McQuarry, Kleinman & Smith Trio at the Cadillac

"Keyboardist Steve McQuarry, bassist Craig Kleinman and drummer E. “Doc” Smith brought their brand of electric jazz and fusion to the Cadillac Hotel on Friday, September 19th @ 12:30 pm. The MKS Trio performed some of the music of Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Catalyst, Jaco Pastorius and Billy Cobham. Concerts at the Cadillac is a free concert series open to the public. The purpose is to provide high-quality music for the residents of the Cadillac Hotel and San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. Everyone is welcome. Dedicated to the power of music to uplift and inspire.


The Cadillac Hotel is also home to the Patricia Walkup Memorial Piano, a meticulously restored 1884 Steinway Model D concert grand piano. The case is of Indian Rosewood and the old growth spruce soundboard is the piano’s original. The piano spent its first 70 years or so in a castle in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It was shipped from New Haven, Connecticut, to the Cadillac Hotel in June, 2007. This beautiful instrument is maintained on a regular basis by Shawn Skylark (Registered Piano Technician, Piano Technicians Guild).


McQuarry grew up in a home filled with his Mom’s piano playing, in Denver Colorado. He studied at the Eastman School of Music, University of Colorado at Denver, Berklee School Of Music, University Of California San Diego and Alexander University. He is an active member of the Audio Engineering Society (AES), the performance rights organization, Broadcast Musicians, Inc. (BMI), the Electronic Music Foundation (EMF), the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers (ASMAC), the Society For Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) and Chamber Music America (CMA).


McQuarry has performed with distinguished artists such as the late Dizzy Gillespie, Clare Fischer, Louie Bellson, Red Rodney (Charlie Parker), Tom Scott, the late John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Vinnie Colaiuta (Sting, Herbie Hancock, Frank Zappa), Nathan East (Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock, Bob James), Bill Rich (Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles, Taj Mahal), the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Billy Cobham.


McQuarry and Kleinman met a dozen years ago, during their days of playing clubs in and around San Diego. After both relocated to the Bay Area, they reunited and sought out a project that would allow each to explore McQuarry’s electric jazz keyboard wizardry, as well as the fusion music of Miles Davis, Jan Hammer, Weather Report’s Joe Zawinul and Jaco Pastorius and Billy Cobham. McQuarry recommended Smith, a like-minded soul from his work with bassist Edo Castro, and after a few sessions, the McQuarry, Kleinman & Smith trio was born.


In addition to this recent project, McQuarry leads several ensembles, including his critically acclaimed Resonance Jazz Octet, (which will make it SF Jazz Center debut on October 18th); the Stephen McQuarry Trio with Resonance alum Ted Burik and Greg German; an all-horn and woodwind ensemble; an electric quartet with Resonance’s Michele Walther on electric violin, Burik and Smith; and is composing and recording on his indie label, Mandala Records as well as working on orchestration projects in the film community. McQuarry explained that someday you might even find him “on a pink sand beach with Sherre eating a conch salad…”


Here's a brief video clip of McQuarry, Kleinman & Smith Trio, featuring Steve McQuarry (keyboards), Craig Kleinman (bass) & E. Doctor Smith (drums) performing an excerpt from the Miles Davis/Marcus Miller tune "Tutu" and Billy Cobham's "Red Baron" at the Cadillac Hotel in San Francisco.

Excerpt from Tutu & Red Baron - McQuarry, Kleinman & Smith Trio from E. Doctor Smith on Vimeo.

The 15th Annual SF Electronic Music Festival

For the past 15 years, the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival (SFEMF) has brought internationally acclaimed musicians to the Bay Area, becoming the premiere festival dedicated to the genre. The festival began last night at the Exploratorium with the Kanbar Forum, David Dunn, Headboggle + Caitlin Denny, and continues from September 12th–14th. SFEMF will present artists working with analog synthesizers, home-brewed electronics, laptop-generated sound, processed live acoustic instruments, amplified found objects, projected video, improvisation, and performance art. This year’s festival opens at the Exploratorium with field recording maverick David Dunn and antic keyboardist Head Boggle with live visuals by Caitlin Denny.


Interested in site-specific interactions and research-oriented activities, David Dunn creates a new view of the environmental world through music. He has received over 35 grants and fellowships for both artistic and scientific research, including the Alpert Award (2005), the Henry Cowell Award from the American Music Center (2007), and, most recently, an Artist Award Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2013).


Derek Gedalecia, a.k.a. Head Boggle, creates electronic keyboard-based soundscapes that blend lowbrow and highbrow art, music, and comedy into an ecstatic improvisational style with carefully crafted musical support. For his Opening Night performance, Head Boggle will collaborate with Caitlin Denny, a video artist and curator concentrating on performative technologies and interactive creation.


The San Francisco Electronic Music Festival is an artist-run organization presenting works that span the sonic spectra by participants ranging from emerging artists to respected pioneers of the field.









Friday, September 12th 8pm

BRAVA THEATER CENTER

Aki Onda
, Joker Nies
, Sarah Davachi

Saturday, September 13th 8pm

BRAVA THEATER CENTER

:zoviet*France:
, Christina Stanley
, Xo Xinh

Sunday, September 14th 8pm

BRAVA THEATER CENTER

Nicolas Collins
, Ezra Buchla
, Julia Mazawa

Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets

Allan Holdsworth Returns to Yoshi's

Allan Holdsworth, one of the world’s best known guitarists returned to Yoshi’s in San Francisco last Tuesday and Wednesday, before wrapping up his amazing 3 day stint at Yoshi’s in Oakland on Thursday. Holdsworth has been thrilling audiences the world over for several decades; I first saw him with the legendary Tony Williams Lifetime band of the mid-seventies, and months later with his fellow Brits in the celebrated prog-rock super group U.K., featuring Roxy Music’s Eddie Jobson, and King Crimson’s John Wetton and Bill Bruford. Holdsworth would soldier on with his own groups like I.O.U and assorted trios, displaying the genius he has become known throughout the world for. Many critically acclaimed albums would follow; his guitar synth forays with “Atavachron”, “Road Games”, “Metal Fatigue”, “Sand”, “Secrets”, “Wardenclyffe Tower”, “Hardhat Area” and “Sixteen Men of Tain” in 2000.


Fans of the guitarist will no doubt recall his tribute to the late Williams, “Blues for Tony”, culminating in a CD and DVD recorded live at Yoshi’s a few years ago, featuring Lifetime alum, keyboardist Alan Pasqua, drummer Chad Wackerman and bassist Jimmy Haslip. Haslip rejoined Holdsworth for this tour, alongside drummer Virgil Donati and a new keyboardist Dennis Ham. Holdsworth didn’t disappoint this time around either, running through a gamut of some of his best known tunes with poignant soloing and his humble wit; “Red Alert”, “Proto Cosmos”, and “Fred” from the aforementioned tribute album; “Texas” and “Above and Below”, (my personal favorite), from his most recent album, “Sixteen Men of Tain”; as well as a few classics, including “The Things You See When You Haven’t Got Your Gun”, “Madame Vintage”, “Water on the Brain” and “Letters of Marque”.


Each of these tunes were punctuated by the energetic Donati, who performed like a man possessed, and the ever pleasing Haslip; a masterful bassist who thrilled fans worldwide during his tenure with the jazz group, the YellowJackets. Ham, a recent addition had big shoes to fill in Pasqua’s absence, however he was more than up to the task; his Jan Hammer-like guitar/synth samples were so amazing, many in the audience thought they were hearing Holdsworth, until they realized it was Ham playing those parts as Holdsworth stood silently by, waiting to re-enter the fray.


Long time fans are hopeful for new music from the maestro; his last album was quite a few years ago; however Holdsworth appears rejuvenated and his catalogue reborn under the watchful eyes of Leonardo Pavkovic and his MoonJune Record label; we may yet see something new indeed. In the meantime, enjoy the brilliant Allan Holdsworth whenever and wherever you can. There is no one else like him, and there never will be. He is truly, inimitable.

Chingari’s “Bombay Makossa”

One of the world’s best percussionists, Ranjit Barot has joined forces with bassist Etienne Mbappe and U. Shrinivas on mandolin, to create a fabulous new album, due to be released on September 10th. “The word chingari literally means ‘a spark’ in Hindi,” explains Barot. The internationally renowned, Mumbai-based composer and drummer has taken the word as the name for a new trio featuring himself, Southern Indian mandolin virtuoso Shrinivas, and Cameroonian bassist and vocalist Mbappe. “My thought behind the name was a spark, yes,” he adds, “but one which lights a big fire.”


“On their debut album Bombay Makossa – available September 16, 2014 on the Abstract Logix imprint – the three musicians mine their richly divergent experiences to create a dynamic, fluid hybrid sound that fuses the rhythmic intricacy and improvisational fervor of South Indian Carnatic music with the infectious buoyancy of Cameroonian sounds, bridged by a shared love of jazz, second-line funk, and the shimmering textures and grooves of modern pop.


“I’ve always been fascinated by the meeting points in our different cultures,” Barot explains. Chingari began as his vision, the lineup drawing upon connections he had made within both western jazz- and rock-influenced settings and Indian classical music. “I’ve had the pleasure of performing with Mandolin U.Shrinivas, and Etienne and I have toured extensively with John McLaughlin’s 4th Dimension,” he continues. “So I understood and was familiar with how the rhythm section would sound and feel like. It was only when I heard Etienne sing with his band Su La Také that I felt that the worlds of India and Africa could collide in the most beautiful if ways. And who better to compliment this idea but one of India’s most cherished sons, Mandolin U. Shrinivas.”


