Here's a small photo gallery of the Tony Williams Lifetime... some of these photos are actually from around the time of the 2nd record, Turn it Over, that add Jack Bruce on bass (so they weren't an organ trio anymore, but hey, if Jack Bruce wants to join your band, you'd be foolish not to let him!)....
Lifetime Gallery
Anyway, great band. More than great.
...I've recently discovered the OST (original soundtrack) to the Spongebob movie. What I have heard so far is really wonderful, Flaming Lips, Motorhead, Wilco, all doing commissioned works for the Sponger... I didn't see the movie but I am hoping to at some point.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Sunday... Slow day here at the house, and there is work to do but it likely won't get done. I found out that some folks are reading this blog, and noticing it doesn't get updated frequently enough. I usually only make an entry when there's news, and unfortunately not every day is newsworthy from a professional point of view. (I have made a concerted effort to not include alot of personal details with respect to family and friends, because I want cc.com to be about the music i'm making and the musicians it's made with. I'm not a big fan of "reality" TV or any other media, I think it's better that the public image I present is focused on my music and other professional activities, as opposed to clouding it with personal minutiae....)
Anyway, on the topic of work, I have recently found myself with a huge hole in my daytime schedule for the month of February. The last few days have been crisis-mode calls and emails to try and fill the gaps in my schedule. So far, it's OK. I've picked up enough stuff to replace a good portion of the work that was lost and also found a few nice days off to do family-stuff. Lemonade out of lemons...
As for 2005's creative project, I'm getting really close to my decision. I think I want to do an organ-trio project. FYI, "organ trio" is a term used to describe a band that where the basslines are provided by the keyboardist's left hand (or feet, on organ bass pedals), usually on a Hammond organ. Quite often it's drums,organ, guitar or drums, organ, saxophone. At any rate, it's a beautiful timbre. One of my favourite bands of all, Tony Williams' Lifetime, was an organ trio. The types of basslines organists usually play are quite sparse or very drone-like, which can open up a lot of space for the drums to use. I want to try my material (both instrumental "jazz" stuff and the more popsong stuff) in this format. I am not sure if I will sing or have other singers... Most likely the recording will be done as a trio instrumentally and then I'll deal with vocals as overdubs...
Who's gonna do it with me? I don't know yet. I've been listening to a bunch of John Abercrombie records on ECM that are his o-trio with Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum. They're absolutely awesome recordings of a great band that hasn't really worked in 5 or 6 years. On a whim I decided to contact Dan Wall via a letter to see if he would be interested in a recording project (why not start at the top right?). I don't know him at all, so this a true "cold call". The worst thing that happens is that he says no, ok. If he does, or if I can't afford him, there's some guys in Toronto that would be cool too (and if it took off, they'd probably be the live players in the band anyway). So, we'll see. If I don't get a response by the end of February, I'll move on. So, I'll spend February selecting and arranging material, .... and finding the money to do the project.
In recent gig news, we did a trio hit with Eric Boucher on Thursday and it was great. Eric's got a new keyboard which is a fantastic improvement from his old rig. He sounds really great, I hope we'll have another steady gig this summer... Friday night was Kevin Cooke's CD release and he got a respectable sized crowd and the band sounded good. All the things that didn't go so good are things a few more gigs would cure (not a few more rehearsals). At any rate, it was an honour to play in the band, it being comprised of so many stellar players at least 20 years my senior. Kevin is subbing for Mike Pelletier this Tuesday on a gig with Bruno and I and on 2.10 Kevin's guitarist David Patterson will hit with cc3.
This week our Thursday hit is with Paul Neufeld, who I just discovered is an big Kip Hanrahan fan... I never knew! So there ya go, that must be why we sound so good together.
Also, Ken Aldcroft (a Toronto guitarist and impresario of the Leftover Daylight free music concert series) contacted me about having cc+mo do one of his shows. I'd love to, the first date he offered we were both working, but he said he'll have a date in march or april for us. I hope Michael will be available...
