were out of school and the plazas were full of energy and life. The tiny, aged cobblestone streets are a bit slippery, but with an eye towards caution, we'll manage. Lisbon has been called the San Francisco of Europe; it has its own version of the Golden Gate Bridge, the hills and the cable car trolleys are a lot like home, and the monuments to the earthquake of 1755 is a a sombre reminder of the volatile nature of this region.

Our first stop was a lovely, outdoor restaurant high atop Lisbon called "Lost in Espalnada"; great views, great food and a colorful atmosphere, I highly recommend you make it one of your stops if you visit. A Thursday night music series of world, jazz  and blues is icing on the cake.

Castle Sintra and the Trolley Cars

Like the ancient castle in Carccassone, France, Castle Sintra, aka "The Castle of the Moors", is a big attraction and shines like a beacon on the skyline of Lisbon at night. Unlike Carcassonne, the castle wasn't very successful at defending the town against the Spanish invaders, and changed hands more often than not. The little yellow trolley cars of Lisbon have both an old world charm and a cute look about them that make them really unique. These things go up and down streets the size of alleys, and go where no car dares to travel. I'm not sure if San Francisco has one of these in their trolley collection; if they don't, we need to get one.

Near the town of Alverca, Carlos and I performed at the eclectic Roxy Romeo Club, once a stop for a variety of acts, the club is now only used for private functions and special events. Francisco, the owner of the seaside club, is a man who loves music, and runs the club with his wonderful wife, son and daughter. There are shops, and fantastic restaurants in this hidden cove on the Atlantic; the crowd was enthusiastic and appreciative. Portugal turned out to be one of the best parts of the journey.

The Pyrenees, Bihleres en Ossau and Spain

After sightseeing, and performing in Portugal for several days, it was time to return to France for the last concert with the rest of the Wilbur Rehmann Quartet. The devastating floods in Lourdes caused an estimated 1 billion Euros in damage, and wiped out a few roads in the south of France. Our journey would take us past that region, to the foot hills of the Pyrenees mountains, and a town south of Pau, in the valley of Ossau. Bilheres en Ossau sits high atop the Pyrenees; this lovely village boasts some of the most spectacular views and wonderful bed & breakfasts. The Gite Auberge de Ossau hosts a summer jazz series and it was amazing to perform outdoors with a spectacular backdrop, and the locals who even lined the walls of the village to see our sold out shows.

The following day, we decided to venture over the border with Spain, some 30 miles away to the town of Gallant de Gallejos. The border station between France and Spain is now a vandalized, derelict outpost, left as a reminder of the dictatorship of Spain's Francisco Franco. Once manned with security police armed with sub-machine guns and automatic pistols until 1976, it now stands as a grim monument against the backdrop one of the most pastoral settings on earth, teeming with hikers, families, shops and restaurants. The town of Gallant de Gallejos is a beautiful resort area, rebuilt with modernity, but without losing its old world charm. The town now has summer music festivals, films and a ski resort open to visitors from around the world.

Now back where we started nearly a month, ago we decide to enjoy a bit of dinner in Toulouse. An old world city with a beautiful plaza, Toulouse is the aero-flight capital of France. All of the aeronautic engineers are here and the French have recruited them from around the world. This has been a fun and exciting journey for us. So plan to take a trip, rack up those frequent flyer miles, and experience other cultures and peoples whenever you can. You'll be very glad you did! L'adventure se poursuit!

Travelogue Europe: England

Traveling from Paris to London is a breeze these days, all one needs is a passport and a ticket aboard the high-speed train, the Eurostar. So taking advantage of a brief break from my musical adventures in France, we arrived at St. Pancras station in London and traveled to a lovely part of town known as Clapham Commons. A beautiful mix of brick homes and trendy shops, Clapham is also centrally located with easy access  to all parts of the city by bus or tube.

Clapham Commons is also home of the Holy Trinity Clapham Church; where the song "Amazing Grace" was born and the British abolitionist movement against the slave trade with William Wilberforce took hold. The great film 2006 "Amazing Grace", with Ioan Gruffudd and Albert Finney captures the events of that era quite well.


The Tower of London, Parliament and Westminster Abbey

Getting an "Oyster Card" and taking the No. 88 bus from Clapham is great, as it follows one of the best routes for sightseeing in London; from the train station at Vauxhall, past "007's Office", aka MI-6, to Westminster Abbey, New Scotland Yard, the Houses of Parliament, "Big Ben" and Trafalgar and Piccadilly Square. If you can get a seat up front and atop one the hybrid-diesel double decker buses, you are in for a treat,  and for only a few pounds.

