Kora Band Album #2 On The Way…
Posted on | April 27, 2010 | No Comments
Well the Tunnel Six tour is nearly upon us, after almost a full year of planning! However, before that epic adventure begins to unfold itself, I’m really looking forward to going into the studio with my Kora Band to make our second album! Just 4 U was a good one, but the band has changed and developed a lot since then and I’m excited to document it. Also, we’re going to be putting this one out on the ever-growing Origin Records out of Seattle, whose hard work is doing great things for all the artists on their roster, which we’re excited to join (and which I’ve just joined already with my new sextet record on their subsidiary label, OA2.
Anyway, the new Kora Band record is looking very promising: we’re going to be putting down (hopefully) definitive versions of some of our favorite tunes added to the book in the past year, including our hommage to Cuba, “Sinyaro,” our epic ancient tune, “Koulandjan,” and three (!) brand new compositions by me which exploit new possibilities in the band, particularly with kora tuning. I’m just starting to explore the other scales available with the kora’s two standard tunings of F major (silaba) and F lydian (sauta), and Kane’s prowess on the instrument once again comes into play as I am able to write things like the new tune “Cascades” in C major / A minor, and he can pull it off with great ease and virtuosity! I’ve also come up with a new one featuring Mark on calabash, which we’ve been exploring more recently since our first “all-acoustic” (i.e. no drumset, percussion only) show at Empty Sea Studios earlier in the year, a great show which we hope to present over there again in the fall. And, as I write this, I’ve just finished up one more new tune (Kora Tune #8) using a really freaky new kora tuning, an F lydian dominant scale (so, F lydian scale but with E-flats instead of E-naturals). The sound is sort of creepy and really awesome, as you can hear from our rehearsal last week:
Andrew and Chad freak out at the new kora tuning (click to listen)
We’re going into the studio on May 9-10, just after our fund-raising concert in Seattle on May 8 (more on that here if you’re interested), and our show with Ben Darwish at Jimmy Mak’s in Portland on May 7 opening for his EP release. Don Gunn, who is awesome, will be engineering, and we’re even going to have some special guests on this one, more on that soon.
Meanwhile, if anyone has suggestions for an album title, comment away! (or if you have anything else to say for that matter), and I’ll leave you for now with our recently recorded version of “Cascades”, which I discussed above, from March, and which we’ll be setting down a definitive version of on the new record.
Tour Wrapup
Posted on | April 22, 2010 | No Comments
Well, that was a whirlwind few days there, and I capped it off with a trip up to Seattle to rehearse the Kora Band for our upcoming recording session and cool gigs, but now I am back at home with a couple days to relax. I’ll start by sharing a few pictures from our last day of tour in San Francisco, where we enjoyed unbelievable weather:
Despite our great fatigue from late night driving, Dan and I employed the good old jet lag tactic of staying up all day and being outside as much as possible. It was great to hang out with my old friend Colin Williams (whose class we had taught earlier in the day) and relax before our evening gig:
Our last gig of the tour was certainly the best. We played at a very hip, tiny room in the Mission called BlueSix, along with Darren Johnston’s Nice Guy Trio, a fantastic trumpet-accordion-bass trio from SF. Their music was really fun and jaunty, and a great pleasure to hear. Our set went really well too, many of Dan and Kevin’s families and all of our Bay Area friends showed up, and with the addition of the Nice Guy Trio’s fans, we packed the place! The audience was extremely attentive and appreciative, always a pleasure (and unfortunately rare), so thanks to everyone who came out down in SF. I only have one bad picture from the show, but you get the idea:
San Francisco is always one of my favorite cities to visit, and it seems that I always schedule it so I have almost no free time there. This held true again on this trip, as Kevin and I had to blast out of town the next morning since we were both subbing with Portland’s most rockin’ Afrobeat band, Jujuba, in Mt. Shasta City the next day. That was lots of fun too, though the scheduling was a bit rough.
Overall a fun trip with a bit too much driving, and a good kickoff for the new CD, “82% Chance of Rain.”
Lots more touring coming up in the near future: The Tunnel Six cross-Canada tour kicks off in just about a month in Toronto, and the Kora Band will be on tour up and down the West Coast in September, among other things! What a busy year. I feel very lucky to be able to do all of these things, it’s a great pleasure and privilege.
I’m going to re-focus some energy on this blog in the near future too, I’m considering reprising some “serieses” that I had started (Jazz Pioneers and the Post-Colonial African Groove of the Week), as well as maybe interspersing one on jazz in Portland. Stay tuned!
Thanks for a great tour!
Posted on | April 17, 2010 | No Comments
Heading out from San Fran without time for a real post or photos, but thanks to everyone who came out to see us on our little tour, the final gig in San Francisco last night with the Nice Guy trio was really full and fun!
See you all soon!
Education Time
Posted on | April 16, 2010 | No Comments
After a long drive and not much sleep, we woke up to some amazing Bay Area sun!
This morning, we had a great time working with my good friend Colin Williams’ students at the Bay School of San Francisco. They played great and we also spent quite a bit of time talking about some of my and Dan’s tunes, including “Inattentive Attendant,” which they had listened to in preparation for our arrival:
And we had a good time jamming with them too. Colin’s done a great job with a wide variety of students, getting them all up to speed nicely.
It was a nice morning and now we’re enjoying the beautiful SF weather and chilling out before our gig tonight at BlueSix with Darren Johnston’s Nice Guy Trio, who I’m really excited to check out too! Double-billing on tour is always lots of fun, as its great to check out the local bands as well, especially in cities where I don’t get to spend as much time as I’d like, such as San Fran. Hope the weather is this nice wherever you are!
Talent, who knew!
Posted on | April 15, 2010 | No Comments
So it turns out the tiny town of Talent, between Ashland and Medford, has this fantastic club, the Avalon, where we just finished up. What a great gig, attentive audience, great food, and everything! Totally unexpected but highly appreciated.
We started the day by admiring Mary Sue’s father’s amazing 6,000+ LP collection:
Then enjoyed the FANTASTIC weather on the way down and some nice hangs in Lithia Park and by the river:
Then, a great gig at the Avalon!
Onward to Ashland!
Posted on | April 15, 2010 | No Comments
Well we had a great time last night at Sam Bonds, good attendance, good vibe, and the other band was not only great, they were also really nice guys, as Mary Sue excitedly pointed out.
A few photos from yesterday: rearranging the cars in a Wilsonville parking lot, Eric Gruber proves his claim that the Gruber gene includes being able to fit many items into small spaces:
Gruber prepares us some fine sausage at MST’s parents house:
Sam Bonds Garage and the Doug Detrick Quintet:
Now we’re heading down to Talent for a gig at the Avalon Bar and Grill, a cool-looking little place run by a childhood friend of a friend of mine in Portland. Should be fun, and we’ll keep you posted. Cheers!
« go back — keep looking »