The Art of Slap Bass

Master musician and perhaps one of the greatest bass players in the history of the world, Marcus Miller absolutely slaps the crap out of Jaco's Teen Town.  Amazing stuff really.  This guy is fantastic live. Catch him if you are lucky enough to find him coming through your area.

Swingin' on the Highway to Hell

Here's a very cool big band arrangement cover of AC/DC's iconic Highway to Hell by the German band Jazzkantine.  Again, it reaffirms my belief that you can swing almost any song and make it sound good.

Crazy Little Thing Called "Lounge"

Here's a nice cover of the Queen song "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Torsten Goods, a German jazz guitarist. I have to say - I like his arrangement of this cover. A bit of lounge-ified with some Elvis thrown in for good measure, although the Queen version had a lot of "Elvis" in it to begin with. Great stuff! This guy has a terrific jazz sound.

Also like the black and white with superimposed color, especially the shoes, jacket and the guitar. Very stylish. Love the color of his guitar. Is that a Rhapsody in Blue quote at the end? I believe so.

Connecticut (Randy Goodenough)

Here's another collaboration/experiment I did with the fine singer and songwriter Randy Goodenough. I added the strings sounds to this recording and remastered it slightly. I really like Randy's stuff - he's a great lyricist and I plan to do some other collaborations with him in the near future.

 

EWI Funk!

Here's a song I recorded when I received my EWI4000s that I purchased from Patchman Music. It is set to EVI fingering.  It's pretty easy to switch to this instrument from EVI but I prefer the EVI octave mechanism. Still, in a pinch, I could gig with this instrument.

Lounge as an Art Form

I am actually a big fan of lounge music.  It has a combination of things I like: good musicians, humor and great arrangements.  You can't really beat that as a triple play.  One of the best loungers in the business is Richard Cheese, who will fearlessly take on almost any song and "loungify" it.

Here's a nice arrangement of a Pussycat Dolls song where he even does impressions. Amazing stuff.

Great Music Need Not Be Serious - Just Entertaining

A friend who plays guitar recently caught up with me after many years and filled me in on a new band he is playing with.  He is one of those rare musicians that has what many musicians lack - a sense humor!  He knows the value of entertainment vs. pure art, and that puts him way ahead in my book.

Here a a video of one of his latest projects. I appreciate the nostalgic lounge angle here combined with the humor. These guys look like they are having fun on stage - and that is half the battle. Very interesting to watch.  Good stuff! Go catch these guys in the area if you get the chance.