I was shocked at the amount of construction going on in London, and not all of it very pretty. London is so expensive that it seems only the wealthy, or the newly, well heeled immigrants from Russia and Poland can afford it. If San Franciscans thinks we has a housing crisis, (and we do), they should see what is happening in London and take heed.

Tourists were everywhere; I heard more languages in London than I could count. Outside of Parliament was statue of of Oliver Cromwell, "Lord Protector of England". Cromwell's corpse met a grisly fate at the hands of King Charles' son; payback for the beheading of his dad, King Charles. Charles II actually dug Cromwell up, chopped him to bits and displayed Oliver's head on the gates! The film version with Richard Harris omits this gruesome fact.

A short bus or tube ride to Tower Hill, brings you to the macabre, historic venue of the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. The British seem to celebrate their grisly history in a variety of venues, none perhaps more popular than the Tower of London, the scene of many a beheading, heretical burnings and executions; Mary Queen of Scots, Anne Boleyn and many, many others. If that's your thing, you may want to visit the torture museum in Carcassonne when you are in France; feel free to visit them both twice for this writer!

Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square and Camden Locks

Back on the 88 bus again, you can ride past the famed Piccadilly and Trafalgar Squares; home of London's great theaters and historical statues of Winston Churchill and Lord Nelson. I've lived in NYC, seen Times Square at rush hour, but nothing compares to a Friday night with a million pedestrians racing for home. Critical Mass on feet; it's amazing one can even walk downtown, as it it is absolutely packed on a daily basis. Only the buses, cabbies and a few hearty vehicles can traverse this area. 

At the end of the line is the incredible open air market of Camden Town. Camden  is like Haight Street, Canal Street and DC's Eastern Market times 100; all day every day. I've never seen anything like it. Every kind of food, art, music, and wares are on display; It would take days to see it all.

Vegan restaurants with DJ cello players; a Shaka Zulu themed night club; t-shirts, CDs, bags, leather, denim, buttons, furniture; you name it, Camden Town has it and it seemed to never end. One place you do not want to miss when you visit London to be sure.

Kent, Cambridge and Wimbledon

With London and all its glory behind us, it was time to venture out into the country side. Several years ago, we visited Bath, the home of Jane Austen and the Bath International Music Festival. This time, it was time to see family and friends in the suburbs of Kent and the famed college town of Cambridge. Cambridge was lovely; teeming with "punters", students and faculty we jumped at the chance drive into the country side, and experience a bit of the folks out there. Surprisings, there was a lovely music festival 20 miles away; great rock, jazz, folk and food- This was the England we came to see. After a few pints of ale and some of the best fish and chips I've ever had, it was time to head back to the city. Unfortunately, Sunday seems to be the day when England has issues with rail service, either on the tube or the GreaterAnglia lines. Being a tourist, I didn't mind; the locals however made their feelings know in a hilariously acerbic, and uniquely British way. 

Wimbledon is the mecca for tennis players, and tickets can be had- for a price. Tickets that aren't gotten through a lottery can be gotten one of several ways; you can spend over $1000 for day one, Center Court seats via Stub Hub, or camp out early Sunday morning and "que" for one of only 1500 show court seats. Another 6000 are available for the grounds and the outer courts, but they will also require waiting in line for several hours. Camping out wasn't an option for us this year; much more comfortable to be dining and watching from the comfort of a country home with long lost friends, but next year the nephews will assist me in procuring the the much sought after seats. The weather was freezing in London by the way and combined with their beloved Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal on the opening day card; Wimbledon saw 1710 souls; a record number of fans; some even camping out on Saturday night for only 1500 tickets, and by 11:00 am Sunday, the tickets for opening day were gone. Alas, so was Rafael Nadal, who suffered his first ever loss in the first round of a Grand Slam at the hand of a Belgian ranked 135 in the world.

Today, we are off to Lisbon, Portugal for more music, food and friends, before heading back to France. Cheers!

Travelogue Europe: Southern France

For the last few weeks, I've been traveling and performing in Europe with the Wilbur Rehmann Quintet. From the quaint little towns like Fa, Quillan, Eygalieres and Moustiers Sainte-Marie, to the lively centers of Carcassonne, Cannes, Nice and Paris. Tourist season is now in full swing; the French Open is behind us and the Tour de France is about to begin. France has also seen some unusual weather; flooding has closed the town of Lourdes, postponing the annual pilgrimage there.