“After few months of playing together with 4th Dimension,” Mbappe recalls, “Ranjit told me about this project. I was really excited by the idea and to play with U. Shrinivas, whose playing I knew from his work with John’s Remember Shakti band. And, from hearing Ranjit’s first album Bada Boom, I knew he was a great writer.”


“Despite our different styles of playing,” Shrinivas says, “I feel we share the enthusiasm to bring about some great music. Ranjit is a great musician whom I adore. We’ve known each other for many years, and when he asked me if I could play in this album I immediately said yes. As for Etienne, I first heard him play with John McLaughlin, and could tell he was also an incredible musician.”


Indeed, Mbappe’s nimble, flexible baselines and hauntingly soulful vocals form the focal point of Bombay Makossa. Barot, the album’s primary composer, explains, “All the melodies I wrote were keeping Etienne in mind as the medium through which they would be expressed. His voice, his timbre, these were things I was familiar with by now and the songs were specifically written to address those aspects of his personality.”


“I just embraced Ranjit’s compositions naturally,” Mbappe explains. “He gave me the liberty to develop and sometimes suggest alternate basslines and grooves. Same for the vocal melodies. Some were already written and I just wrote lyrics in Douala, my mother tongue. I also created some new melodies and lyrics where needed. Sometimes, for the lyrics, Ranjit gave me a title of a song or told me a story, and I let my mind go. The music talked to me, and the inspiration was there.”


“I heard Shrinivas,” Barot continues, “as narrative vessel from India who would ‘answer’ Etienne, so to speak, through his own unique mode of expression.” Before his tenth birthday, U. Shrinivas was already impressing audiences with his uncanny ability to adapt the mandolin to the demanding rigors of traditional South Indian music. While keeping his roots in the Carnatic tradition, Shrinivas has sought a wide range of outlets for the ecstatic, almost vocal quality of his playing. George Harrison numbered among his fans, and he has been featured as a member of Remember Shakti, alongside guitarist John McLaughlin and Zakkir Hussain. Wielding a six-string electric instrument, his performances on Bombay Makossa make full use of his formidable technique, resourcefulness, and willingness to probe boundaries and explore new territory.


“Most of the pieces were tricky to perform,” Shrinivas says of Barot’s intricate, multi-part compositions, “and yet, Ranjit gave me a lot of freedom to play in my own style without disturbing the structure of the tracks. Each one was different, and I felt that I had to do justice to every one of them.”


Bassist Mbappe is no stranger to complexity, having played a pivotal role in legendary fusion guitarist John McLaughin’s kaleidoscopic 4th Dimension quartet since 2009. Mbappe’s gift for tackling the most challenging rhythmic structures with ease and fluency first won the Cameroon-born and Paris-based musician membership in the bands of Salif Keita and Manu Dibango. Now, in addition to performing with the 4th Dimension, he can be heard in the all-star fusion group the Ringers with Jimmy Herring and Wayne Krantz, as a solo artist, and with the multi-faceted Su La Také.


As producer and composer, Barot faced the daunting task of reconciling each member’s respective musical style and forging a coherent, compelling new sonic identity. Such eclectic undertakings are not unfamiliar to Barot however, as his distinguished career has found him excelling in as a composer Bollywood’s competitive film scene and as a distinctive drummer more western-influenced contexts. The son of Sitara Devi, India’s famous traditional Indian dancer, Barot is also steeped in Indian traditions, as demonstrated by his mastery of konnakol– the Carnatic tradition of spoken percussion syllables, which he demonstrates on Bombay Makossa.


“My time spent working in films has given me a cinematic approach to viewing certain aspects of my music,” Barot explains, lending insight into his writing process. “Not in a grandiose way, but more in the storytelling aspects of composition that I learned while scoring films. Then there’s the rock angle which is a large part of my vocabulary. I grew up playing in local rock bands in Bombay, both progressive and completely visceral. And of course, jazz and the blues.”


And the result is Bombay Makossa: an unprecedented synthesis of international traditions that reflects the vast legacies involved while still emerging as wholly organic, uniquely personal, and even conversational its musical exchanges. “This music brings Africa really close to India,” Mbappe concludes. “Even though these are two major places with their own huge musical culture and so many different rhythms and dances, a project like this doesn’t exist as far as I know. U. Shrinivas, Ranjit, and myself grew up in very musical neighborhoods, surrounded by a lot of different rhythms. We share the same love of celebrating life, and music is a huge part of our lives. It is all soul food and love, and with this album, we’re just warming up.”

Wil Blades, Skerik, Mike Clark and Jeff Parker Come to the Boom Boom Room

Organist Wil Blades returns to the Boom Boom Room at Fillmore & Geary this Friday and Saturday night, with a stellar band in tow. On the heels of his wonderful album “Shimmy” with Medeski, Martin and Wood drummer Billy Martin, and his newest release “Field Notes”, Blades rolls in with the amazing saxophonist Skerik, (fresh from a reunion in Austin with Seattle’s Critters Buggin’); Mike Clark, (Herbie Hancock’s drummer from his original Headhunters band), and guitarist Jeff Parker. Parker joined Blades and drummer Simon Lott on the aforementioned Field Notes. If you saw and enjoyed the Shimmy show last year with Martin, (and with a horn section to boot), you will love this line-up.


Blades’ Field Notes


Released on the Royal Potato Family label, his latest effort as described on the their website, states, “When Wil Blades sits down at the Hammond B3, count on inspired music to follow. The 34-year old, Chicago-native, Berkeley-based artist is a cornerstone organist of his generation—a modern voice in a lineage that includes giants like Richard “Groove” Holmes, Charles Earland and Brother Jack McDuff.


Having studied at the feet of the legendary Dr. Lonnie Smith and played alongside the likes of John Lee Hooker, Melvin Sparks and Idris Muhammad, Blades has absorbed the spirit of the masters. His extensive collaborations also reflect the high regard in which he’s held by contemporaries, including Stanton Moore, Anders Osborne and Nicholas Payton.


Having released a critically acclaimed co-led duo album Shimmy with Medeski Martin & Wood drummer Billy Martin in 2012, Blades returns with a deeply soulful and sinuous nine-track effort,Field Notes, on which he’s found fronting his own trio featuring Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker and New Orleans’ drummer Simon Lott.


From the recording’s outset, it’s easy to picture Blades fingers free-flowing across the keys, feet gliding along the bass pedals in a continuous dance. Syncopation drives songs like “Miller’s Time” and “Addis” as the trio locks in tight to a relentless groove. But there’s also a refined harmonic vision and deep affection for melody on tracks like “(I Can’t Stand) The Whole Lott of You” and “Dewey” where Blades’ Clavinet adds a fresh sonic dimension to the proceedings. Shades of psychedelia are weaved within “Parks ‘N’ Wreck,” while a tip of the hat to vintage soul jazz balladry informs “Forgetful” and classic pop swing is at the heart of “I Get The Blues When It Rains.”


In its sum, Field Notes is a masterful statement from an artist who’s poised to keep the timeless sound of the Hammond B3 organ as vital and compelling today as it’s ever been in the history of modern jazz and rock…”


Being a huge fan of great organ trios and duos like those of the late Larry Young, Brian Auger, Joey DeFrancesco and more recently Jared Gold, I loved Blades’ Shimmy album and from what I’ve heard of Field Notes, you won’t be disappointed with this latest effort either. As for the rest of the group; Skerik was one of the driving forces behind Critters Buggin’, a group I saw many times in Seattle, with bassist Brad Hauser and drummer Matt Chamberlain, (known also as the rhythm section of the New Bohemians); Having seen the Headhunters back in ’74, Mike Clark is one of the funkiest drummers to ever grace the kit, and his grooves on Herbie Hancock’s “Palm Grease” and “Actual Proof” are still the stuff of legend; Parker’s guitar work with Tortoise was always tasty and it’s a treat to hear him alongside Blades. This is going to be a good one folks.


Boom Boom Room Presents presents


Mike Clark (Headhunters),Skerik (Les Claypool),


Wil Blades (Stanton Moore), Jeff Parker (Tortoise)


Friday, August 15th and Saturday August 16th @ 9:00


Tickets $18

Dave Weckl’s Acoustic Band Comes to Yoshi’s

One of the most prolific drummers to ever grace the skins, Dave Weckl has played with a veritable who’s who of musical greats; alongside bassist Victor Wooten in Chick Corea’s Elektric Band, the late, great saxophonist, Michael Brecker, or Contra-bass master Anthony Jackson, guitarists George Benson and Mike Stern to name but a few. Weckl returns to Yoshi’s in Oakland, this time leading his own, all-acoustic quartet in support of his newest album.


Dave Weckl, Modern Drummer’s Hall of Fame-er and among the top 25 drummers of all time, launches his first band, tour and recording in over a decade. With Makoto Ozone on piano and keys, Tom Kennedy/bass and Gary Meek/saxes the Dave Weckl Acoustic Band is charged with riveting chemistry, ebullient communication and rare telepathy that engages audiences to their rapt delight.


Early on, it was Peter Erskine who recommended Dave for French Toast, a Michel Camilo band. Next legendary bassist Anthony Jackson suggested Dave for the Simon and Garfunkel Reunion Tour in 1983. Following this, Dave was regularly being called for recording dates with among others George Benson, Diana Ross and Robert Plant.


In 1985, Michael Brecker suggested Dave to Chick Corea for Chick’s Elektric Band. That began a seven year relationship with Chick Corea touring internationally and famously with both the Elektric and Akoustic Bands.


