Update
A ton of stuff has been happening over the past month and I thought I would just give a brief recap. One of the most exciting things that I did was turn in my second album to Porter Records. It will be called “Violet” and will be released in March 2012. I am so proud of this record and am extremely happy with how it came out and with the flow of tracks. It was a incredible journey getting to work so closely with so many amazing people from around the city on the tracks for the album. A big thanks to all the artists who put their time and creative genius into the record: Anthony Valadez, Sam Barsh, Jesse Palter, Dexter Story, Paris Carney, Greg Garbowsky, Eli Bruggemann, Mark Maxwell, Joshua Lopez, James Williams, Adam Zimmon, Matt Mayhall, and Yonatan Elkayam.
Other than my own music I have been busy with lots of gigs around town, many of them being at the new Sayers club (http://vimeo.com/26042790) where I coordinate the music for most of the open nights. It has been such a blessing to work with so many incredible musicians on all the nights for the club and I have been learning so much and growing tons as a player and as a musical director. I get to work with many of my favorite artists and musicians on a weekly basis and it is a very surreal experience at times. I am very excited to be starting a new Sunday night at the club that will be co-led by myself and master drummer/producer Trevor Lawrence Jr. This night will be launching Sept. 4th and will be a very special evening. The company that own Sayers, SBE, also owns the Redbury hotel and every Wednesday night I do a very fun jazz night at the Redbury. This night features myself, Scott Seiver and Dennis Hamm playing all kinds of tunes in a piano trio setting. The Redbury is a really incredible place with some of the best food in the city from Cleo restaurant in its lobby and I have really been digging this gig, we play in a beautiful, outdoor patio area called the Library on the second floor of the Hotel. We were even lucky enough to have the legendary Gil Goldstein (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Goldstein) sit in with us one night and play two of our three sets with us.
I also have been working a lot with LP (www.iamlp.com) and she is in the process on signing a record deal (TBA soon). I am very excited about recording her album and doing subsequent touring for the project. She is such a beautiful person, her tunes are amazing, and her band is pretty special (myself, Yogi Lonich, Bram Iscore, and Charlie Paxson).
I also have been asked to play bass for Nightmare and the Cat for some shows coming up. This band is led by brothers Django and Sam Stewart (sons of Dave Stewart) and they are poised to become a huge band. Their tunes are amazing and they are both full blown rock stars with amazing energy on stage. I am really looking forward to these shows and doing lots more with this band and Sam and Django in the future.
Lastly, I have been working tons in the studio. I co-wrote 7 tunes on Elan Atias’s forthcoming record, due out Sept. 6th. This record is a fun and classic sounding and I feel lucky to have worked so much on it. Other than that I am starting to work with some great producers like Mike Elizondo and Boy Reckless; and I have started writing/recording a lot with Trevor Lawrence Jr. Trevor and I have been writing tunes for the upcoming album from rapper Stix, one of which is a song that features Nick Simmons.