The French however, are a resilient lot, and will bounce back as they have for centuries. In my next few columns, I'll describe a few of the amazing places I'll be visiting; France, England and Portugal, all the while heeding  travel writer Rick Steves' adage of "getting to know the locals, and straying off the beaten path."

Toulouse, Carcassonne and Eygalieres

After a rather uncomfortable flight from SFO, non-stop to Heathrow; (with an iPad playing, fidgety child and seats designed to extract more money than comfort), we actually arrived too late to make the French connection due to winds, however another flight was available and before we knew it, we were in Toulouse. Next up, the fortress City of Carcassonne.

Carcassonne is one of the largest castles in Europe; Charlamagne gave up trying to take it by starving the town, when a woman named "Carcas" threw a pig over the walls, told them they had plenty of food and would outlast any invasion; she was bluffing, but it worked, or so the story goes. Inside the walls are wonderful shops, food and tourist attractions for all. Carcassonne is the real deal, unlike that fake castle winery in Napa.

Our host in Carcassonne was also one of my old bandmates; ex-patriot and bassist extraordinaire; Stanley Adler. Stanley and I had played and worked with both Madonna and Brian Eno back in the '80s, so this was a real treat to have him for this tour. Stanley showed us the amazing, little known towns of Fa and Quillan; with British, Dutch, American and Australian ex-pat artists and musicians now living in the Lanqueduc-Rousillon region. Peaceful, gorgeous, affordable and idyllic, it's no wonder these folks have settled there.

We next traveled to the town of Eygalieres for the first of two shows with the full quintet. Eygalieres was even more beautiful; they were making a movie about the "Mistral" with Jean Reno; the owners of Le Cafe de la Place were wonderful and the French musicians who joined us were superb. Despite my terrible French; we were able to communicate through music; we all spoke the universal language of jazz and our vocabulary consisted of words like Monk, Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny. One of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had and will truly treasure.

Cannes, Moustiers Sainte-Marie, the Gorge du Verdon and Nice

After Eygalieres, we were off to Cannes and Nice. The film festival had just ended and the "Croissette" was teaming with people. Our hosts were also ex-pats; musicians and artists. After some recording and some great jams, we traveled a mere 2 hours away to the beautiful town of Moustiers Sainte-Marie and the Gorge du Verdon; the Grand Canyon of France. The blue water in the gorge is like nothing I have ever seen, cause by the clay, the micro-algae and natural fluoride. If you love Yosemite and Tahoe, you will love renting a kayak or canoe as we did, and paddling up the gorge for some of the beautiful scenery.

With the gorge behind us, we drove next to Nice; a vibrant, coastal mecca with food, music, French-Italian history and shops galore. You can play tennis, volleyball on the beach, hit the clubs or sun yourselves on any of the public, (free), or private beaches. Between Cannes and Nice was the Musee de Picasso in Antibles, with works also by Joan Miro and many others.

Picasso lived in this old castle, now converted to a museum, for 4 months following the events of World War II, and entered into an artistic "period of light, optimism and celebration."

 There is also a Chagall and Matisse museum in Nice, well worth visiting if you are a fan of their works. After a lovely dinner with more friends and ex-pats, (there are a lot of them in Europe), it was time to bid adieu to the south of France, if only for a little bit. Next up, Paris, London, Cambridge and Wimbledon.

Martin and Blades Comes to the Boom Boom Room

Drummer Billy Martin of Medeski, Martin and Wood and up and coming organist Wil Blades come together for a new duo project. After two highly successful shows in San Francisco and New Orleans, Martin and Blades are taking the show on the road. The duo's music is at once danceable and highly improvisational.

With a steady base as one-third of the renowned experimental jazz trio Medeski, Martin, & Wood, drummer Billy Martin has become one of the most forward-thinking, innovative, and influential percussionists in the music world. His ultra-sensitive, hyper-melodic drumming -- which explores the ideas of jazz, hip-hop, electronica, African music, and other genres -- has an organic feel to it, filled with soft, natural edges and fluid energies. When not performing with Medeski Martin & Wood, Martin continues to collaborate with other musicians in improvisational projects, many of which are documented on his own Amulet Records imprint, which he founded in 1995.