As a solo artist, Dave recorded and produced nine recordings including GRP/MCA solo releases Masterplan, Heads Up, and Hardwired. In 1998, Dave realized his long-time goal of forming a world-touring band. The Dave Weckl Band who released five studio records, including Rhythm Of The Soul, Synergy, Transition, Perpetual Motion, and Multiplicity as well as a live album, LIVE (And Very Plugged In) and a compilation of DWB and instructional videos entitled The Zone.


Along with his own projects Dave continues sideman work with Mike Stern, Chuck Loeb, Oz Noy, and Chris Minh Doky and the Nomads among others. When off the road, Dave does session and production work, teaches annually at Drum Fantasy Camp and continues to produce many popular instructional video/DVDs and play-along packages.


–


MAKOTO OZONE/piano & keys

Makoto Ozoneigned with CBS Columbia right after the graduation from Berklee College of Music and released the first self-titled album “Makoto Ozone” in 1983 along with his debut Solo Recital at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Makoto has recorded over 20 albums for Verve/Universal since 1994. A duet album with Gary Burton “Virtuosi” was nominated for a the 45th Grammy in 2003 for “The Best Classical Crossover” category. Makoto also has been performing classical repertoire including Mozart, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Bernstein, Gershwin, Rachmaninov since 2003′ with world’s major orchestra such as New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de chambre de Paris, NDR symphony orchestra, NHK symphony orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia and more.


GARY MEEK/sax

As a sideman Gary has a longstanding relationship with keyboardist Jeff Lorber and is featured prominently on his last several recordings. Gary has also toured with many others including Herb Alpert and Al Jarreau and frequently teams up with long standing friends Flora Purim & Airto. Since 2011 Gary Has been working for the Monterey Jazz Festival as a “Traveling Clinician.”


TOM KENNEDY/bass

These reviews say it all! Bass Musician Magazine “It would be hard to overstate Tom Kennedy’s mastery of jazz bass, with a resume that runs as deep as his groove and feel.” LA Weekly “Tom Kennedy’s playing is nothing short of inspiring.”

The 13th Annual Outsound New Music Summit

One of the Bay area’s best music festivals, The 13th Annual Outsound New Music Summit, July 27–August 2, 2014, returns to the Community Music Center at 544 Capp Street in San Francisco. The New Music Summit is co-presented by KFJC 89.7 FM.


Featured during the annual festival will be poets collaborating with unique electro-acoustic settings; a night of experimental guitar solos and duos; a cue-led improvising orchestra, vocal and student workshops, the “Touch the Gear” Expo and acoustic/electric ensembles pushing the edge of sound.


Sixteen performances will take place throughout the week, and will include the first poet to experiment with jazz, Ruth Weiss. Dubbed by writer Herb Caen as “the goddess of the beat generation,” Ruth will collaborate with buchla synthesis pioneer Doug Lynner. The Summit will also feature world premieres by the Emergency String (X)tet, the Deconstruction Orchestra; Pitta of the Mind; the world-renowned Henry Kaiser; and the Teddy Rankin-Parker/Daniel Pearce Duo performing new works by Renee Baker.


“The New Music Summit is a beacon for some of the most creative of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene,” said Outsound Presents founder, Executive Director and curator, Rent Romus. “We feature rare and intriguing world premieres, amazing unknown young artists, and seasoned unsung masters deserving of more credit across the music and performance spectrum. The Summit is important on the West Coast because it supports the local community in a fun and engaging festival environment.”


The Festival begins on Sunday, July 27 at 2 pm with a music improvisation workshop for all levels led bypianist, composer, and educator, Thollem McDonas, followed in the early evening by the popular and free Touch the Gear Expo from 7-10 pm. 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.


Monday, July 28 at 8 pm, Thollem McDonas and participants from the Sunday improvisation workshop will perform a set of structured and free improvisation. This event is free to the public.


On Wednesday, July 30 beginning at 8:15 pm, the New Music Summit presents a night of spoken word and poetry with electro-acoustic music, dubbed PoetryFreqs, featuring Pitta of the Mind (Maw Shein Win and Amanda Chaudhary); one of the first American jazz beat poets ruth weiss with electronic pioneer Doug Lynner; the debut of Watkins/Trammel/McZeal (Zachary James Watkins, and Marshall Trammell) with award winning poet Amber McZeal which will run the gamut from bebop to soundscapes.


Thursday, July 31 at 8:15 pm will showcase six talented and provocative guitarists in a program simple entitled Guitars. The four sets, presented by Henry Kaiser, Amy Reed & Ross Hammond, Noah Phillips & John Finkbeiner, and Sandy Ewen & Jakob Pek, will stretch the limits of the instrument crossing the borders of electronics to found objects and everything in between. 

Friday, August 1 at 8:15 pm will bring two extremes together in a program entitled Constructions, with the Teddy Rankin-Parker/Daniel Pearce Duo, premiering new works by renowned composer Renee Baker, commissioned by RPPD specifically for the Outsound Summit. The Deconstruction Orchestra, a mass ensemble of 25 leading Bay Area improvising musicians led by tenor saxophonist and composer Joshua Allen, who will perform the debut of The Structure of Sound and Space, an original deconstructivist-inspired suite of cell structure game compositions, melding together post-modern, free jazz and non-idiomatic improvisation.


The final day of the Outsound New Music Summit, Saturday, August 2, will present an afternoon vocal workshop with bodywork/energywork master Jill Burton entitled Transformational Voiceat 1 pm. Later that evening, beginning at 8:15 pm will be the program Improvisations, featuring three different groups of improvisers exploring the language of the unknown—Obstreperous Doves (Karl Evangelista, Bill Noertker, Nava Dunkelman, Christina Stanley, and Jordan Glenn); Emergency String (X)tet (Mia Bella D’Augelli, Jeff Hobbs, Christina Stanley, David Michalak, Doug Carroll, Kanoko Nishi-Smith, and Bob Marsh), who will premiere a new work in celebration of Bob Marsh’s 70th birthday; and the Jill Burton Trio (Jill Burton, Tim Perkis, and Doug Carroll) who will be collaborating for the first time.


For event details including the list of performers, biographies and information about the 2014 Outsound New Music Summit, visit www.outsound.org/summit. Artists and schedule subject to change.


Who: Outsound Presents, a nonprofit arts organization

What: 13th Annual Outsound New Music Summit, Presented by Outsound Presents and KFJC 89.7FM

When: July 27–August 2, 2014

Where: Community Music Center, 544 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA, 94110. All Ages, Wheelchair Accessible

Prices: All tickets are available for sale in advance on brownpapertickets.com

Four-Night Festival Pass: $50; $45 in advance

July 27: Thollem McDonas Improvisation Workshop: $15

July 27: Touch the Gear Expo: FREE

July 28: Improvisation Workshop Performance: FREE

July 30: PoetryFreqs: $15 general, and $12 students/seniors.

July 31: Guitars: $15 general, and $12 students/seniors.

August 1: Constructions$15 general, and $12 students/seniors.

August 2: Jill Burton Transformational Voice Workshop $15

August 2: Improvisations: $15 general, and $12 students/seniors.

The Paul & John's "Inner Sunset"

The new album by The Paul & John has been dubbed “an exciting new collaboration between two of the Bay area’s best musicians; guitarist/vocalist songwriters Paul Myers and John Moremen”, and they wouldn’t be far wrong. Inner Sunset proudly carries the Mystery Lawn Music imprint and is released on three formats, including 180-gram vinyl, on July 15, 2014. Myers & Moremen both sing and play all the guitars on the recording, while John plays the drums and Paul plays the bass and wrote all the lyrics.


The two wrote all the songs together over three years at John’s studio in the Inner Sunset district of San Francisco, and then recorded and mixed the best of their collaborations with co-producer Allen Clapp (leader of The Orange Peels) at his Mystery Lawn studio in Sunnyvale, California. Once in the studio, Clapp proved to be a vital third ear in the arranging and presentation of the songs. Upon completion, Grammy nominated mastering engineer Myles Boisen gave the project its final sheen for record, at Headless Buddha, in Oakland. Myers & Moremen find that their shared experiences and eclectic tastes blend perfectly in The Paul & John, resulting in a set of original songs that both are equally proud of.


John Moremen is best known as the lead guitarist in The Orange Peels, and has released several solid solo albums, and recently has operated as the leader of Flotation Device. Moremen was a member of D.C. band The Neighbors and the late, great Jimmy Silva’s Goat 5, and plays guitar with Half Japanese, and on drums with ex-Flamin’ Groovies frontman Roy Loney and the improvisational rock trio High Vulture (with MX- 80′s Bruce Anderson).


Paul Myers was the founder and songwriter for the Toronto-based 1990s power pop group The Gravelberrys, and composes electronic music as Flam! Additionally, he is a working journalist and the author of notable music biographies including A Wizard A True Star: Todd Rundgren In The Studio (Jawbone Press), and It Ain’t Easy: Long John Baldry And The Birth Of The British Blues (Greystone Books).


Positive reviews of the duo’s eponymous debut are already hitting the web, including this one from Absolute Powerpop; “While an obvious Beatles reference, The Paul and John are also the first names of Paul Myers and John Moremen who have teamed up to give us a fine debut EP that, yes, owes a bit to the more famous Paul and John but has other influences as well. Many of you may know Moremen from his solo records and his time as guitarist for The Orange Peels, and Myers was the man behind the Toronto power pop group The Gravelberrys as well as an author of biographies of Todd Rundgren and Long John Baldry.


