Music Influences

I grew up in a Detroit suburb in the 1960’s & listened to different styles of music including rock, blues, jazz, R&B & Motown. Here’s a few of my favorite musicians & bands that have influenced or inspired me.

The Beatles
Jimi Hendrix
Chick Corea
Pink Floyd
Frank Zappa
Tony Williams
Thelonious Monk
Weather Report
Varese
Steeley Dan
Led Zepplin
Charlie Parker
Brand-X
Larry Carlton
Jeff Beck
Allan Holldsworth
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Adrian Belew
Miles Davis
The Who
Joe Pass
SRC
MC5

R.I.P. Joe Zawinul

Legendary jazz & fusion keyboardist, writer & musician Joe Zawinul died from cancer in Vienna on Tuesday, September 11.

“Joe Zawinul is one of my oldest friends in the music business. He was a force as a composer and an amazing conceptualizer. He opened up a doorway between jazz and rock n’ roll and was a major influence on Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and me. The world has never been the same since he made his contribution to our society.” Herbie Hancock 

http://www.zawinulmusic.com/

Hidden Symmetry Video

Here’s a video using an instrumental song I wrote a few years ago questioning faith, religion, ethics & spirituality through simple imagery.

 

The Thumb

Here’s vid of one of my favorite guitarist’s Wes Montgomery (aka ‘The Thumb’ because of his picking technique.) Filmed in Belgium in 1965 the jazz quartet performs John Coltrane’s  Impressions.

 Wes Montgomery is often considered the greatest of modern Jazz guitarists. Following the early work of swing/pre-bop guitarist Charlie Christian and gypsy-jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, Wes arguably put guitar on the map as a bebop or post-bop instrument. Although Johnny Smith was the guitarist in the original New York Bebop scene, and Tal Farlow also made amazing contributions in the 1950′s to bebop guitar, each of these men curtailed their own output in the 1960s, creating a vacuum that Montgomery naturally filled with virtuousic playing. While many Jazz players are regarded as virtuosos, Montgomery was unique in his wide influence on other virtouosos who followed him, and in the respect he earned from his contemporaries. To many, Montgomery’s playing defines jazz guitar and the sound that many try to emulate. It is hard to argue there was a more influential Jazz guitarist than Wes Montgomery.

[Courtesy Wikipedia]

Max Roach Dies At 83

 - Max Roach, the master jazz drummer/ percussionist whose rhythmic innovations and improvisations defined bebop jazz during a wide-ranging career where he collaborated with artists from Duke Ellington to rapper Fab Five Freddy, has died after a long illness. He was 83.  (from ap)

Les Paul PBS Wed. July 11

Just a reminder that PBS/ American Masters will be airing Les Paul: CHASING SOUND on Wed. July 11 at 9:00 ET

In case some of you don’t know he’s the musician/ inventor/ legend who invented mult-track recording & the famous solid body electric ’Les Paul’ guitar.  He was also an incredible guitarist & entertainer in his own right working with the top people in the industry later forming the legandary duo with  Mary Ford.  She teamed with Paul in 1946,  married in 1949 & had 16 top ten hits in the early 1950′s .

  Now retired but very much active at age 92 he still plays at the Indium jazz club in New York City-amazing!

 Here’s some website links:

PBS Show info/ listings:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/paul_l_stub.html

Gibson Guitar Co. Website:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Divisions/Gibson%20USA/Guitars/LesPaul/

Les Paul Online:

http://www.lespaulonline.com/

YouTube video: performing ‘CARAVAN’ live, 1976.

New Ella Fitzgerald Tribute Release

‘We All Love Ella: Celebrating The First Lady Of Song’: Released June 5th on the Verve label.

‘A Tisket A Tasket,’ Natalie Cole

‘Lullaby of Birdland,’ Chaka Khan

‘The Lady is a Tramp,’ Queen Latifah

‘Dream a Little Dream of Me,’ Diana Krall and Hank Jones

‘Mr. Paganini,’ Natalie Cole and Chaka Khan

‘Oh, Lady Be Good,’ Dianne Reeves

‘Reaching for the Moon,’ Lizz Wright

‘Blues in the Night,’ Ledesi

‘Miss Otis Regrets,’ Linda Ronstadt

‘Someone to Watch Over Me,’ Gladys Knight

‘Do Nothin` Till You Hear From Me,’ Etta James

‘Angel Eyes,’ k.d. lang

‘Too Close for Comfort,’ Michael Buble

More info plus check out the EPK video at-

http://www.ellaonverve.com/

1957 Les Paul Left Handed

  From an auction in East Dennis, Mass. , 1957 Left Handed Les Paul Custom. It was one of 383 produced & very few were left handed. A New York dealer had the highest bid of $247,000.

IT WAS FORTY YEARS AGO TODAY…

 -my jean jacket patch from 1968

Forty years ago today The Beatles released  “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in my opinion the most influential album of all time.

 I was 8 years old & remember playing it for the first time upstairs in my garage cranked on my sister’s Sears stereo! The definitive ‘concept ‘ lp & one of my favorites of all time. -c

 

My Epiphone Casino ‘John Lennon’ model

Scarce Parlophone Mono Release

check the official site: http://beatles.com/sgtpepper/

John Coltrane’s Giant Steps

Here’s 2 versions of John Coltrane’s jazz classic ‘Giant Steps’. One a video featuring a robot & the 2nd by 17 year old drummer Charles Morais.

(…cool from a mechanical point of view but proves why certain forms of music needs the human element - soul cannot always be duplicated by machine.)

Here’s the link to the collab;  an unfinished version featuring Charles Morais SR. on keyboards, Charles Morais Jr. on drums, Jerry Brooks on bass, Roger Byem on soprano and alto sax & myself on guitars.  Giant Steps Mp3 by Charles Morais

:: John Coltrane was known for coming into the studio with unrehearsed songs – “Giant Steps” was no exception. On the original recording, Tommy Flanagan (piano) is heard playing a very choppy start-stop solo, which is a stark reminder of how difficult it can be to play over the root movement by 3rd changes of “Giant Steps.” In addition, the original recording of “Countdown” (considered by many prominent jazz musicians to be one of the toughest charts) begins with just Coltrane and Lex Humphries (drums) playing. The other musicians couldn’t keep up with the changes to the chart, but finally caught on in the end.
Later on in his career Tommy Flanagan recorded Giant Steps again having better prepared to play a coherent solo.

-courtesy Wikipedia®