Blades, a native Chicagoan, has become the San Francisco Bay Area's first call organist and is rapidly gaining momentum throughout the world. For several years, he has been named in the Downbeat critics poll under Rising Star for organ. Wil has kept the traditional sounds of Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, and Groove Holmes alive, while creating a more personal, modern sound. Wil has performed and recorded with John Lee Hooker, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad, Joe Louis Walker, Don Braden, Donald Harrison, Karl Denson, Will Bernard, Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore, Anders Osborne Scott Amendola and many others.

Billy Martin and Wil Blades Duo with:
Chris Zanardi & The High Beamz Featuring:
James Whiton- Standup Bass/Vocals (EMT/Tom Waits)
Jordan Feinstein- Keys/Vocals (Ritual/LaGente)
Jefferson Bergey- Vocals
Mo Sardella- Drums/Vocals (Sol Rising)
Chris Zanardi- Guitar (Five Eyed Hand)

Boom Boom Room, Friday, May 31st, San Francisco, CA @8:00pm

From the Drummstick to the Zendrum EXP, Part 1

The Drummstick v.2.0 and the Zendrum EXP

By 2001, I'd already been playing the Drummstick, (my analog-MIDI drum controller), for 7 seven years, and in August of that same year, I finally got the chance to debut the first ever Drummstick album with a CD release show at the State Theater in Falls Church, Va. Joining me were my regular bandmates, (Celia DuBose, Neil Mezebish and Jack Wright), and some special guests, Siobhan Canty, Neeta Ragoowansi, Eric Dahlman, Carlos Martins, and the Indian percussionist Sandip Burman. Burman nearly stole the show with his incredible tabla playing, and rightly so, as he was also on tour with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones promoting their "Outbound" album with Andy Narell, Paul Hanson and Paul McCandless.

The next day, we took Burman to Wolftrap, Va. to rejoin the tour with Fleck and the Flecktones. It was there that I first met Roy "Futureman" Wooten, off stage after a great sound check. Wooten and I spoke at length about the Drumitar, (his $10,000 customized/cannibalized SynthAxe guitar synth, turned into a drum controller); my Drummstick; triplet hand patterns to play; using MIDI; it was both an insightful and illuminating experience. By then, I'd also gone through the trials, tribulations and joy of trying to obtain patents, and faced the reality of the costs, headaches and heartbreaks, associated with making and marketing the Drummstick. Curious, I asked Wooten why he never tried to manufacture his own version of the Drumitar, or something akin to it; he certainly had the money; the notoriety and the platform to promote it.

Wooten looked at me, smiled and said, "You already know why... Do you really want to spend the time and money on attorneys and running a business, or do you want to do what we do best? Play music with these cool instruments... Let someone else do it..." As it turned out, that someone else was David Haney and his custom Zendrum shop in Atlanta. Haney had created a fabulous, MIDI percussion controller: the Zendrum. Affordable, durable, responsive and light; it could even be used with a wireless box. Its approach however, was more horizontal, and worn like a guitar. Wooten also owned and used them live; but he actually played it vertically, or used it horizontally on a stand.

Neil "Mez" Mezebish, the saxophonist of my Drummstick band, actually surprised me one day and showed me a lovely maple Zendrum ZX he just bought; he then let me program it and try it out. I immediately flipped the Zendrum to a vertical position, and tried to work with it. One thing I was never able to do, was play the Zendrum in the normal, horizontal position; too many years on the Drummstick made that a bit too awkward for me. The straps weren't in the best place to play it vertically, but I resolved to move them if I ever had one. After 20 minutes or so, I'd programmed the Zendrum to a playable level; it was so incredibly responsive and amazing; I immediately loved it.

By 2007, the Drummstick had long since realized its analog to MIDI potential, and so I finally made the switch. The Zendrum proved it was better in virtually every way except one; it was designed to be played and worn horizontally, like a guitar. My Drummsticks were played vertically, much like the 10-stringed bass guitar, the Chapman Stick.

Nevertheless; Haney built me a custom, black Zendrum ZX, modeled after Jimi Hendrix's black Fender Stratocaster. Undaunted, I removed and replaced the straplocks to different places on the Zendrum, so that I could play it vertically. I'd seen Wooten do the same thing with one of his Zendrums earlier, so I knew it could be done. Voila, worked like a charm and I have to say that I honestly haven't played any of the Drummsticks much since.