Thankfully the record lives up to their respective CVs. After the 20-second McCartney-esque “Inner Sunrise”, they segue into the wonderful “Everything Comes Together”, a glorious acoustic guitar-based track that reminds me of The Autumn Defense at their poppiest with some Byrdsian jangle throw in. “Long Way Back” rocks a bit harder and makes good use of the principals’ harmonies, and the title track with its stacatto beat and British Invasion melody sounds like the soundtrack to a parade down Carnaby Street….”


The Mystery Lawn label continues to release some great albums with marvelous tunes and fabulous production under Clapp’s watchful eye; the Orange Peels, Moremen’s Flotation Device, Alison Faith Levy, the Corner Laughers, and William Clere & the Marvelous Fellas, to name but a few; and with tunes like the aforementioned “Everything Comes Together”, (my personal favorite), Myers and Moremen’s Inner Sunset is truly a welcome addition to those ranks.

Jim Ryan @ 80: A celebration and concert with Bay Area sonic luminary, saxophonist, and poet

Legendary Bay Area artist Jim Ryan celebrates his eightieth year on planet earth with two performances this Sunday evening beginning with his “Mindless Thing”, a collaboration between drummer/composer Jordan Glenn and saxophonist/band leader/poet/artist/sage Ryan. “The music, composed and conducted by Glenn, takes malleable material and filters it through a unique ensemble of strings and percussion. The result is used to create a backdrop for Ryan’s surreal and haunting poetry…”


“Poet, writer, philosopher and musician, Jim Ryan is an original member of the exploratory family of artists of the 20th century. His powerful playing style and truly original voice permeates the San Francisco Bay Area with vibrant spirit.


Jim Ryan was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and began listening to bebop at age 15. In 1958 after obtaining a degree in philosophy from the University of Minnesota, Jim was drafted into the army and sent to Europe. After serving for 21 months, Jim found himself attending the Sorbonne in Paris France. After a short time he discovered he was infected with the writing bug and became involved with the beat poet community that was blossoming in France and throughout the world, rubbing elbows with such poets as Boroughs, and Ginsberg. Nearing his mid-30′s it became more difficult to make a living writing and he found many of his former-writing friends were becoming involved in painting and other artistic endeavors. In 1968 Jim was given a wooden flute and shortly thereafter acquired a c-melody sax. At the same time many of the American new music musicians, Sonny Murray, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, and the AACM were given funding by the US Government and settled in Europe including France. Jim was in the right place at the right time and found himself jamming and performing with these rebels of creative music. As the migration of cutting edge American artists continued more straight ahead artists like Johnny Griffith and Steve Lacy began to arrive to take advantage of the European scene. In the early 70′s Jim participated in a yearlong workshop organized and led by Steve Lacy while continuing to develop his writing. In 1975 Jim formed the Free Music Formation, a group which performed in Paris and other European cities.


In 1975 he returned to the United States in search of a fresh start and settled in Washington, D.C. where he formed the Art Performance Group performing throughout the area. In 1987 he moved California and lived in Marin County until 1993 when he moved to Oakland and became part of the San Francisco Bay Area improv and jazz scene.


After a long hiatus, in 1997, he launched one of his current groups Forward Energy featuring stellar artists like trumpet player Eddie Gale and drummer Donald Robinson. Jim also performed with Marco Eneidi’s “American Jungle Orchestra,” and Eddie Gale’s “Orchestra for World Peace.” In 1998 he became the editor and publisher of Outside, an underground art and music zine in Oakland, which featured such artists as Positive Knowledge, Marco Emeidi, as well as many artists of Bay Area improv scene. For two years beginning in 1999 Jim was the booker for the Luggage Store Gallery Series in San Francisco. At that same time he was also booking for the Starry Plow new music series in Berkeley, 2310 Telegraph Gallery in Oakland, and he currently curates shows occasionally at 21Grand Gallery in Oakland.


In the spring of 2000, he founded the Electro/Acoustic Sextet of Oakland, which was a melding of free jazz and avant academic styles. You can hear this pivotal Bay Area saxophonist presently with his group Forward Energy which has recorded five albums for Edgetone Records since 2009, as well as his poetry work with Jordan Glenn’s Mindless Thing which began in 2012…”


The Static Illusion Methodical Madness (SIMM) Series

@ The Musicians Union Hall Local 6, 116 9th Street, San Francisco


Sunday June 29, 2014 – 7:30 PM

Jim Ryan @ 80: A celebration and concert with Bay Area sonic luminary, saxophonist, and poet…


7:30pm Jordan Glenn’s Mindless Thing

featuring poetry by Jim Ryan

Jordan Glenn- conductor, composer, percussion, Robert Lopez- vibes, percussion, Michael Coleman- piano, percussion, Damon Waitkus- dulcimer, percussion, Karl Evangelista- guitar, percussion


8:30pm Jim Ryan 4tet

Scott R. Looney piano, Jason Hoopes double bass, Jordan Glenn drums, Jim Ryan flute&sax – 21st Century New Cool and Free Style Jazz


$10 general $8 students/seniors, All ages welcome

Hiromi's "Alive"

Jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara’s latest album, entitled “Alive”, marks the return of her Trio Project, featuring contra-bass guitarist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips, last seen in San Francisco a few months ago at the SF Jazz Center. To Hiromi, the major characteristics of life include “birth, growth, movement, awareness, adaptation and death. And ever since she emerged on the scene in 2003, Hiromi has been one of the most profound and prolific living forces in 21st century music. Mentored by the legendary Ahmad Jamal, the Japanese pianist/composer has created music that grows with every performance, moves easily beyond stylistic genres, exhibits an awareness of the entire jazz tradition, and adapts to the contributions of her fellow bandmates.”


“Her ninth CD as a leader, Alive, is also her third album (following 2011′s “Voice” and 2013′s “Move”), featuring Jackson; (Steely Dan, Paul Simon, Michel Camilo, The O’Jay’s, and Chick Corea) and Phillips; (Toto, The Who, Judas Priest, David Gilmour, and Jack Bruce). This terrific triad, which DownBeat magazine proclaimed as “one of the most exciting groups working in any genre today,” first formed in 2011, recorded their first CD, Voice that year, followed by Move in 2013. On Alive, Phillips’ powerful, yet poetic percussion, and Jackson’s flowing, glow-in-the-dark basslines, beautifully buoy and support Hiromi’s ingenious and impassioned improvisations. Her evocative and expansive compositions evoke the myriad moods and mysteries of life, and reveal the soulful, syncopated simpatico of her thrilling threesome.


“Alive has a double meaning for me,” Hiromi says. “I wanted to write songs that deal with things and emotions that we encounter in life. But the word Alive can also mean ‘played live.’ I’ve been performing with Simon and Anthony for four years. We’ve made three records together, and we’ve done so many live shows as a trio. We have a great time being adventurous, and I felt that we can make the record sound like a live recording in front of the audience.


That’s the great thing about having a working trio: We understand how to make each other shine. Anthony is an amazing improviser. He composes incredible counter-lines when I solo, and he always plays something to make [the music] shine even more. And Simon has an amazing tone and a beautiful sound on the drums, he’s like an orchestra. They can play anything, and they understand so many different genres of music. They have no boundaries. It’s been a great journey with this group.”


And the journey continues on Alive, featuring nine selections, all composed by Hiromi, beginning with the leadoff title track, which features a shimmering McCoy Tyner/Coltrane-like introduction that morphs into a torrid up-tempo pace. “I wanted the first track to sound like the beginning of life,” Hiromi says, “with every complicated and detailed combination of life’s creation.”


“Wanderer” features some no-nonsense, 4/4 swing, seasoned by Phillips’ zesty solo drumming, contrasted by the Latin-tinged “Dreamer,” and the bouncy, nursery rhyme melody of “Seeker.” Hiromi injects a sly, Thelonious Monk “Well You Needn’t” motif in the intro of “Player,” with a fluid and formidable solo by Jackson. “It can be taken as musicians making music,” she says, “and at the same time, just playing or having fun.”


“Warrior” begins with a ballad introduction that morphs into a brisk, staccato melody that serves as an anthem for people to fight for the things they want in life. “Firefly” is a solo ballad composition; a kaleidoscope of aural colors akin to Erik Satie’s Gallic impressionism. “Spirit” – dedicated to those who have passed on – is a sparkling, gospel-grooved selection that reveals the true colors of Hiromi’s soul, with Phillip’s signifying solo. “[The song] is a prayer,” Hiromi says. “People lose loved ones and friends, but when you close your eyes, you can be with their spirit.” The album closes with the optimistic, ebullient backbeats of “Life Goes On.”


“I’ve always enjoyed and appreciated so many different kinds of music,” Hiromi says, “classical, rock, jazz and pop and so on. And that’s why my compositions are so varied.”


As evidenced by this impressive and important recording, Hiromi’s astonishing artistry is very much Alive: it breathes, grows, adapts and, more importantly, it evolves. Hiromi’s evolution has been fueled by her ever-evolving gifts as a pianist, improviser, composer, bandleader and – most importantly – as a listener…”


“My listening skills have improved,” she says. “Over the years, I’ve learned how to listen more carefully, and respond musically to what is happening in the moment. That’s what makes my trio shine as a team.”


