Kaas

Last night at the Oyster House we had the final Cheese Night hosted by Big Johnny and me; he’s moving to Colorado soon, and this was an incredible send-off! The big man featured his regular favorites: an aged Provolone, delicious Salami and Prosciutto, fresh Ricotta and a wonderful selection of olives. I brought Dutch cheese, a 1000 day old, a ‘gras-kaas’ which Trader Joe’s calls ‘meadow cheese’ as in ‘it was still grass 2 months ago’, and Old Amsterdam, in addition to a nice aged New Zealand Cheddar from grass fed cows. Jeff brought a younger Cheddar with caramelized onions, a splendid Brie and the same some assorted cold cuts. We had 3 kinds of bread, Irish butter, crackers and even more cheeses that didn’t even get opened…….boy, life is good!

Paid rehearsal

I’ll never forget the first time I got paid for a rehearsal! Many moons ago, within a year of moving to L.A., and having met quite a few pro musicians at a late night Jam every Friday and Saturday night at a place called “56 West” on Melrose, I was asked to sub for another bassist who got sick. Marc Hugenberger invited me to come down to 3rd Encore for a practice with this artist, and I was already ecstatic about the fact that they had a bass amp for me there and all I had to bring was my bass. The band was KILLER, the studio just as amazing and when the rehearsal was over, they asked me what I needed to make! I was flabbergasted! So much fun AND you’re gonna give me money?

This is the problem with making music your profession: it’s just too much fun, so it doesn’t seem like work. Of course, your landlord doesn’t care about that, and demands cold hard cash! There are only so many hours in a day and if you’re not careful, all you do is rehearse every day of the week, never making a penny, other than the measly $50 or $100 on weekend gigs. When you get higher up on the ladder of session guys in L.A., there’s more money to go around. Even people who are financing their own shows, should pay you for rehearsals. When folks get married, they don’t expect a hotel to give them the ballroom for free to practice the ceremony, do they? Whenever you make a deal to do a showcase, make sure you specify how much the gig pays, and separately what you need to make per rehearsal. Especially if you’re good, and are prepared so you can nail the tunes in one, extra ones are for the artist’s sake, so it should cost him or her. The pleasant side effect is, that you will start moving in far more professional and thus efficient circles. When guys are getting paid, they are expected to BE ON TIME, be prepared. Everybody wins…..

Coming to a DAC near you….

Getting excited now! I just wrote out a brand new tune, tentatively called “Blue Son Herb”; strange name, but there the Herb actually stands for Herbie Hancock. The whole thing is based on a piano voicing for a Minor 11th chord which he made famous really. I’ve used it before like in the intro for “The Pursuit” on the last record, but this new tune takes it to the next level! We’re going to record it on Monday at my dear friend Mouse Johnson’s place, with none other than Cris Coleman on drums, Ronnie Gutierrez on percussion and Andy Langham on piano. Played LIVE with no click track! Of course I’m gonna do my thing with it later, and I have big plans with orchestration on this record, with all kinds of instruments, real and virtual. We’ll also be doing “Song For Buster”, a tune I wrote for Ronnie’s old Pooch.

Next Friday, Jonathan Dresel is up, again with mr. Gutierrez on percussion. Hopefully we’ll have Jeff Babko for a reunion of the Pursuit sessions, but Mitch Forman is also an unbeatable option. I’d really love to get Rodney Lee on there too if time and budget permits….

Stay tuned!

Shogun Warrior

Went to see Shogun Warrior last night at the Baked Potato, and they were just awesome. The band consisted of Jeff Babko on Keys, Toss Panos on Drums, Mike Elizondo on Bass and John  Daversa on EVI and Trumpet.  They had a modest crowd for the first set, maybe 15 people, but for the second set, literally only 3 stayed. Now mind you, at the bar I was surrounded by some of the finest musicians: Joel Taylor, Travis Carlton etc. It still blows my mind that millions will watch some half-assed singing on a TV competition, but this group of master musicians barely show up on the radar. Their music is pretty awesome actually: very free and funky, long form jazz. I’ve been conjuring up what will be the next thing in Jazz, coming up with the term “Circus Jazz” and they would fit in there very well I realized!

When I first knew about Elizondo, he was a kid right out of college, just trying to make a few bucks. Highly regarded in town, he played upright and electric, working with all kinds of folks, including Don Randi and the BP house band. Over the years, he got more and more into production, and at some point started working with none other than the D R E, a straight G, Doctor Dre! A quick search on Allmusic shows that since, he has amassed quite a resume: producer credits on some of the biggest pop albums, from Snoop to Rihanna, compositions, bass for Christina Aguilera and the list goes on. This has nothing to do with luck: the guy is super musical and his bass playing last night was really awesome. No tricks and flashy shit like most guys at the Potato, but just awesome grooves and such a great ear. Pino Palladino would be proud!

Toss Panos I’ve know since going to Musicians Institute in 1992, where he was teaching. I had never heard of him before, and he was not on of the most talked about teachers, but I immediately was a fan. He’s got tremendous chops, but drumming is never a sport for him. It’s not easy to describe, but watching him play is like watching a dance: he is one with his drums and with big bold moves and tremendous groove he lifts any band to great heights.  To this day, I’ve never had the pleasure of doing a gig with him, but I found out last night he at least knows my name!

As far as Rhodes playing goes there are 3 guys in this town: Mitch Forman, Derron Johnson and Jeff Babko. They carry on the legacy of those funky 70s, the stuff that Herbie and George Duke started.  13 years ago, Jeff was the kid from CSUN who was kicking everyone’s ass, and I was lucky enough to get him to play my tunes for what later became my first CD.

Now it’s time to do another one and it looks like he’ll do a couple more tunes for me. I’m trying to do this live, like the first time, instead of the ridiculous, everyone at home, on at a time, to a click track, kind of recording so many people seem to have accepted as normal! It’s SO hard to get people together for something like that these days, even when you pay them. I guess if you throw big bucks around you have a better chance, but I’m working with a very modest budget here; trying to make ‘art’, with little chance of a large financial reward, although my goals are higher than playing for 3 people at the BP. Stay tuned….

The Robots Are Coming……

It was in the paper again today: personal robotics, the future. Some company has been working on an operating system for Robots, ROS, providing it to research institutions worldwide. The idea is, this was people don’t have to keep reinventing the same thing. We all work on a standard platform, instead focusing energy on the actual tasks this wonderful machine is going to perform. They predict a ‘Household Robot’ will be marketed within 10 years!

That’s it! The song I did with Michael Burton a while ago is going on the next record! Even though the checkout clerks at stores seem to have won a round against self-checkout robots, they are on their way; there’s no doubt about it. How many people are going to be vacuuming if their electromechanical buddy can do it for them? Mowing the lawn anyone? Laundry, dishwashing……..