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Electro Music Festival

I had the good fortune to spend the better part of yesterday at the Electro Music Festival in Hugenot NY. This yearly meet up of electronic music enthusiasts featured some stellar performances, demos, workshops, jam sessions & more. I wasn't planning on performing, but I got coerced into joining the "laptop battle" - which I apparently won. It was like a grown up summer camp for synth geeks. I fit right in. Here are some pix.

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Pay it Forward day: Old Chickering heads out to its new home in New Paltz. :)

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Trip Wamsley tracking bass at Annaran. Certain awesomeness. :)

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Grown men of music: Allen Wentz & Trip Wamsley, together at last.

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A gift from the Universe

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Things like this don't happen that often so when they do I tend to sit up & take notice, and this time in particular I give thanks to the Muses. An old friend and an unforeseen set if circumstances has led to a most fortunate series of events, the end result being that I was asked to store a Yamaha C7 Grand Piano. Needless to say I was ecstatic. The piano was delivered at 8 am this morning - before I'd even had my coffee! I promise some video later this week, but for now I leave you with these photos of the instrument being delivered. I hear by give THANKS to the energies involved and promise to honor this most relevant of gifts. :)

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12:21 in Boston

A long standing dream kinda comes true....

Here's the story: 

The week of April 2nd, I had what seemed to me to be an amazing opportunity - to do a gig with one of those musicians I spent serious time listening to as a teen/20 something. That musician was - and is - Tony "Thunder" Smith, who worked with both the Jan Hammer Group and John McLaughln's One Truth Band. Tony's an amzing drummer, navagating time signatures like 21/16, 14/8 etc with ease, while laying it down in the pocket like nobody's business. Plus, he sings his ass off. He's been touring and performng with rock legend Lou Reed since 1995.

I first met Tony in Boston, where he lives and teaches (at Berklee College of Music). I was performing with Gregg Bendian's Mahavishnu Project; he came to the show, and Gregg introduced us. On my next trip to Boston (for Splash, an MIT Program for High School kids my daughter was doing) I contacted Tony and suggested we get together and "have a little play". We did jam in Tony's basement studio, and that ended up being great fun indeed. We stayed in touch, and about a year later Tony called to say he wanted to record and do a show at Berklee. After much logistical jiggery pokery dates were worked out. Tony asked me to suggest a bassist (of which I did several; Tony decided to go with Peter Brendler); tunes were selected (mostly Jan Hammer Group stuff). Tony chose the name "12:21 Project" for various reasons (including the fact that one of the tunes is called "Twenty One").

I arrived in Boston tuesday afternoon and we set up in Tony's studio and began to rehearse. Peter arrived tuesday evening and joined us. We pretty much rehearsed all day & night wednesday and all day thursday, stopping in the afternoon to break down and head to the Berklee Performance Center where we were scheduled to perform. Tony also called two friends of his from Berklee - guitarist Thaddeus Hogarth and percussionist Ricardo Monzon, both stellar players. And perform we did! Thaddeus & I, along with Tony's daughter Isabel, sang background vocals.

I daresay we did not rehearse enough - (especially the heavy tunes) - but overall the show went quite well and was terrific fun. We played all the killer Jan Hammer stuff from the "Oh Yeah" disc and some of the vocal material from "Melodies" (the JHG's second disc.) Tho Peter & I had both brought originals we didn't quite make it the that point. It was also streamed live on the web; I know there were a couple of y'all watching!  And it was recorded both in audio & video. I've got the audio files and will post them to soundcloud when I get a chance.

The other thrill for me was to be at Berklee, that infamous place that has played host to so many amazing people. Just walking around the halls and the neighborhood was exciting for this NYC boy.

Here's some pix I took during the course of the 3 days. Enjoy.

 - Thanks for reading!

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At the Waters 's Edge by DIA Beacon; headshots with photographer Peter Salo.

Taken at Dia:Beacon

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Been slowly reading this for weeks. :)

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Mastering the Solo Piano cd with Silas Brown. Eeee!!!!!

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Enjoying the last few days of my winter break with cats & fire.

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A letter from John McLaughlin

Guitarist John McLaughlin - that amazing guitarist, founder of Mahavishnu & Shakti - recently turned 70. A little Facebook page was set up, called "Happy Birthday John McLaughlin". I took the time to write him a note. So did a lot of other folks... And he wrote back to all of us. I feel this is worth sharing, because it peaks about the porwer of Love, Music, and our connections with eachother. 

Namaste'.

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM JOHN: Dearest friends. Today I wish to write to all of you who have written to me, or written on Facebook to celebrate my 70th birthday. By the time one gets to be 70 years old, you are supposed to have learned something about life, and today, I'd like to write a few words on the arrival of my 70th birthday which I celebrated in Mumbai India. My life is a continuous miracle: That I am. There is another miracle, that the Infinite Universe also, is.There is yet another miracle: That we are given the most marvelous gift of love: That we have this capacity to love and be loved. Sometimes I am in awe of love, for it seems to me that love is Infinite and Cosmic in origin, and since love can only be experienced here and now, to love, is to live in the infinite here and now. This is what all the sages of old have recommended as a cure for everything!

And then there is music: what we all love, there's that word again, and in reality this is what brings all of us together. I am humbled and thrilled at the same time, by the numerous messages from you to celebrate my birthday, and without doubt, it is the work of music. 