“Hiromi has discovered her own genre, and continues to pursue it with great sensitivity, energy, and dazzling virtuosity. Enjoy her latest with Anthony Jackson & Simon Phillips. What great chemistry!” – Ahmad Jamal


To view a video clip from her new album, follow this link:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR8HinFaQhk

Building the Hybrid Acoustic-Electronic Kit

After completing the work on my Indian Subsonic Bass Sound Kit, and refining my technique on the Zendrum EXP, it was time to turn my attention to my latest project: building an acoustic-electronic hybrid drum kit, based on the kits of Billy Cobham. I'd been a fan of Cobham since the early '70s and learned to play using his "open-handed" technique via my teacher, drummer Paul Sears. My first kit was actually a 6 piece, double bass drum, Ludwig clear Vistalite kit that my Mom helped me buy back in '75 from the now defunct Veneman's Music store in Silver Spring, Maryland. As soon as I'd saved up enough money, I went to Chuck Levin's, aka Washington Music Center in nearby Wheaton to buy two more rack toms and another floor tom to create a replica of Cobham's clear Fibes set with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. I eventually sold that kit, traveled to Europe in '77, and after I returned to the States, I bought an identical Gretsch kit, thanks to my Dad.

Admission to the Corcoran School of Art and a move to New York City in '80, sadly required selling that kit too. Still needing to play percussion, I soon fell in love with Bill Bruford's use of the Remo Roto toms in bands UK, Bruford, and later his Simmons Electronic drums in King Crimson. Before I knew it, I was thrust into the world of New York's music and art scene; CBGBs; playing with Madonna, The Breakfast Club, The Same & Brian Eno; parties with the Andy Warhol crowd, and a thirst for the new music of fusion, rock, jazz and punk. The rest is history as they say. With the exception of another bass drum, it would be another thirty years before I would be able to replace that beloved Gretsch kit.

After buying a used 7 piece Gretsch kit from Sam Adato's Drum Shop in SF, I quickly realized that it would be extremely expensive to duplicate all the drums from that 1980s Gretsch kit today; the bass drum alone would cost at least $1000! Nevertheless, I longed for the day when I could once again roll down an array of toms as I once did. The solution to that problem came when I came across an inexpensive, 5 piece set of Ddrum d2 drums online for only $300. Purchasing two more of their "d2 Add-on" toms, allowed me to be able to duplicate my all-acoustic Gretsch kit, drum for drum.

My first thought was to turn the Ddrums in to an all-electronic kit. My 10 piece Simmons SDS 9 kit still worked, even when mated to my new MacBook, BFD2 and an Alesis Trigger I/O, but their 1980's design looked dated, the piezoes were over 20 years old and compared to the newer mesh drum heads of the modern V-Drums, they simply were no longer something I could imagine playing live, or anywhere other than the comfort of my home studio.

So armed with all of the electronic equipment I needed, (including a compliment of Ddrum Red Shot triggers and Hart Dynamics mesh drum heads), I set out to obtain the rest of the Ddrum kit on ebay. Ddrum doesn't sell individual drums for their "d" Series, so I had to spend some time searching for partial or suitable kits in the same black color, extra lugs and matching chrome rims. I was fortunate to find a 14" x 14" floor tom, however I was unable to find any other matching Ddrums, so I resorted to buying two Sound Percussion drums; an 18" x  22" kick to match the bass drum I already had and a 9" x 13" rack tom. The SP drums were very similar to the Ddrums, so I stripped them of their hardware and replaced them with the extra chrome lugs I had from two, cannibalized "d" series drums that I found on ebay for less than $50.

Although I began with the idea of an all-electronic kit, I soon realized that I would be missing out on the acoustic side by using only mesh heads; I also wanted the ability to play them live, without the use of any electronics; leaving the mixer, Mackies and laptops at home.

So with the arrival of all of the drums, and rims, I paused and bought a few more Remo Muffl' Rings and Evans 360 heads. The Muffl' Rings would help with both controlling the unwanted overtones and helped with triggering; something I learned from playing with them on my Gretsch kit, which were superior in tone and quality in every way. I already had all the hardware, stands and cymbals, however building this kit led me back to researching rack and stand alternatives, and Billy Cobham.

 I'd read an interview with Cobham where he'd talked about using Yamaha's Hex-Rack system; how easy it was to set up his kit quickly, and in the same way every time. I had used my Ultimate Support rack with my Simmons kit and knew exactly what he was talking about. As the plastic Ultimate Support clamps faded over the decades, I eventually had to replace them all with Gibraltar T-clamps and tom clamps. Cobham, Bruford and others were now using the ergonomic curved bars, so I added 2 of Gibratar's 36" curved chrome bars to mount the rack toms, and 3 horizontal tubes and cymbal tube clamps...

Next came the addition of my Zildjian cymbals; 18" China, 20" Ride, 14" Hi-hats, two 16" Crashes and a 20" Crash; a 14" x 6.5" Tama snare; a Gibraltar Kick drum/Hi-hat clamp; a pair of DW 5000 Kick pedals, installing the ten Ddrum Red Shot triggers, and mounting the Alesis Trigger I/O MIDI interface. Voila, the kit was reborn! It was like riding a bicycle, or hanging out with an old friend I hadn't seen in years. "Catching up" was almost like picking up where we'd left off! A month or so earlier, I'd seen and met drummer Simon Phillips at both his SF Jazz Center performance with Hiromi and her Trio Project, and a few weeks later at Yoshi's in support of his wonderful "Protocol II" album. Phillips talked about the influence the open handed drummers like Lenny White and Cobham had on him and I nodded in affirmation.
 

Having seen Cobham dozens of times in DC and NYC since '72, my freshest memories of him were from the Ram's Head in Annapolis in '98 (with "Jazz is Dead"), and most recently, at Yoshi's Jazz Club in both SF and Oakland, ("Fruit From the Loom", "Spectrum 40th Anniversary" and "Palindrome" tours), I was struck by what he described as his "tonal array" of toms. In the old days, Cobham arranged his toms like everyone else did, in the usual high tom-to-low tom order. However in the 1990s, he radically changed his rack tom arrangement, as his lowest rack replaced the normal placement of the high rack tom, and the mid toms were interrupted by the placement of the mid-low tom. Sometimes Cobham would even place the highest tom in the middle of the other, alternating toms. His rationale for doing this was two fold; it eliminated the cliched descending tom fills; and created interesting new tonal possibilities using the same fill patterns...

They say "fortune favors the bold", so I tried it. I was immediately surprised at how well it worked; having the low tom near my left side was wonderful, something I'd experienced playing a symmetrical set up ala Bruford; rolling on the rack toms from lowest, to high, to highest, to lower, to low, was like opening a new world of tonal possibilities.

I couldn't believe how much fun I was having playing them that way! I next tried them out on a new tune I'd been working on that featured a cascading tom fill almost from the beginning and the low, high, low, high pattern breathed new life into a part that was originally your classic tom fill. Once I hooked up the Red Shot triggers to the Alesis interface, I was off to the races, triggering my BFD2 library of sampled drum sounds and samples.

As fate would have it, I also came across the new Ken Scott/Billy Cobham samples for BFD2; Ken Scott was the engineer for some of Cobham's greatest albums, including his work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Scott recorded Cobham on a combination of clear Fibes and Ludwig Vistalite drums in his New England studio, especially for this project. I purchased the collection from Sonic Reality, and after a brief call to tech support, I had it up and running; I'm already using it with the Zendrum EXP now, and so I'm really looking forward to playing the hybrid kit with them! At long last, the hybrid Ddrum acoustic/electronic kit, with Zildjian cymbals, and Red Shot triggers is now, "operational and fully functioning". I'll have more details and updates after my first sessions with it in Mid-July, with keyboardist Steve McQuarry and his own hybrid quartet, featuring electric violin and electric bass.

In the meantime, I'll be tweaking the triggers, shedding more new material and generally having fun with my latest kit. Eventually, I'll mount some of my Pintech triggers on a wooden bar with "L" brackets inside each of the drums, just as I did with the Indian Subsonic Bass kit. Now I'm not going to kid myself; considering the venues and nightclubs that I play in, bringing this new "beast" out isn't going to be as easy as it is when I'm traveling with the Zendrum EXP, a rack and a pair of Mackies to be sure, but with the Gibraltar rack and only a few stands, it really isn't much harder than bringing out my Gretsch kit; a kit by the way, that is twice as heavy as the lightweight wood from China, used in the Ddrum d2 series. That being said, this kit will most certainly be in action for a special acoustic/electric duo concert with the aforementioned Mr. McQuarry at the Cadillac Hotel this coming September, so stay tuned!

Billy Cobham's "Tales from the Skeleton Coast"

Today marks the 70th birthday of one of the greatest drummers of this, or any generation; the remarkable Billy Cobham. From his earliest recordings with Horace Silver, Miles Davis and Milt Jackson, to his scintillating and seminal work with John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, keyboardist George Duke, and his own groups, like Culture Mix, Asere and the Spectrum 40; Cobham has thrilled audiences around the world by bringing his incomparable talents as a composer, drummer, and producer to the forefront of jazz, rock, fusion and world music. His latest effort is the eagerly awaited "Tales from the Skeleton Coast", part 3 of a series dedicated to his Panamanian parents.

"Ever since his breakthrough in the early 1970’s, as a founding member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and as a drummer/band leader whose recordings such as Spectrum, with a powerful, complex style of play exerted a strong influence on the course of jazz and jazz-fusion, Billy Cobham has remained a tireless musical explorer.

Panamanian by birth, a New Yorker by upbringing, and a resident of Switzerland for the past 30 years, Cobham has pursued an ever-broadening, ever deepening engagement with the world not only as a master drummer and percussionist but as a composer, producer, educator and clinician who gives service through music even as he constantly expands his personal creative horizons.

