Last month I spent 17 days on the road with Polyrhythmics, having played 13 shows, and on 11 of those shows we shared the stage with the band Ghost Note. Although the road is always thought-provoking and eventful (in addition to a lot of work), it’s the sharing of the stage that’s prompting this post. […]
Category: Listening
Ghost Note Tour
Transcription
Hi all! I think a lot of you have already seen me post this clip elsewhere, but I thought I would put it up here as well. I would like to get more in the habit of posting video of what I’m playing/working on; just short informal bits, nothing too intense. This is the […]
Austin Impressions
For my next post, I had planned on asking John Speice, a prolific and very active musician on the scene in Austin, Texas, to do an interview. Several of the projects Speice is involved in, including Brownout, Grupo Fantasma, Ocote Soul Sounds, and Money Chicha, have been essential music in the Polyrhythmics van for […]
Talking with Colton Thomas
Colton and Booker T, July 2017 I first met Colton Thomas in Roseburg, Oregon last 4th of July. Polyrhythmics had the amazing opportunity to open for Booker T at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, and Colton, who lives in the area, was there for the show. Colton does A&R work for Transistor Sound, a record label […]
Updates/Listening to the London Scene
Hi all! It’s been an eventful Summer: – Polyrhythmics played across the region, including the Eclipse Festival and the High Sierra Music Festival, where I had the opportunity to share the stage with both Skerik (who I talked with on the blog here) and Karl Denson, a musical highlight for me. We added the finishing […]
Lesson/Interview with Skerik
I’m listening back to a recording of 2 hours I spent talking with Skerik, one of the saxophonists playing today that I really look up to and find inspiring for a multitude of reasons. Skerik is an example of a musician that, to me, has developed a truly individual style while at the same playing […]
James Booker, Stones Throw Records, Muscle Shoals
Hi everyone! I recently went through a good run of music-related documentaries that I would highly recommend: Bayou Maharaja – This doc is about James Booker, a New Orleans pianist and entertainer that was active primarily in the 70’s. Although he made several European tours and played with many of the era’s great musicians, Booker […]
Updates/Podcasts
Hi all, I cleaned a bit of the Links page, adding websites for Ben Bloom, Westsound Recording, and Blue Mallard Studios, who I thank for the killer sounds on the most recent Polys 45. I also deleted old links and updated the link to Ethan Iverson’s blog, which I have rediscovered recently and am once […]
Jaco
I recently had the opportunity to watch Jaco, a 2015 documentary about Jaco Pastorius, and I cannot recommend it enough. I remember the summer after I graduated high school I was working at my dad’s law firm, like I always did in the summers, and one of my coworkers, a bass player, introduced me […]
Possibilities
The Polyrhythmics tour to New Orleans and the Southeast, from Kentucky (or, as some call it, Kenpucky,) to Florida to North Carolina and beyond went relatively smoothly, with many new areas visited from both the band perspective and a personal perspective. I enjoyed the cultures and people in the South so very much, and loved […]