I issued a friendly challenge to listeners to spot the famous Jazz standard nestled among the busy polyphonic dialog in this Bach piece.

Even an offering of 2000 internet cool points has not unearthed the answer, so I’ll give it to you now:

Listen at 1:52

…now listen to the video below at 2:25.

Nerdy but cool.

New Videos, New Album, New Store

I made a new jazz guitar Christmas EP “Rob Michael’s Christmas by the Fire.”  Because I believe an album should more than some audio files and a pretty picture, I’m inviting you to listen and watch via this Youtube playlist.

This features the actual performances heard for the entire album, yours to experience for free.

Let me know what you think!!

We have two new stores on the Android Market

One for Atmos Trio and anothr for Rob Michael projects.
Put “Rob Michael’s Christmas by the Fire” in your Google Music library.

Here I’m playing some chords to a melody that meandered by. You likely know someone for whom this tune is perfect.

..and if it’s your birthday, this should set the mood for some reflection/ self-evaluation.

Enjoy.

Rob Michael, Solo Baritone Guitar. #HBDTY by Rob Michael

Using our friend Janice King’s, The SonomaValley Jazz Society as a model, we’ve filed for non-profit status and organized a some great concert events.

One such event was this past Sunday. The entire community came ‘to bat’ including the venue (Vallejo’s Havana Sol) all of the musicians that volunteered their time and talent, and the board members of the VJS who gave of their time, talents and areas of expertise.

I’m excited to report that the event was a huge success! A capacity crowd proved super-appreciative/ receptive to our cause and was very generous in offering us their contact information as well as some wonderful donations!

This validates a theory that I have held for some time: There a MANY Jazz lovers/ supporter among us, but each one seems to be an island, partially isolated from like-minded listeners and patrons. Provide a happening scene/ community around which these individuals can rally and you’ve got yourself an real-life audience.

Grass roots…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–my favorite use of the internet is collaborating with people you otherwise would probably not have even met.

Case-in-point is a new 4-song Electronic/Funk/ Jazz EP called “Guard the Point” organized by Allen Wentz. Allen masterminded this project and invited me and two other top-shelf musicians, Neil Alexander on keys and Trip Wamsley on bass to play. He even invited my favorite graphic artist Linda Palmer into the fray who always over-delivers: she produced different artwork for each song.

Trip and I have recorded together before and Neil has been on my short list of guys I wanted to do some playing with for some time.

It was great fun to get a new audio file from Allen every couple of weeks and see where I might fit into the musical landscape. It was pretty easy as all these players are super sharp, tasteful and generous.

So, here is the debut release from the LegoLand Empire “Guard the Point.” Please let us know what you think, share it on your favorite social network and buy it you’re so inclined–the whole EP is just $1.00.

Sometimes, you just need to things to be easy. To that end, I’m offering ALL of the music I’ve recorded thus far in one easy download. Press the red button and you can buy EVERYTHING for $20. Easy-peasy.

All of this music is available at a “Pay What You Like” price when purchased on a per song or per album basis. This release is primarily for listeners that want to support my production of MORE music and obtain what’s out there thus far in one shot.

I’ve started making short videos of Christmas tunes that I’ve been re-harmonizing lately. Here’s my latest.

The concert will take place at Step Up Music (1716 Sonoma Boulevard (at Georgia St.), Vallejo, CA 94590-6012 (707) 647-3050.

Refreshments will be provided.

We’ll be playing a mixture of original compositions alongside some of the classic jazz repertoire.

The VJS was formed recently by a group of jazz musicians and supporters, all of whom live in Vallejo. The group’s purpose is to raise awareness of jazz in the community, provide performance opportunities for local musicians, and to educate our young people about America’s only original art form. We will soon be welcoming new members (musicians and non-musicians).

We enjoyed an enthusiastic audience both in the room and on Ustream. The club was very dark so our Ustream crew was treated to primarily audio feed. Fortunately, we had a couple of other cameras that were able to catch a enough visual data for me to provide you this glimpse of the show.

The main thing that struck me from this show was the musical strength and depth with which these musicians play. Who knew a pick-up band from Twitter would be so burning!

Thanks again to my compadres Jason Parker, Steve Uccello, Darin Wilson, Dave Hoffman and Joe Shotwell.