Cobham’s newest recording “Tales From The Skeleton Coast” on his personal recording label, Creative Multimedia Concepts, provides credence to his ever-deepening exploration of his life experiences as reflected through his musical compositions. “Tales From The Skeleton Coast” is yet another way stop on a journey through the life of a musical traveler in search of total enlightenment.

“Tales From The Skeleton Coast” is also the third installment in a four volume series of media presentations that Billy Cobham has committed to creating in celebration of the lives of his parents William Emanuel and Ivy Leotta. The previous two volumes are entitled “Fruit From The Loom” and “Palindrome”.

As a sonic package the music within the “grooves” provides vision and direction for the imaginative journey that transports the listener from points within the region once known as Southwestern Africa (now Namibia), to the social influences emanating from Panama, central America and the afro-Caribbean community..."

Here's a clip of Cobham and his European band, featuring his long time percussionist Junior Gill, performing a cut from his upcoming album…

Mark Egan's “About”

Bassist Mark Egan is a well known commodity in the world of jazz, and first came to my attention in those halcyon days with guitarist Pat Matheny’s earliest group, featuring keyboardist Lyle Mays and drummer Danny Gottlieb. Egan returns anew with his longtime bandmate Gottlieb and keyboardist Mitchel Forman, (last seen at Yoshi’s in SF, backing up vocalist Sussan Deyhim), and well known for their work with the legendary guitarist John McLaughlin. “About Now” is is Egan’s latest effort on the Wavetone Record label, and another fine addition to his ever growing catalog.


Abstract Logix describes the new album, stating that “Over the past 30 years, Mark Egan’s ability to groove, perfectly complement the music in any situation and solo expressively has made him one of the most in-demand bass players on the international music scene. While racking up credits with the likes of the Pat Metheny Group, saxophonists Steve Grossman, Dave Liebman, Stan Getz, Sonny Fortune and Bill Evans, vocalist Michael Franks, guitarists Pat Martino, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Alex De Grassi, John Abercrombie, Chuck Loeb and Vic Juris, the Duran Duran off-shoot group Arcadia, the Gil Evans Orchestra as well as pop stars Sting, Joan Osborne, Sophie B. Hawkins, Marc Cohn and Roger Daltry, Egan also went about documenting his singular fretless bass guitar voice in a series of recordings as a leader beginning with his 1985 bass manifesto, Mosaic.


Following on the heels of 2010’s Truth Be Told (his quartet recording with saxophonist Bill Evans, keyboardist Mitch Forman and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta) and 2013’s trio offering Unit 1 (with guitarist John Hart and drummer Karl Latham), Egan reconnects with his Pat Metheny Group/Elements bandmate, drummer Danny Gottlieb, and keyboardist Forman for an invigorating program that highlights the bassist’s signature singing fretless 5-string tones in both funk and impressionistic settings. The 20th album on his own Wavetone label, About Now is a stunning trio outing that has Forman alternating between piano and Fender Rhodes and the telepathic rhythm tandem of Egan and Gottlieb holding down the fort while also contributing potent solos and highly interactive playing throughout.


“I wanted to do an intimate trio project that used both electric and acoustic piano with both groove and open playing that would feature the interplay between us,” says Egan in describing the highly interactive nature of this trio project. “So there’s a few open and impressionistic compositions, and others that are groove tunes that allow us all to really experiment. This recording features my fretless playing in an intimate trio setting in a different way than any of my other recordings.”


The title track, which has Gottlieb underscoring on brushes, features the trio playing at a interactive dynamic while Egan sings away on the 5-string fretless. “On this album I wanted to feature the sound of the 5-string fretless Pedulla bass. On some of the melodies I also overdubbed with the 8-string fretless, as on ‘Sailing,’ using harmonics on my double-neck. It’s been a while since I’ve recorded with the double-neck and it felt great to be playing it again.”


Egan calls the About Now session an exposed open trio feel, which prevails on the groove-oriented “Slinky,” and carries a dark Miles Davis kind of “Tutu” vibe. “Graceful Branch” is a seductive ballad with singing fretless lines while “Little Pagoda” is cast in the vein of Hermeto Pascoal’s “Little Church” (which appears on Miles Davis’ Live-Evil). “Danny is playing double time on the cymbals and Mitch and I are playing a free tone poem. I wanted to create a trance like vibe on this song and was picturing a pagoda somewhere in Bali with a drummer playing a hypnotic cymbal rhythm and musicians playing a meditative tone poem around it. Essentially, it’s a free ballad that Mitchel embellishes with his beautiful statements.”


“McKenzie Portage” is a groove-oriented number that Egan wrote about the fishing expeditions that he’s made in the remote sections of Ontario, Canada with saxophonist Bill Evans. “My first expedition was in 1989,” says the bassist, “and it was the most fantastic and rigorous trip that I had ever made in my life. We had to portage for 30 miles with full packs and canoes en route to a pristine and virgin lake where we eventually had amazing fishing. I always wanted to name a tune after that adventure and this song describes the impressions from that trip 25 years ago.”


Elsewhere on About Now, Egan has based the composition “Tea in Tiananmen Square,” on a tour he made to China with the George Gruntz concert band in 2000. His tune “Cabarete” is named for a town in the Dominican Republic that has become identified as an international wind surfing capitol. “We played a New Year’s concert there with Elements and the Latin tune ‘Cabarete seemed to fit the feeling.” “Puerto Plata,” named for a town near Cabarete, where the airport is located, and is a companion piece that closes out the collection.


Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, Egan began his musical studies on trumpet at the age of 10, mainly through the influence of his father who was an avid player in the Navy Band. He continued to play the trumpet through high school in jazz bands, R&B groups and the high school orchestra before picking up the electric bass at age 16. Mark subsequently enrolled at the University of Miami School of Music, under the direction of Jerry Coker, and studied privately with the late, great Jaco Pastorius, whose influence remains with him to this day. “When I heard Jaco play it made me aware of what could be done on the electric bass,” says Egan. “Jaco was an innovator and to be in his presence was uplifting and inspiring during those early years.”


While in Florida, Mark formed a band with fellow University of Miami students Clifford Carter (keyboards), Hiram Bullock (guitar), Billy Bowker (drums) and Phyllis Hyman (vocals). They came to New York in 1976 and soon afterward Egan hooked up with the Pointer Sisters, Deodato and David Sanborn before joining Pat Metheny in 1977 along with drummer Danny Gottlieb and Lyle Mays. Together they recorded the influential Metheny albums Pat Metheny Group (1978) and American Garage (1980). It was through this association that Mark would later team up with Gottlieb to form the band Elements, an uncompromising, genre-bending group that has 10 recordings to date and has toured in over 27 countries. “This is a reunion of the spirits to get back together with Danny and Mitchel and record some fresh music,” says Egan.


These days, Danny Gottlieb lives in Nashville and teaches at the University of Florida at Jacksonville. Keyboardist Mitchel Forman is currently living in Los Angeles. And Egan lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, where this recording was made in his home studio that was recently designed by Francis Manzella from FM Design. “This is the first recording from the new studio, Electric Fields, and it’s been a real labor of love,” says Mark. “Sonically, it has a master quality control room. The drum room has great acoustics and the main studio room has a gorgeous Steinway B from 1920 that was recently rebuilt. We also have a fine collection of vintage studio electronics and microphones. I feel that this studio design and recording was ‘mission accomplished.’ I love recording in the fine studios in New York City as well as having the luxury and creativity of being at home.”


Egan intends to use Electric Fields studio for a follow up recording by his Unit 1 trio and also another recording with his longstanding colleagues Gottlieb and Forman. Until then, enjoy their appealing and versatile chemistry on About Now…”

Tohpati's "Tribal Dance"

Tohpati is one of most exciting guitarists to emerge from Indonesia, and for his third release on the MoonJune Record label, (following 2010's "Ethnomission, "Save The Planet", and 2012's "Bertiga", and "Riot", Tohpati is joined by two other renowned maestros; bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Chad Wackerman who appeared together on the Allan Holdsworth- Alan Pasqua "Blues For Tony" project. The result is an album of "brilliantly conceived and executed music, evidenced by a wellspring of inspired interplay, a delightful chemistry and bursts of intense, spontaneous genius."

"On Tribal Dance, there's no shortage of Tohpati's trademark breathtaking, acrobatic axe-wielding. Towering power chords, distorted spare-note lead lines, unexpected machine gun-blasting sonic assaults, chugging rhythmic grooves, and even a host of elegantly-nuanced jazz phrasings, are all in attendance -- summoned at will, and in omnipotent fashion.His explosive fretwork often appears as the musical equivalent of a cobra, coiled and ready to strike, yet it is his intuitive, prescient interplay with this formidable world-class rhythm section that emerges victorious on this stage. A powerful synergy prevails, as Tohpati locks in with Haslip’s dubmaster basslines and the rubber-limbed, imaginative kitwork of Wackerman. The trio generate wave upon wave of infectious syncopations and robust grooves, gloriously decorating a very special session.

Topati's Wikipedia bio recounts his interest in becoming a musician as a youngster, and "often played on many shows around Jakarta, although it was not as a professional career. As a result of his effort, he had won the title "Best Guitarist" at a band festival in Jakarta when he was 14 years old. Four years after that, in 1989, he won another notable award of the best guitarist in Java, also was given at a band festival. This award then contributed a major part in Tohpati's music experience as his name began to be noticed because in the same year, he won the another best guitarist title at a "Yamaha Band Explosion" show, which was a national show.