The "Jimi Hendrix" Zendrum ZX and the new Zendrum EXP

  Still, as much as I loved the Zendrum, I loved the ergonomics of the Drummstick more; it was more natural for me to play that way; African talking drummers played that way, and so did singer Bobby McFerrin when he drummed on his torso during a duet with Wayne Shorter.

Seeing Bobby McFerrin, and all those African drummers and Chapman Stick players like Alphonso Johnson and later Tony Levin, gave me the idea for the original Drummstick back in 1994. For years, I'd secretly hoped Haney would make a Zendrum with a vertical approach in mind, like a Drummstick. Enter the new Zendrum EXP.


John Emrich is a big proponent of the Zendrum, and is considered one of the world's best when it comes to playing and recording electronic percussion. As it turned out, he was also interested in the idea of a slightly different, vertically shaped Zendrum. Not long ago, he and Haney recently teamed up to create the Zendrum EXP.

As soon as I saw it, I knew my prayers were answered, and Wooten's words would turn out to be prophetic. The EXP will arrive in July; after that, I'll have a more detailed look at this great new instrument. Meantime, here is Emrich and a first look at the Zendrum EXP...

Trilok Gurtu's "Spellbound"

Describing this latest release, Trilok Gurtu's website provides the best insight, stating, "Two short snippets recorded live by Trilok Gurtu and Don Cherry, bookend the album “Spellbound”: a 33-second improvisation in a duo with Cherry on trumpet and Trilok Gurtu, who can be heard on the drum set especially converted and modified for his needs, forms the start of the new CD by the Indian percussionist, while a brief “Thank you, thank you very much” from Cherry for the applause of the audience closes the album.

Even though the other pieces on “Spellbound” contain no other recordings with this jazz legend, who died in Malaga in Spain in 1995, every single sound on the CD is an expression of Trilok Gurtu's great admiration for the man and musician Don Cherry. After all, it was the American trumpeter who, in the first half of the 1970s, encouraged the young percussionist, freshly arrived in Europe, i.e. Italy, from his homeland of India, to pursue his vision of an intuitive music which is open to the world and embraces the world, and to realise this vision.

And even more. With every track on “Spellbound” Trilok Gurtu has turned to the instrument that Cherry himself played: the trumpet. This brass instrument is practically a symbol for Gurtu's own musical vision. In its different versions, the trumpet has found a place in countless cultural circles around the world and has become an essential element of many different styles. The trumpet plays an important role in classical, symphonic music, just as in pop, world and, of course, jazz music.

“Spellbound” is by no means a typical album for the percussionist who was born in 1951 in Bombay (today Mumbai) in India. For several reasons. At first glance we are surprised that, after such a long time, Trilok Gurtu has turned again to improvised music even though all his life the concept of “jazz” has always been far too restrictive. But, just like his one-time mentor and friend Don Cherry, with whom Gurtu started playing just a few years after the first encounter in Italy, he is not concerned with style boundaries. For Gurtu jazz is an attitude which makes it possible for him in the first place to overcome the boundaries between styles and genres; and to elaborate the quintessence - also in emotional terms - of his music: jazz as a universal language which, despite all of its different dialects, is spoken and understood all over the world.

With “Spellbound” Gurtu once again underlines the fact that jazz still forms the basis for his musical oeuvre. With his band he takes a surprising leap into the history of swing music in the USA and also plays pieces by style-forming trumpeters who have long been a part of the jazz canon: Dizzy Gillespie's Afro-Cuban classic “Manteca”, or a tribute to the extraordinary fusion sound of Miles Davis from the 1970s, “Jack Johnson/Black Saint”, as well as his “All Blues” from the masterpiece “Kind Of Blue” and, of course, Don Cherry's “Universal Mother” which, with its genre-crossing flow in the version by Gurtu, is almost like a further motto for “Spellbound”. With the music on his new album the percussionist succeeds in something that nowadays is unusual and indeed rare: building a bridge between the continents and cultures. With “old” Europe as the geographical basis which, with its multi-layered cultural and musical history, has become Gurtu's second home.