Anyway, on the topic of work, I have recently found myself with a huge hole in my daytime schedule for the month of February. The last few days have been crisis-mode calls and emails to try and fill the gaps in my schedule. So far, it's OK. I've picked up enough stuff to replace a good portion of the work that was lost and also found a few nice days off to do family-stuff. Lemonade out of lemons...
As for 2005's creative project, I'm getting really close to my decision. I think I want to do an organ-trio project. FYI, "organ trio" is a term used to describe a band that where the basslines are provided by the keyboardist's left hand (or feet, on organ bass pedals), usually on a Hammond organ. Quite often it's drums,organ, guitar or drums, organ, saxophone. At any rate, it's a beautiful timbre. One of my favourite bands of all, Tony Williams' Lifetime, was an organ trio. The types of basslines organists usually play are quite sparse or very drone-like, which can open up a lot of space for the drums to use. I want to try my material (both instrumental "jazz" stuff and the more popsong stuff) in this format. I am not sure if I will sing or have other singers... Most likely the recording will be done as a trio instrumentally and then I'll deal with vocals as overdubs...
Who's gonna do it with me? I don't know yet. I've been listening to a bunch of John Abercrombie records on ECM that are his o-trio with Dan Wall and drummer Adam Nussbaum. They're absolutely awesome recordings of a great band that hasn't really worked in 5 or 6 years. On a whim I decided to contact Dan Wall via a letter to see if he would be interested in a recording project (why not start at the top right?). I don't know him at all, so this a true "cold call". The worst thing that happens is that he says no, ok. If he does, or if I can't afford him, there's some guys in Toronto that would be cool too (and if it took off, they'd probably be the live players in the band anyway). So, we'll see. If I don't get a response by the end of February, I'll move on. So, I'll spend February selecting and arranging material, .... and finding the money to do the project.
In recent gig news, we did a trio hit with Eric Boucher on Thursday and it was great. Eric's got a new keyboard which is a fantastic improvement from his old rig. He sounds really great, I hope we'll have another steady gig this summer... Friday night was Kevin Cooke's CD release and he got a respectable sized crowd and the band sounded good. All the things that didn't go so good are things a few more gigs would cure (not a few more rehearsals). At any rate, it was an honour to play in the band, it being comprised of so many stellar players at least 20 years my senior. Kevin is subbing for Mike Pelletier this Tuesday on a gig with Bruno and I and on 2.10 Kevin's guitarist David Patterson will hit with cc3.
This week our Thursday hit is with Paul Neufeld, who I just discovered is an big Kip Hanrahan fan... I never knew! So there ya go, that must be why we sound so good together.
Also, Ken Aldcroft (a Toronto guitarist and impresario of the Leftover Daylight free music concert series) contacted me about having cc+mo do one of his shows. I'd love to, the first date he offered we were both working, but he said he'll have a date in march or april for us. I hope Michael will be available...
Friday, January 21, 2005
let's try this again, with html:
Trio offers different twist each week
if it doesn't work, or take you directly to the article, click on ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT in the menu on the left side and scroll down...
I can't complain at all about the article, I think all of the quotes are generally accurate. The only thing that was somewhat misinterpreted is the comment about MO "leaving for another band...". Well, he's always been in other bands, we all are. :):):) In the interview I was saying how MO was the regular "3rd man" for the summer and fall and that we recently decided to start having different guests each week. Oh well, no harm done.
The gig last night, incidentally, went great. People are starting to come and listen, which is cool. The downside is they make requests, and you end up playing "Hotel California"... :) MO threw in a bunch of Stairway to Heaven quotes just to show that somebody "does remember laughter", as Robert Plant so often implored... :)
Last night also marked the 2nd gig in the last 6 months where Mike Pelletier's amp has caught fire. :) And each time it was a different amp! Perhaps Mike has become some sort of mystical shaman, and he forgot to tell us.
Trio offers different twist each week
if it doesn't work, or take you directly to the article, click on ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT in the menu on the left side and scroll down...