After winning a series of awards, Tohpati decided to begin his professional career. His professional career began in 1993 when he joined a band called Simak Dialog with Riza Arshad, Arie Ayunir and Indro. Indro is a bassist who played the "Bass Heroes" show in Jakarta. Later, Indro often played with Tohpati in many different shows. With Simak Dialog, Tohpati had released 3 albums, which were "Lukisan", "Bauk" and "Trance/Madison".

In the late 1990s, Tohpati decided to start a solo career and released his first solo album in 1998. The album also included a collaboration with Shakila and Glenn Fredly, both pop singers. Gaining more popularity, he released two video clips of one of his songs on the album, the song titled "Lukisan Pagi", in a collaboration with Shakila. The video clip was a success and the song made the charts in Indonesia.

His second album, "Serampang Samba" offered more instrumental hits. Quite different with the last album, Tohpati only included one song with vocals on the album, titled "Jejak Langkah Yang Kau Tinggal". This was also the only song with a video clip. Serampang Samba also consists of more traditional Indonesian music with more acoustic guitars and Balinese elements. It's been said that this album was considered more idealist and progressive compared to his previous album.

In 2007, Tohpati signed with the New York based progressive/fusion label Moonjune Records and released internationally three albums so far, namely "Patahan" (live), "Demi Masa" and "The 6th Story". Tohpati also released two albums on Moonjune as a bandleader. Tohpati Ethnomission's Save The Planet is his yet further exploration of the experimental jazz fusion, while his power trio Tohpati Bertiga mixes that with a touch of progressive metal."

Tohpati has also been a longtime fan of the legendary guitarist Allan Holdsworth and his music; so the addition of the Holdsworth alum Wackerman and Haslip was no coincidence, however Tohpati has found his own voice and unique sound, making Tribal Dance one of his best solo efforts to date. Here is a video of one of Tohpati's tunes, "Rahwana"…

Lords of Outland 20th Anniversary

The Lords of Outland will release The Proceedings of Dr. Ké on April 22, 2014 the group’s 12th recording. To celebrate the release and their 20th Anniversary, Lords of Outland will perform at the Outsound’s Flagship SIMM Series at the Musicians Union Hall in San Francisco, starting at 7:30pm on Sunday, April 27. Tickets are $10, and will be available at the Door the night of the concert.

Saxophonist, composer Rent Romus started the Lords of Outland in 1994 a collective of like-minded musicians focusing on exploring improvisation, melody, noise, and sound art while acknowledging their jazz, rock, and blues roots. Under Romus’ direction the collective has developed original music ranging from unhinged guttural free improvisation to thematic suites inspired by abstract and socio-political prose, poetry, science fiction, and horror. Performing artists will include a cross section of past and current roster members:
Dave Mihaly - drums, Bill Noertker - bass, Philip Everett - drums, Ray Scheaffer - bass, Joshua Marshall – tenor saxophone, Collette McCaslin - trumpet, Joshua Allen – tenor saxophone, Darren Johnston - trumpet, Jim Ryan – tenor/alto saxophones, Rent Romus – alto/soprano saxophones

The Proceedings of Dr. Ké is inspired by the essays and fiction of experimental psychologist Dr. Charles Ponce on what he termed “Blade Runner Psychology”, as well as the mythical figure in Dr. Ponce’s fiction Dr. Ke. The writings of Dr Ponce straddle the fence between science and science fiction expanding Jungian psychology into the modern world by introducing futurist elements. It’s these elements that define the parameters of Romus' Compositions, which are meant to be invoking of both the futurist theme of Dr. Ponce’s work as well as his mystic interpretations of the words set to music.

Glenn Astarita, from All About Jazz says of Romus’ work with the Lords of Outland, "Romus' fiery romp is a no-holds barred exposition. He slices through steel with accuracy and ease, equating to a jovial soundscape, scraped with intensifying solos and Everett's colorific cymbals hits. They galvanize your neural system from start to finish, while projecting a take no prisoners approach throughout."

About the Musicians

Rent Romus “swings like death and hell” according to the late Danish writer and producer Jack Lind. Born in the great north of upper Michigan and growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Romus' work on the saxophone has been dubbed “ferocious” by the San Francisco Weekly and “central to the creative music world of the West Coast” by writer jazz critic Frank Rubolino.  He has recorded exploring improvisation and composition in a wide variety of musical settings on over 35 albums both as a leader and sideman which have included Chico Freeman, John Tchiai, Vinny Golia, Thollem McDonas, Stefan Pasborg, Dave Mihaly, James Zitro, Kash Killion, Jon Bridsong, and Ernesto Diaz-Infante.

Collette McCaslin formally known as CJ Borosque, bay area based improviser, noise and modern visual artist. Her art is a blending of genres pulling from abstract and avant-garde traditions. She plays coronet and analog FX boxes configured in a “no-input” design which allows for the creation of sonic feedback and feedback sounds without the use of a typical sound source... her noise projects are currently created using the electrical signal that is within her gear.

Ray Scheaffer performs on fretless 6 strings, fretted 4 and 8 string basses using a host of electronic effects that are incorporated to be part of the instrument. After studying music theory and upright bass in high school and junior college, Ray has performed in a diverse array of ensembles from full orchestra to folk rock bands, and experimental improv groups going back to the 70s.

Philip Everett began music at the age of 9 on clarinet shortly there after moving on the drums when he was 13 where he began his studies in junior high school with Warren George from the Stan Kenton band. Warren believed in trial by fire and stuck Phillip in a room alone for an hour a day, told him to learn drum rudiments, and put him in advanced orchestra & marching band the following semester. That trial led him directly to Bartok, Debussy, and Gershwin as well as New Orleans style 2nd line marches. Furthering his studies he sought after George Marsh and Eddie Moore where he was taught the finer subtleties of the drums.

After studying drums with Andrew Cyril in New Jersey, Dave Mihaly this tall mantis-like creative master of the drums can be heard with countless groups and artists such as, Bando, Victoria Williams, and Eartha Kitt. He is however known in the Bay Area for his work with the Kalideophone Big Band, and After the End of the World Cortet. Mihaly can be heard on After the End of the World Cortet CD 13, Rent Romus' Lords of Outland, and Nortker's Moxie.

Bassist/composer Bill Noertker has been active in the Bay Area jazz and avant-garde scene since the late 1980s. Since 2001, he has lead his own ensemble, Noertker's Moxie, as a forum for his compositions inspired by visual artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Salvador Dalí, and Joan Miró, architect Antoni Gaudí, poet Rainer Maria Rilke, sculptor David Beck, and others. Noertker has composed over 150 pieces of music for this group and has released eight CDs, including three CDs of his extended suite Sketches of Catalonia, and two volumes of his extended Blue Rider Suite. He has also composed music for three films that showcase the intimately-scaled sculptures of David Beck, and composed the score for a Nikos Koumoundouros film, The Commandments or the Nostril of Ektor Kaknavatos, that was selected for the Short Film Corner at the prestigious Festival de Cannes 2010. He is now at work scoring the upcoming Olympia Stone film “Curious Worlds: the Art and Imagination of David Beck.”

Joshua Marshall is a performer, composer, and improviser living in Oakland, CA. His work involves abstract narratives in musical form, systematic extensions of improvisatory practice, advanced studies in saxophone technique, and interactive performance with digital media. He has studied with Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Evan Parker, Zeena Parkins. His playing has been featured in festivals and conferences nationwide, including Providence Pixilerations events and the 2010 International Computer Music Conference. Joshua graduated from Brown University, earning a B.A. through the nationally renowned MEME program, and has an MFA in Music at Mills College.

Joshua Allen has created his own personal language on the tenor saxophone, with an emphasis on polytonal and asymmetrical phrasing, as well as extending the range and sonic ability of the instrument. He does this with constant emphasis and study of the overtone series, and the generation of multiphonics from the application of this process. He is currently teaching Fellowship students at the Brubeck Institute at the University of Pacific. His association with saxophonist Marco Eneidi led to working relationships with musicians such as Glen Spearmann, Matthew Goodheart, Damon Smith, and Cecil Taylor.

Poet, writer, philosopher and musician, Jim Ryan is an original member of the exploratory family of artists of the 20th century. His powerful playing style and truly original voice permeates the San Francisco Bay Area with vibrant spirit. He was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and began listening to bebop at age 15. In 1958 after obtaining a degree in philosophy from the University of Minnesota, Jim was drafted into the army and sent to Europe. After serving for 21 months, Jim found himself attending the Sorbonne in Paris France. After a short time he discovered he was infected with the writing bug and became involved with the beat poet community that was blossoming in France and throughout the world, rubbing elbows with such poets as Boroughs, and Ginsberg.

In 1975 he returned to the United States in search of a fresh start and settled in Washington, D.C. where he formed the Art Performance Group performing throughout the area. In 1987 he moved California and lived in Marin County until 1993 when he moved to Oakland and became part of the San Francisco Bay Area improv and jazz scene. After a long hiatus, in 1997, he launched one of his current groups Forward Energy featuring stellar artists like trumpet player Eddie Gale and drummer Donald Robinson. You can hear this pivotal Bay Area saxophonist presently with Forward Energy and the Jordan Glenn's Mindless Thing.

Since settling in San Francisco in 1997, Canada-born trumpeter/composer/songwriter Darren Johnston has collaborated and recorded with an extremely diverse cross-section of artists.  His interests rotate around composing instrumental music, writing songs, and performing all styles of jazz, experimental and purely improvised music, as well as traditional music of the Balkans, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey, and the Arab world.  These interests have coalesced into his primary ensemble of late, The Broken Shadows Family Band.  He has also performed with luminaries such as Hamid Drake, Fred Frith, ROVA Sax Quartet, Rumen Shopov, Myra Melford, Ben Goldberg, Matt Wilson, and others.


