Beginning this monday I will no longer be a member of the touring company of “Jersey Boys”. It has been a long 4 1/2 years. Jersey Boys has changed my life in a way that it makes it hard sometimes to remember life before it. However, their is no better way to leave such a comfy gig than to be immediately thrown back into the hyper creative music laboratory that is New Tricks. There have been many ups and downs as I have walked this path, but the ups have been very high and almost make it as if the lows have not existed at all. With the 21st approaching comes the culmination of years of hard work of using my cushy gig to set up my life, but also mark the beginning of a new chapter. A new chapter and renewed dedication to my art form, my band, my career, and my wife.
The new album we are releasing . . . → Read More: Long Road Home
As of April 1st, we’re back on the road again to promote our new CD which is set to drop on April 5th. We’ll be playing in the Midwest including dates at Nighttown in Cleveland, the Blue Wisp in Cincinnati, the Bistro in St. Louis and many colleges, universities and high schools along our way.
A new article about our great, fantastic, awesome, swinging, badass drummer appears in All About Jazz Today. The author David Orthman has been good to New Tricks over the past couple of years. He’s one of the first to really “get it” about Shawn and New Tricks.
New Trick’s second recording, “Alternate Side,” is off to the manufacturer. We hope to have copies in hand by the middle of March. Official release date is April 5th. Just like the first recording, the new cover features the splendid artwork of trumpeter Rob Henke.
About the recording process (from liner notes for “Alternate Side”): This CD was recorded the way we had dreamed of recording. We played all of the material for three weeks on tour before our first recording session and then for another two weeks before our second session. By the time we recorded our tunes — which are sometimes difficult and always quirky — they felt as comfortable as playing a blues and we could concentrate on making music. We recorded in Shawn’s apartment with all of us in the same room using only blankets wrapped around music stands for audio separation. Then we mixed together, painstakingly going over . . . → Read More: “Alternate Side” to be released April 5th
If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed that we’ve upgraded the site drastically. While we imported the posts from our original site and, of course, kept Rob Henke’s great artwork, the new site allows great control of our content. The new music and video clips are hosted right on this site, allowing us great quality control. We plan to expand the capabilities further by having our new CD and our T-Shirts available directly from this site in the near future
So look around, play a video, leave a comment and by all means, “like” the New Tricks Facebook page.
As we enter the holiday season and ponder the events of the last year, we’re really amazed at the progress the band has made over the past year. Of course our tours last spring were the highlights of 2010. We were able to play night after night with musicians that we find continuously creative and swinging. We met so many young fans, old friends and saw how vital jazz is across the country.
The Recording
We also built an entire new repertoire of tunes that we were able to perform live 20 to 30 times across the country and THEN go into the studio after we returned to the east coast. Not only was the recording the easiest session I’ve ever been a part of, because of the preparation and the comradery of the band, but we decided to record and mix it ourselves! Shawn has a home studio that we recorded at on two occasions. We used his expertise (and good will) to work on the mix on five . . . → Read More: Thanksgiving Update
This past tuesday we played at the club Trumpets in Montclair. We had a very nice crowd of family, friends, colleagues, and new friends there. The music was fantastic. It always amazes me how fast this band can get back to such a creative place after not playing together for several months. I also want to thank Matt King and Nathan Ecklund for sitting in and contributing to the fun. This gig marks the end of our summer hiatus and the beginning of a few gigs this fall and winter, the push to finalize our new record, and some other surprises that we will keep you informed on. I have attached some beautiful photos of our gig at Trumpets taken by photographer Chris Drukker.
New Tricks At the Jazz School in Berkeley This tune is from the same concert as the last post. People in San Francisco seemed to understand what alternate side parking is.
Obviously to any one who has checked in on our site to see the progress of the California tour has seen that we have not been as motivated to update our tour blog. I guess we have been so into experiencing California that we have let it slide. So as I fly back to Jersey here is my attempt at recapping the last several fantastic weeks. Please excuse the quality of some of the pics, most were taken with Shawn’s phone.
I flew into Los Angeles picked up a rental van and drove up to the Bay area where I met Shawn and Mike in Concord at Shawn’s mothers. We spent several hours having dinner with Shawn’s mother Juaneta than headed out for the evening. We went to Berkeley to check out some music at Jupiter. Afterwards we went in to S.F. for a jam session in the mission district at a club called Amnesia.
The more this band grows the more I realize how special of a musical and personal situation New Tricks is. The more we play the more our friendships deepen and the musical depths we are able to explore open up wider and wider. The experience of touring for 5 weeks with a group of friends that happen to play music together has been one of the greatest of my life. The level of communication and trust in this band is something that I think few musicians have the chance to experience.
As we have toured we have had the opportunity to meet and get to know each other’s families. This has been particularly rewarding. Being able to share music we are all so proud of with the people we care about the most has been very satisfying. It is not only important for me to share this with my own family as I was able to do on our . . . → Read More: California Tour Thank you- It’s not about the music its about the people!
Beginning this monday I will no longer be a member of the touring company of “Jersey Boys”. It has been a long 4 1/2 years. Jersey Boys has changed my life in a way that it makes it hard sometimes to remember life before it. However, their is no better way to leave such a comfy gig than to be immediately thrown back into the hyper creative music laboratory that is New Tricks. There have been many ups and downs as I have walked this path, but the ups have been very high and almost make it as if the lows have not existed at all. With the 21st approaching comes the culmination of years of hard work of using my cushy gig to set up my life, but also mark the beginning of a new chapter. A new chapter and renewed dedication to my art form, my band, my career, and my wife.
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