I can't complain at all about the article, I think all of the quotes are generally accurate. The only thing that was somewhat misinterpreted is the comment about MO "leaving for another band...". Well, he's always been in other bands, we all are. :):):) In the interview I was saying how MO was the regular "3rd man" for the summer and fall and that we recently decided to start having different guests each week. Oh well, no harm done.
The gig last night, incidentally, went great. People are starting to come and listen, which is cool. The downside is they make requests, and you end up playing "Hotel California"... :) MO threw in a bunch of Stairway to Heaven quotes just to show that somebody "does remember laughter", as Robert Plant so often implored... :)
Last night also marked the 2nd gig in the last 6 months where Mike Pelletier's amp has caught fire. :) And each time it was a different amp! Perhaps Mike has become some sort of mystical shaman, and he forgot to tell us.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Big day today:
9am - phone interview with the Burlington Post newspaper regarding the Thursday night house gig... we'll see how my ramblings are translated into text in Friday's issue...
10am - not a gig, but I did sing: "Baby Club" class with the family
12:30pm - haircut
3:00pm - sign digital distro agreement for my music (starting with "winter music") to be sold on download sites:
this is going to mean big changes to what's available for download on my site, but it is a good thing. the cost of putting up an album for download is about one tenth the cost to manufacture 300 CD copies. So, in theory, I should be able to make more music (i.e. "release" more albums). I'm quite excited about it. Apparently it's going to take a few weeks (and for some services, months) for my stuff to get uploaded and ready for sale, so if you don't find it at the first site you go to, please do shop around. If you can't find it anywhere, email me and let me know...
9am - phone interview with the Burlington Post newspaper regarding the Thursday night house gig... we'll see how my ramblings are translated into text in Friday's issue...
10am - not a gig, but I did sing: "Baby Club" class with the family
12:30pm - haircut
3:00pm - sign digital distro agreement for my music (starting with "winter music") to be sold on download sites:
this is going to mean big changes to what's available for download on my site, but it is a good thing. the cost of putting up an album for download is about one tenth the cost to manufacture 300 CD copies. So, in theory, I should be able to make more music (i.e. "release" more albums). I'm quite excited about it. Apparently it's going to take a few weeks (and for some services, months) for my stuff to get uploaded and ready for sale, so if you don't find it at the first site you go to, please do shop around. If you can't find it anywhere, email me and let me know...
Sunday, January 16, 2005
It's Sunday morning and I have a pile of new discs and a few DVDs to check out, including a bunch of ECM stuff, and the new Willie Nelson. a damn fine way to start the day...
cc3 picked up an extra gig feb1, but my usual bass suspects are not available, so I am hunting. this could be good; I could hire a player I've never hired before, the gig may go great, he/she may like my playing, and other gigs may result. it never hurts to widen one's sphere of musicians... stay tuned.
I'm just now starting to get past my unfamiliarity with the drumKAT (midi percussion controller). I'm now using it to interface with both REASON (a software sampler program) and Apple's GarageBand (a multi-track recording program). I've got a couple of projects that can be KATified in the spring (three dance pieces for the Pickering School of Ballet, and hopefully a larger project for the Martha Hicks School of Ballet in June), so that's good. Since I got the KAT in the summer, I've been worried I'd never actually use it, and should have spent the money on cymbals or something else acoustic...
cc3 picked up an extra gig feb1, but my usual bass suspects are not available, so I am hunting. this could be good; I could hire a player I've never hired before, the gig may go great, he/she may like my playing, and other gigs may result. it never hurts to widen one's sphere of musicians... stay tuned.
I'm just now starting to get past my unfamiliarity with the drumKAT (midi percussion controller). I'm now using it to interface with both REASON (a software sampler program) and Apple's GarageBand (a multi-track recording program). I've got a couple of projects that can be KATified in the spring (three dance pieces for the Pickering School of Ballet, and hopefully a larger project for the Martha Hicks School of Ballet in June), so that's good. Since I got the KAT in the summer, I've been worried I'd never actually use it, and should have spent the money on cymbals or something else acoustic...