Who: Rent Romus’ Lords of Outland
Where: Musicians Union Hall, 116 9th Street San Francisco, CA
When: Sunday, April 27, 2014, 7:30pm
Cost: $10 general $8 sen/stu
For information and tickets: http://www.outsound.org
Rent Romus: www.romus.net

Wayne Shorter Quartet Comes to SF Jazz

In a legendary career spanning more than half a century, saxophonist Wayne Shorter just keeps getting better and bolder. Indeed, his longevity as a creative force isn’t as astounding as the fact that he’s spent the past decade leading his most prodigious and consequential band. At 80, Shorter often appears as the calm center of a roiling maelstrom, a mystical presence exulting in the improvisational lightning strikes emanating from pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, all virtuosos and bandleaders in their own right. Of course, the quartet is fueled by music from jazz’s most influential composer after Thelonious Monk, still keen to venture into uncharted territory. Shorter’s new Blue Note album, Without a Net, is his first for the label in over four decades and is an astounding document of an artist reaching and exploring, still very much at the peak of his powers. The session netted Shorter 2013 DownBeat magazine Critics Poll wins for Jazz Album, Jazz Group, Soprano Saxophone and Jazz Artist of the Year, as well as a GRAMMY for Best Improvised Solo on "Orbits."Shorter and his quartet return to the Bay Area tonight for several sold out shows.

Shorter's website noted that he'll will be entering his 81st year in 2014—first recorded for Blue Note in 1959 as the precocious 26-year-old tenor saxophonist (and prolific composer) in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, which brought him to the attention of label founder Alfred Lion who eventually signed him to his own recording deal. Shorter went on to make a spectacular run of classic albums for Blue Note between 1964-1970 including Night Dreamer, Juju, Speak No Evil, Adam’s Apple, Schizophrenia, and Super Nova during a period of time that also paralleled Shorter’s years with Miles Davis, first as a member of the trumpeter’s trailblazing quintet, and later as a part of Davis’ early fusion masterpieces.

“Wayne Shorter is one of the greatest musicians and composers of our time,” said Don Was, President of Blue Note Records. “At age 80, we witness him at the height of his powers and performing with one of the most incredible bands he's ever assembled. Although welcoming him back to Blue Note Records after 43 years is a romantic notion, Wayne's enduring appeal is rooted in his steadfast refusal to trade in such nostalgia. In fact, it is Mr. Shorter's determination to constantly move forward that makes his new album, Without A Net, such an essential listening experience.”

Reflecting upon his perpetual path of musical discovery, Shorter expounded that The challenge we as artists face today is to create a ‘singularity’ or an ‘event horizon’ so that as human beings we will break the cycle of ego dominated actions which through repetition keep us bound to stagnation which denies us entrance to the Portal of Life's Ultimate Adventure!

Without A Net is a 9-track musical thrill ride that consists of live recordings from the Wayne Shorter Quartet’s European tour in late 2011, the one exception being the 23-minute tone poem “Pegasus” which features the quartet with The Imani Winds recorded at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The album features six new Shorter compositions, as well as new versions of his tunes “Orbits” (from Miles Davis’ Miles Smiles album) and “Plaza Real” (from the Weather Report album Procession). The quartet also reinvents the title song from the 1933 musical film Flying Down To Rio, which film buffs (such as Shorter) know as the first on-screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."

Wayne Shorter Quartet at SF Jazz Center, March 27-30; (sold out, however turnback tickets may be available)
Wayne Shorter tenor and soprano saxophones
Danilo Perez piano
John Patitucci bass
Brian Blade drums

Simon Phillips Comes to SF Jazz and Yoshi's

One of the world's best percussionists is the Englishman Simon Phillips; an ambidextrous drummer who follows in the footsteps of jazz greats Billy Cobham and Lenny White who helped to popularize that musical approach. Phillip's first came to this writer's attention via his work with Brian Eno and Phil Mazenera's group "801", and later, Peter Townsend and the Who. Phillips has continued to perform and record with a who's who of the musical world; he makes his return to the Bay area later this month, supporting Hiromi and Anthony Jackson in a sold out show at the SF Jazz Center of Franklin, before returning to Yoshi's in Oakland on April 1st with his own group, "Protocol II"- a sequel to his first solo group of the same name.

Readers of my previous column will recall Hiromi's spectacular show at the newly minted SF Jazz Center last year; her return on March with Jackson and Phillips shouldn't disappoint fans either. Fourteen years ago, Phillips released the first Protocol album, and he deemed it was the "right time to record something new..." 

"I had been writing and recording some material over the last few years but was not excited enough with the outcome. I wanted to do something very live and organic so as the NAMM show was coming up in January I was hoping that perhaps Andy Timmons would be attending. I called him and put my idea to him and he was way up for it and changed his plans to stay in LA a few more days. My next call was to Steve Weingart as, having worked with him on his last two solo CDs, I had formed a wonderful working relationship with him. He was also very excited by the project. Next was the question of who should take the seat of holding down those low notes. I had heard a lot about Ernest Tibbs and had spoken to him a few years earlier about some live shows, which he could not make. I gave him a call and he was also way up for it. So I booked time at Phantom Recordings – a week after the NAMM show – to see what we could do..."


"I had a bunch of demos ranging from ideas to complete compositions that I was not totally sure they were the direction I wanted to go in so I compiled those and sent MP3s to Andy, Steve and Ernest. My concept was that we would write in the studio and if any parts of these tunes worked we could use them. I was curious and eager to get playing to see how the chemistry of the four of us would work. The first tune we recorded was “Moments of Fortune” and I knew immediately this was a great band – great chemistry – a deep pocket and a relentless supply of musicality..."

"As it turned out most of the compositions were usable and only a few sections were omitted. We arranged the tunes on the fly and everyone contributed and it made for some very organic and vibe-y music. The days were long and tiring but the energy and creativity were amazing. We played live and only a few repairs, punches and overdubs were done.

As we were recording this felt to me as though the Protocol concept was coming full circle and it was also 25 years since I released my first solo effort so it seemed perfect to be titled Protocol II. This project was a joy to work on and I want to thank Andy, Steve and Ernest for their wonderful energy, groove and improvisation captured on this recording...."


Here are two clips of Phillips with Hiromi and Protocol II...

"Taming the Dragon" - Mehliana's Debut Album

After several recent tours around the U.S. and Europe, the musical duo of keyboardist Brad Mehldau and drummer Mark Guiliana, aka "Mehliana", have at long last released and album of their improvisational and inspiring music. Their debut effort is entitled, "Taming the Dragon", a collection of some of their best forays that will be familiar to fans of their live shows, as well as some material not heard or seen live. Mehliana's use of vintage synthesizers, and their incredible grasp of both jazz and modern electronica is a joy to witness live, (They performed at both SF Jazz and the Independant recently); happily, their new album captures those moments and more.

Released on the Nonesuch Record label, Taming the Dragon's origins were revealed, "Mehldau and Guiliana have been performing for several years, with Mehldau playing Fender Rhodes and synthesizers and Guiliana on drums and effects, as they are on the record. Mehliana comprises 12 original tunes—six written by the duo and six written by Mehldau—and was engineered and mixed by Greg Koller (Jon Brion, Kanye West). The vinyl edition of the album, due March 18, includes two 140-gram LPs pressed at Pallas MFG in Diepholz, Germany, and a CD of the album."

The reviews so far have been favorable: "Mehliana: Taming the Dragon is "astonishing," exclaims Jazzwise magazine, "one of the best albums of 2014." Mehliana earned four stars from the Guardian and from MusicOMH, which calls the album "wholly absorbing, as Mehldau’s playfulness and Guiliana’s taut, interwoven grooves create an inescapable tension. Pieces such as the delightful, slow building 'Hungry Ghost even seem to draw from the approaches of post rock acts such as Sigur Rós or Tortoise." The album, concludes MusicOMH reviewer Daniel Paton, offers "an intuitive, compelling dialogue between the two musicians, and between the musicians and their machines..." "Ranging from lush dreamscapes to febrile urban funk workouts," says MOJO, "the album resonates like an imaginary '80s film score..."

Having seen and heard Mehliana both live and online, I was extremely pleased to see some of my favorite pieces from those live performances appear on the album; the haunting "Elegy for Amelia Earhardt"; "London Gloaming", (Mehldau would often quote John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" live on this tune); the rollicking "Sassyassed Sassafrass", "Just call me Nige", and "Sleeping Giant"; "Swimming", a great tune where Guiliana is in his percussive element; and perhaps my favorite, "Hungry Ghost", a beautifully eerie vamp that both grooves you and rattles your chains. Those tunes were incredible live and sound simply fantastic on this recording.

There are other interesting tunes on the album as well; "Taming the Dragon", the spoken word piece title piece, conjured memories of Adrian Belew's dialogue in King Crimson's "Thela Hun Jingeet"; and "Luxe", a pierce borne from an improvisational idea right before their performance in Luxenbourg.

I have been a huge fan of the great keyboard and drum duo's; from the world music of the late, great Joe Zawinul and Trilok Gurtu; Patrick Moraz and Bill Bruford, (who incidentally considered Guiliana one of the most refreshing drummers he'd heard in years); and Marco Benevento and Joe Russo's "Duo". Mehliana is the real deal, and "Taming the Dragon" is a worthy addition to the pantheon of those previous men.