Monthly Archives: May 2016

I met Joe Fajen back in the mid-90s when we were both living in the bay area. I met him through our mutual friend Linton Hale. Linton, Joe and I played together in various musical projects around this time. When I first started working on this album, an important part of my vision was to have no drum kit on the record. I started recording numerous rhythm tracks with Linton and Joe on duel Djembe’s.  These tracks became the rhythmic “bedrock” of many of the tunes on the record. Joe also played tablas on “Flesh of the Land” and “Shadow” as well as a trombone track on “Beast”.

Currently, Joe is best known in the local Nevada County music scene as the trombonist for The Earles of Newtown. The Earles play an infectious brand of Americana music they describe as “Swingin Dixie”. In this band Joe plays Dixieland inspired improvisations which interweave with improvisations from the trumpet and reed players.

Joe is also an accomplished tabla player who has studied Indian classical music for years. He has performed on tablas in both traditional and non traditional settings with many fine artists including Matthew Montfort (Ancient Future), Ludi Hinrich’s Chicken Bones, Simirit, and Pandit Binary Pathak.

I have the great fortune of playing with Joe currently in both of my current bands, Tumble and Robert Heirendt’s Sea Creatures. He is a dear friend and brilliantly sensitive musician!

I met Bill Douglass shortly after moving to Nevada County in 2002. Upon hearing him play the bass, I was immediately impressed by his beautiful tone and lyrical approach to his instrument. I was equally impressed with his bamboo flute playing and his open ended approach to music and creativity.  After hearing him play in several diverse contexts and getting to hang with him for a bit, I asked him if he if I might record him for a track on my album. He played on “Down to Earth”. I feel very lucky to have his beautiful playing grace my record!

Bill has played through the years with many musicians I greatly admire. In the 70s, he played in an absolutely “mind blowing” band led by pianist/composer Art Lande called Rubisa Patrol. Mark Isham also played in this band. They recorded two amazing albums for ECM records.

He has recorded with Tom Waits and has played in an amazing band with Paul McCandless called Hemispheres.

He currently co-runs a great local music education program called Sierra Jazz Society with his lovely wife and flutist Nora Nausbaum. They run an annual summer jazz camp where musicians of all ages can benefit from an expert and open spirited instruction in the fine art of music improvisation. I am currently fortunate enough to play with Bill regularly in both of my bands Tumble and Robert Heirendt’s Sea Creatures. I am really happy to have his as a friend and musical collaborator!

Check out his website below:

sierrajazzsociety.com

One of my favorite albums of all time is Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew”. Throughout the whole album you hear Bennie Maupin’s haunting bass clarinet parts improvising around the edges and holes in the sound. When I first got heavily into this album is when I truly fell in LOVE with the bass clarinet!

A few years back, I was doing some sessions with recording engineer Karen Stackpole and talking to her about my desire to bring some improvisational bass clarinet tracks into my album.  She recommended Cornelius Boots to me. I discovered that Cornelius was the mastermind behind an inventive bass clarinet quartet called Edmond Welles. I listened to their stuff – so hard to categorize – equal parts new chamber music, heavy metal (the overtones of the instrument lend themselves so well to open 5ths!), jazz … I was sold. I contacted him and made arrangements to record him.

He ended up playing a solo on “Turtle” and an improvisation duo with bansuri (played by my good friend Linton Hale) on “Flesh of the Land”. Linton and Cornelius had never played together at that point, but their interlocking improvisations they created together was quite beautiful! Cornelius was such a pleasure to work with and he laid down some great tracks!

During these sessions, I also discovered that Cornelius played the Shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute). I recently ran into him and discovered that he now plays Shakuhachi exclusively. He performs/records Shakuhachi solo and also plays in an incredible Shakuhachi/gongs ensemble with my friend Karen Stackpole called Sabbiticus Rex.  Cornelius describes Sabbiticus Rex as an ensemble rooted in “the supremacy of sound over music – primordial easy-listening for dinosaurs: slowly shifting elemental improvisations from fat flutes and huge gongs, completely acoustic”.

Check out his website below:

http://www.corneliusboots.com/

Myles Boisen is a guitarist, composer, and recording/ mastering engineer. He owns and operates Guerilla Recording and Headless Buddha mastering lab in Oakland. He has recorded with Tom Waits, Fred Frith and John Zorn – all artists  for whom I have a high level of admiration and respect.

In the spring of 2000, I was working on a recording for a compilation album and did some sessions at Myles’ studio. I recognized him from having seen him perform with Splatter Trio and Club Foot Orchestra. I was impressed with his creative playing, great tone and overall esthetic. During my that first session, he mentioned to me that he was a fan of Zimbabwean pop singer Thomas Mapfumo. I remembered this when I was looking for a guitarist to give my track “Beast” some groove and attitude. He was fun to work with and I really enjoy his parts on this track.

http://www.mylesboisen.com/

I first met Arjuna when I was living in a musical household in the bay area in the mid-90s. My roommates and I used to regularly host eclectic jam session gatherings. I was quite impressed with Arjuna’s masterful Tibetan style throat singing. He could get harmonics off of his voice that I had never heard before. He also had the largest selection of Tibetan singing bowls that I had ever seen. He later started an underground performance venue in Oakland called Tuva which became a mainstay for the East Bay experimental music scene. He hosted many amazing and inspiring nights of music during the few years that Tuva was happening.  Later, Arjuna began experimenting with creating his own unique sound produced by him performing throat-singing through a Tibetan long horn. This unique and rich sound is featured prominently on his beautiful recording “Humwichawa”.

When my friend Scott Weiser and I were working on our collaborative recording of “Splatter Puddle”, we were looking for organic sources of ambience. So Scott and I took my portable recording gear out to Tuva and recorded Arjuna playing his amazing singing bowls on this track.

Arjuna eventually moved out to Joshua Tree where he continues to compose and record his fine compositions and soundscapes.

Check out his website below:

https://harmonicfuzion.wordpress.com/bio/

In the process of working on my album through the years. I have been blessed with the chance to work with many wonderful musical friends and collaborators. This Blog series is shout out to these great artists and their interesting work.

Sikiru Adepoju is a master drummer from Nigeria. He plays the dundun – more commonly known as the “talking drum”. I first saw him perform in the late 90s as part of Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum. I was immediately mesmerized by his masterful playing. His sound and groove truly transported my mind!

Sikiru came to the US in 1985 to play with O.J. Ekemode’s Nigerian All-Stars, and three months later met legendary drummer and fellow Nigerian Babatunde Olatunji and began playing his “Drums of Passion” ensemble. Through Olatunji, he met Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. He has been an integral part of Mickey’s various projects since that time.

I was so thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to record Sikiru and include his tracks on my album! I will never forget that fall day in 2013 when my friend, recording engineer Karen Stackpole and I met with Sikiru at Expressions Studio in Emeryville for a session. He came in, and immediately encouraged Karen to start recording. He had never heard my tracks before – we just rolled the “tape”. He did one single take on my long instrumental track “Deeper”. This “1^st take” was perfect. Karen and I looked at each other astounded – thoroughly blown away!!  Like that … we were done… A true master!!

Check out Sikiru’s website below:

http://sikiru.com/

http://www.mickeyhart.net/

My band Robert Heirendt’s Sea Creatures recently performed at a house concert in Grass Valley. Here is our performance of If You Cry/The Wicked Messenger. I love playing with these guys!