02.19.2010 - Hawaii Lifestyles came out with an article regarding the Bon Jovi show and the Mike Corrado Band opening for it.  Downloaded here

 

02.15.2010 -The Bon Jovi opening show worked out great, the music/notes/arrangements of Mike's music were solid. I also played at the Waikiki Shell with my good friends Ioani Burns, Kapono Nailiili, and L Halehaku Seabury, with the Ke Kaouha Jazz Project for Ho’omau – a benefit for Hawaiian immersion schools. We lined up an interview with KHON on the 28th of this month. The group’s aim is to merge Hawaiian music with Jazz harmonics and rhythms. It’s a new and exciting venture that goes beyond the usual “hapa haole” music that was popular back in the 60s and 70s, where the only difference was swing. Think: what if we applied the voicings of Chick Corea or Bill Evans, the rhythms of Avashai Cohen, or even the space Miles Davis used in his solo’s with the Hawaiian language and song-form?

 

 

02.06.2010 - I'm really happy to help Mike Corrado open the Bon Jovi concert

next week Friday.  Not only do I feel unqualified for the job, but I feel like there's a lot of work and practice on my part that I have to do to get a lot of these music parts down/tight so I can do his music some justice.  It's really cool to be able to play with Mike.  He's a vocalist that I really appreciate and not to mention his music has such a positive and clear message - music with PURPOSE.  The band consists of: Jason Nobriga (backup guitar), Matt Cole(drums), Chazz Harbison (Bass) and Ikaika Tecson (keyboard). The band opening on Thursday is Kings of Spade.  They consist of KC (vocals) J Boy (guitar) Matty (drums) Max (bass) A2Z (turntable) Obie (percussion).  I got to meet them this morning at the Perry and Price show - they are a very high energy group with one very talented front-woman.  I'm happy to get to know them!

 

Additional pictures!!!

 

01.19.2010 - I just finished up a musical project with Jason Gaye - the project involved writing several pieces for a comic book called Dog-Eaters. (http://www.dogeaters-manga.com). I'm realizing that there comes a point in creating new music where you have to accept your writing and the way you interpret things - i.e. accepting imperfection is essential so long as we realize perfection is impossible.  Music, its meaning and its value, is entirely subjective.  

 

Subjectivity can be fun though.  Alright, I'm ending my existential Jazz-rant for the evening.  

 

The next project: recording and writing tunes for my favorite (and, in my opinion, BEST) vocalist - Santino.  Please stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

11.09.2009 - Dan Freedman will be on piano this coming Friday at The Dragon Upstairs. In my opinion, he is one of the best pianists here in Hawaii in terms of harmony and arranging. Aside from arranging traditional Jazz standards in new and exciting ways, Dan also spends a lot of time writing new music. His recent album, ART ATTACK, received stellar reviews from critics. Dan and I ran into each other at a gig about a year ago and it's been a delight to learn about his approach to the piano and the way he perceives music in general.

 

10.18.2009 - A couple weeks ago I met this really cool sax player from Washington DC. He's currently here on duty for the Navy. He's kind of a cross between Adderley and Joshua Redman, but it's kind of hard to just pick two influences you hear from the way he approaches music. There are times when I hear a bit of Coltrane as well. It kind of reminds me of something pianist Vijay Iyer said in an interview - "[you can] hear the entire history of a person through the sound they make".

 

10.8.2009 - So, a few months back I met a vocalist named Susan Taylor while playing at Ward's Rafters with the PBS Little Big Band and we've been working together to get some tunes together. I'm noticing a lot of vocalists have trouble figuring out their keys, something I've experienced while playing with more vocalists this year. I think an easy way to do this is to find the highest/lowest notes of the melody, and account for the duration a melody exists in certain ranges, if the highest point is "too high", or conversely the lowest point is "too low", then make a first key adjustment to compensate for that. If the melody exists, say for example in a D5 to a A5 range, consistently in uncomfortable ranges, then adjust the key lower (if the vocalists is straining to hit these ranges) or higher. This is usually the case with more linear/vertical melodies, where the notes exist consistently in a specific range. I think a vocalist requires more versitility where a melody exists in a much more horizontal fashion - examples: Monk's "Well You Needn't"; examples of a more horizontal melody can include Duke's "Sophisticated Lady". An "even" melody, example, could be a song like Waltz for Debby, by Evans. On the flip side of it, the band should also be taken into consideration; certain keys have their own characteristics. (This is just my opinion). Ballads are quite interesting when played in keys such as E, or Gb, or even D - for some reason a lot of sharp-ed keys are used. Blues tunes are written a lot in keys such as Bb, F, Eb - I could never figure out why. This is probably due to the transposition of certain instruments that popularized certain styles. Alrighty... I gotta finish up charting tunes, it's maybe 1 AM in the morning and I've got a lot more stuff to do... then werrrrrrrk to finish. I'm really excited about supporting Susan this Saturday at her debu with the PBS little big band!!! be sure to make it! 10.6.2009 - I forgot how tedious PHP/HTML can be. I'm currently rebuilding this site with some information. I haven't updated this site since January of last year, in fact, I didn't even realize I was still paying for it. =S Anyways, a lot has happened in the past year. Mainly: I was able to help Hank out with The Dragon Upstairs on Friday's, booked gigs with various entertainers and was able to play some great music with Mike Corrado - even though I don't consider myself a 'rocker' in any sense of the term. There's more music to come, and more projects/things to accomplish. Thanks for visiting =)

 

1.28.2008 -Joy James is a recent addition to the Jazz scene here in Honolulu.  We featured her last night on a famous Gershwin song, Someone to Watch Over Me.  Enjoy:

 

She also sang Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You":