This has to be yet another kind of miracle: That we can make bumps and scrapes, booms, bangs, oohs and aahs, twangs and grinds, and out comes beauty........ And we all love this improbable beauty that comes out of all of these sounds, and that it can be so surprising, so different, and at the same time, so right. Music has this power to speak directly to the depths of our souls, and reminds us that this is where we all belong, and that in music as in love, we truly are one.

With Love and Blessings to all, john

  track: "Power Of Love" from the album "Apocolypse" by the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

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There always seems to be a fantastic selection of books passing thru our house. :)

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Official site: The Adventures of Unemployed Man

via unemployedman.com

Just read this book. I'm tempted to go buy 10,000 copies to give to EVERYONE. Really great storytelling -  the story being the current financial clime here in the good ol' US of A. HIGHLY recommended. :)

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Friday Night Live. Ish.

It's another Friday Night here in Newburgh, the land of old forgotten homes...

Not all of them are forgotten of course. Some folk have done, and are still doing, beautiful amazing things fixing up these homes. Inspiring. Someday perhaps a photo study will be in order! Meanwhile, if you're interested check out the Newburgh Restoration blog.

We've lived in our 1920's era house for 12 1/2 years. The one thing I've learned about working on these places is that you need either Time, or Money, or Both. Sadly, I have niether... but sometimes things just need to be done, and we make do.

For our friday night this week, my wife & I took down another piece of our crumbling 90 year old plaster ceiling (leaving a big hole for all the lovely cold air to get in). We covered with plastic for now; we'll have to get someone in to sheet rock it as I am inept in such things. Frankly, its bad condition had me worried it was going to fall & hurt someone. A big plaster chunk fell out of our kitchen ceiling 2 years ago. If my wife had been standing there she would have been seriously injured. All of the ceilings in our house are damaged from water, primarily because we have a flat roof. Another thing I've learned: don't buy a house with a flat roof. If you do, be prepared to deal with it. Here's a Pic:

So remember folks, older homes are awesome - if you've got the wherewithall to dive and and fix stuff. Honestly, not my forte. Trying to adapt.

More music coming soon, promise! :)

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Just Puttin' It Out There

I've been in this biz of music for a really long time now. I've worked with some great peeps, played in a few different countries, and developed my sound and style into a very individual approach.Some of those absolutely amazing folk I've got to work with include Tony Smith, Steve Lawson, Gregg Bendian, Zack Brock, Bob Meyer, Thierry Arpino, Francis Benitas, Charlie Kniceley, Steve Rust, Dean Sharp, Todd isler, Erik Lawrence, Fred Jacobs, Jim Cammack, Nadav Zelniker, Robert Kopec, & Ryan Ball - to name a few. (I'm not going to post a list of everyone I've ever worked with; it would be 20 pages long and only be meaningful to me.) I have met gobs of Great Players on the interwebz - from all over the globe -  and these new friendships include the very real possibility of doing work together as time & tide allow.

But I've yet to work with - or even meet - practically any of the people I count as influences, people who have influenced or been significant to my musical developement. There's something in me that feels like I NEED to connect with these folk on some level, even just to thanks them. Some of them are gone already (like Tony Williams); life on earth is a finite affair. Perhaps I am looking for some kind of validation for a musical life spent in the trenches... In any case, I'm putting this out there.

Today I am putting forth this (partial) list of the musicians (whom I am aware of) with whom I desire to befriend, record and/or perform. (I remain open to those I am not yet aware of.)

Wayne Shorter

John Scofield

John McLaughlin

Jack Dejohnette

Ray Gomez

Billy Cobham

Jan Hammer

Jerry Goodman

Allen Holdsworth

Victor Bailey

Dennis Chambers

Omar Hakim

Pat Metheny

Dave Holland

Chick Corea

Herbie Hancock

Brian Eno

Christian McBride

Vernon Reid

DJ Logic

Joni Mitchell

Squarepusher

Beck

Jeff Beck

Victor Wooten

Imogen Heap

Bjork

David Bowie

Jan Garberek 

Bill Frisell

Stevie Wonder

Robert Fripp

Ralph Towner

Adrian Belew

Paco Serry

Richard Bona

Vinnie Coliuta

Narada Michael Walden

Carlos Santana

David Byrne

Marc Johnson

Eddie Gomez

Joe Satriani

Peter Erskine

Terry Bozio

Jon Chrisitanson

Stanley Clarke

Richard Thompson

Peter Gabriel

Scott Henderson

Trilok Gurtu

Charlie Haden

Medeski Martin & Wood

Eberhard Weber

Zakir Hussain

Mark Egan

Jon Christianson

Kermit Driscoll

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Father/Daughter museum tour: MoMA

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My daughter is rather brilliant; or as the English say, "clever". So when she suggested we spend more time together, the idea of a museum tour came up almost immediately. Here's a few pix from our trip to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

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Morning: coffee + AIFF

Last night I did something - finally did something - that I had begun to think might not actually happen: I mixed a solo piano record. The fact that I had the guts to even record in the first place is amazing enough to me. I had set very high technical standards for myself as a keyboard player, of which the piano undoubtedly plays a big part. But piano by itself? I had to fundamentally change the way I thought about doing this, and treat it more as a very individual personal kind of thing - abandoning the idea of technical perfection in favor of musicality. Having wrapped my head around that, I got myself in front of a piano with some good mics for 2 days back in January. My schedule has been so nuts I was starting to think I was never going to finish this long long overdue project. Bit here we are: morning coffee and mix files. It's what's for breakfast. Look for a release... well, sometime relatively soon. No need to rush things!