Monday, January 10, 2005
the gig with Mike went great. It was fun to catch up too, as we don't see much of each other anymore (kids, gigs, etc.). Mike is a very fluid and masterful sight-reader so he nailed all of my charts (bjork's "isobel", beck's "paper tiger", etc.). Admittedly they're fairly simple songs, but sight-reading in the trio format (especially when the melody instrument is the one sight reading) and still making the tunes sound decent is a steep hill to climb. anyway, bravo! to mike. he'll be back in february...
bruno ierullo is up this week with cc3, and other than cc3 my month is quite quiet. At the end of the month I'm booked to play Kevin Cooke's showcase at the Winchester in Toronto. it's a big blues/r&b horn band (kevin plays bass and sings) and i nam supposed to play percussion, reprising my role on the CD. I'm only on a couple of cuts on the disc, so i am not sure how much playing I'll actually be doing. I think there's a rehearsal this week....
listening these days: bjork: I just bought her "live box"m a 4cd 1dvd set after downloading a few tracks of it illegally. I couldn't really hear it any other way before dropping the $60 it costs. HMV (the big recordstore chain here) will not accept returns unless the product is unopened, so downloading is still the only real viable way to get a taste of a record before buying.... I'm also (via downloading) re-educating myself about medeski, martin and wood. I was into them more than ten years ago (and even got a chance to meet them a few times through mutual acquaintances) but my focus on them strayed as they got int more dj-stuff and less three-way improv. Now I'm thinking that may have been a mutual phase, because I'm really liking what I am hearing, the two ends (dj-vibe and improv) are balanced nicely. I've always like Billy Martin's drumming too...
bruno ierullo is up this week with cc3, and other than cc3 my month is quite quiet. At the end of the month I'm booked to play Kevin Cooke's showcase at the Winchester in Toronto. it's a big blues/r&b horn band (kevin plays bass and sings) and i nam supposed to play percussion, reprising my role on the CD. I'm only on a couple of cuts on the disc, so i am not sure how much playing I'll actually be doing. I think there's a rehearsal this week....
listening these days: bjork: I just bought her "live box"m a 4cd 1dvd set after downloading a few tracks of it illegally. I couldn't really hear it any other way before dropping the $60 it costs. HMV (the big recordstore chain here) will not accept returns unless the product is unopened, so downloading is still the only real viable way to get a taste of a record before buying.... I'm also (via downloading) re-educating myself about medeski, martin and wood. I was into them more than ten years ago (and even got a chance to meet them a few times through mutual acquaintances) but my focus on them strayed as they got int more dj-stuff and less three-way improv. Now I'm thinking that may have been a mutual phase, because I'm really liking what I am hearing, the two ends (dj-vibe and improv) are balanced nicely. I've always like Billy Martin's drumming too...
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Ok, the 2004 Year-In-Review is finished! Go check it out at the homepage, there's some video that is brand-new included in it. So, with that, I've closed the book on 2004 and am now figuring out 2005. cc3 is playing tonight with Mike Bowell on guitar, which I am really looking forward to. Mike and have played together since we were teenagers, and he's quite simply one of the finest players around. Mike and I toured with my bands HEARSAY and Relax with Trudy, and also spent our fair-share of time on the road catching Aquarium Rescue Unit shows, which were all mind-blowing.
Anyway, it's gonna be fun. I've written a chart for the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??", I think we'll play it as a bossa nova...
here's me and Mike in the old days: HEARSAY (a great band, I miss it)
(l to r): cc, jeff simard, mike bowell, darryl huggins, attila baraczka
Anyway, it's gonna be fun. I've written a chart for the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??", I think we'll play it as a bossa nova...
here's me and Mike in the old days: HEARSAY (a great band, I miss it)
(l to r): cc, jeff simard, mike bowell, darryl huggins, attila baraczka
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