music, culture, subversity

I’ve been pretty bad about keeping in touch lately… something about the cold weather makes me forget there’s a world out there. At the moment I’m rediscovering for the N-teenth time David Garibaldi’s brilliant lyrical grooves. Here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to, and some fun stuff coming up:

Mid-January saw a trip out to Kansas City. Flights that were canceled, delayed, and finally diverted left us in St. Louis with 4 hours until the gig, so we rented a car and high-tailed it across The Show Me State and arrived with 15 minutes to spare. The whirlwind trip left us with just enough time to grab a hearty meal at Jackstack that kept me filled for weeks to come.

I also had the absolute pleasure of joining Marc Shulman and Joe Piteo for 2 days of writing and recording in a very open/improvisational setting. We’re sifting through the tapes and hoping to have something to offer from the sessions in the not-too-distant future.

Lately I’ve been working closely with Shaina Taub, Grace McLean and Carrie Manolakos, producing some recordings of their outstanding songs. More on that to come; but in the mean time you can catch me out live with Shaina and Grace several times this month.

Tues 2/2: Shaina Taub @ Spike Hill
Fri 2/5: Haiti Benefit @ Bowery Poetry Club
Sun 2/7: Grace McLean @ Flea Theater (3pm)
Feb 2/11: Minq Vaadka CD Release @ Joe’s Pub

I’ll also be appearing with Minq Vaadka for the CD release of The Plastic Masquerade, late night at Joe’s Pub on 2/11. I’ll let this link do the explaining– the show should be quite a pre-V-day spectacle.

A couple records that I’ve played on have recently seen the light of day:
Angeli’s Breathe It In
Anodyne Blues Band’s Full Time Bills — forthcoming, but preview tracks on their myspace
Andy Arnold’s Suite Camus– a piece inspired by Albert Camus, on which I play bouzouki

Full list of shows and media is always available at myspace.com/JusFunk– and you can subscribe to twitter.com/Subdiversity twitter.com/JusBass for show announcements if the once-every-5-months email blast just doesn’t cut it for you.

I’ve also been enjoying some of these discs by other artists:
Amy Correia – You Go Your Way
Nini & Ben – The Reasons We Try
The Ones & Nines

Ok, that’s all for now.

Hey all–

For the past year I’ve been working hard on a record with my old band, Funky Butter. The record, Made of You finally comes out in 10 days on August 4, and you can currently stream the entire record at funkybutter.com (where you can also read more and order it). There’s 10 tunes from FB’s repertoire (plus 2 bonus tracks for pre-orders) and the record features some great guest appearances– all of which you can find out at funkybutter.com.

Currently, I’m playing music on board a ship in the Mediterranean– getting to see some great places and working on music for some new projects. And if you haven’t already, check out my live world-jazz record Una Passeggiata on YouTube and imeem and right here.

Lately, I’ve been putting a lot of work into finishing up Funky Butter’s upcoming album Made of You. You can check out some unfinished rough mixes at Funky Butter’s myspace, and if you want, you can preorder the album and reserve your physical copy of the CD plus some exclusive bonus tracks. I can’t tell you when the album will be done, but stay tuned for emails/bulletins from the Funky Butter page and it should be goddamned soon!

peace

j

My friend Andy Mullen just released his second album, “I Wish My Name Were Jack” which features yours truly on banjo, mandolin and guitar on a couple tracks including “Bottle On A Shelf” (above). Check him out at www.andymullenmusic.com and www.myspace.com/andymullenmusic. He’ll be touring all summer and I’ll be joining him at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, PA on August 3.