This becomes clear in the line-up of trumpeters he invited to collaborate in the recording of “Spellbound”. The Norwegian Nils Petter Molvær, for example, who, like no other European trumpeter, can translate the seething funk-rock mixture of a Miles Davis from the early 1970s into the expression of an improvising musician from Europe. Or the Italian Paolo Fresu, who always manages to transform the melodious, hot-blooded temperament of his homeland into a cool sound design. Or the German multi-talent Matthias Schriefl, whose youthful impetuosity stretches even Gurtu's music beyond the boundaries of tonality. And then there is Ibrahim Maalouf, a native of Lebanon living in France, who plays the melisma of Arabic musical culture on his unusual quarter tone trumpet, as well as Hasan Gözetlik from Turkey, who transfers the emotionality-increasing microtonality of the folklore of his homeland to a current, contemporary music.

A veritable symbol of Trilok Gurtu's vision of a world music “without borders” is a number that in this acoustic context is a genuine surprise. With his version of Miles Davis' “All Blues”, Gurtu mixes the cultures in passing: In a 5/4 time unusual for this jazz classic, Gurtu and his band generate a link to the rhythmic consciousness of his homeland India. With his scintillatingly phrased solo, the young US trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire takes the succinct riff theme back to its origins in the USA and, with a bow to the great musical history of Europe, the classical trumpet virtuoso Matthias Höfs from Hamburg brings this Miles Davis classic to an end. Trilok Gurtu's equilateral triangle, with the equally musical and cultural corner points of India America and Europe, is perfect..."

The Orange Peels Come to Cafe Du Nord

This Friday night, The Orange Peels return to Cafe Du Nord for 2 shows, (10:00 pm is sold out), to celebrate the release of their latest album, "Sun Moon". Led by the Sunnyvale pop-smith Allen Clapp, and his partner-in-crime, bassist Jill Pries, this new album also features longtime member John Moremen on guitar, and drummer Gabriel Coen, "Sun Moon" is the band's first collaborative effort. Clapp and his cohorts have kept true to their wonderful sound on this new material, plus they've also added a few songs only heard at their live performances, like the rollicking  "Aether Tide", a crowd favorite. The Peels website provides a bit of insight into the making of Sun Moon, stating that, "Sometimes plans can be overrated. Sure they can help focus a group toward a common goal, but overdo it and you can end up with an album that sounds and feels more like a corporate quarterly report than art…"

"When The Orange Peels embarked on recording sessions for their fifth album, Sun Moon (Minty Fresh/Mystery Lawn Music), the band really didn’t have a direction in mind. Afterall, they’d already conquered the indiepop, powerpop and West-Coast rock genres with their critically acclaimed back-catalog, and they didn’t want to fall into the old trap of trying to repeat past successes.

What came next was exciting, unexpected and frustrating as the band navigated a new sound it was inventing with each new session. Gathering on Sunday afternoons without a clear idea of what would happen, the band came up with something new every time, and recorded the fresh tracks hours later.
Peels’ bassist and founding member Jill Pries was partly to blame for the shake-up in the band’s process. The band’s main songwriter, Allen Clapp, was busy producing albums for other likeminded bands (Jim Ruiz Set, The Corner Laughers, Alison Faith Levy) and running his new boutique record label, Mystery Lawn Music. Pries wanted to get the Orange Peels back on track, so she started organizing sessions even when Clapp didn’t have anything written for the band to record.
“I wasn’t too happy about that at first, because that wasn’t the way we typically did things,” Clapp confesses. “I guess I had a certain idea of what a songwriter should do, and I felt like I needed to be bringing the song stuff.”

"But it opened up the process to a group dynamic that breathed new life into the band. With the collaboration of lead guitarist John Moremen (Flotation Device, Half Japanese, Roy Loney) who’s recorded and toured with the band on both drums and guitar—and new drummer Gabriel Coan (who comes to the Peels from ambient and electronic bands including Carta and Continental), the band just started making this new kind of music.

It would then be up to Clapp to figure out how to embellish the raw tracks with lyrics and vocals. This was not always an easy path. Some songs had four sets of discarded lyrics, and some ended up with none at all. “I had to figure out who this person was who would be singing a song that sounded like this . . . and then get into that person’s head and write something from their perspective,” Clapp says.

So it is on its fifth album that the band finds itself navigating the confluence of post rock, indiepop, space rock, nouveau psychedelia, and prog rock, with melody as its only compass. That’s probably what some critic will say anyway. The Orange Peels couldn’t really tell you for sure though. They never really wrote a business plan for the album. It all just happened. Welcome to Sun Moon…."

A very nice welcome indeed.




The Orange Peels Record Release Show with Ocean Blue
Friday, May 17th @ Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco
Showtimes @ 7:30 and (10:00 Sold Out)