I’ve had the good fortune to get to know a good many wonderful artists all over the planet and this Tues, Sept. 7th, I’ll be celebrating with five people I’m lucky enough to count as friends.

The”Secret Society of Internet Jazzers” (#SSIJ) is a collaborative gig with musos from up and down the Pacific Northwest at the Beta Lounge in Dowtown Berkeley, CA.

This show features myself and my first-call drummer Joe Shotwell from the Atmos Trio, dual trumpet duties from Seattle’s Jason Parker and Seaside CA’s Dave Hoffman, Santa Cruz bassist Steve Uccello and Oakland’s Darin Wilson on piano.

This particular group has never played together before so this provides a unique opportunity to witness/ participate in a Realtime Jazz experience. Dig it!

Not in the area? You can still join us! This concert will be LIVE VIDEO STREAMED.

What I’ve tried to do here is provide some documentary content: To really show what it is you’re hearing.

The audio and video for this song were tracked at the same time. What you hear and what you see are one-in-the-same. When you see a computer recording something in the background, you can bet that that is the audio you’re hearing in the recording. There is even some out-take footage.

This is one more way I’m inviting you into the making music process. I shot this on an inexpensive (~$100) consumer HD video camera and edited it in Final Cut Express HD. It was surprisingly easy.

As always, this song is available to you for streaming or downloading from my store at a Pay What You Want (even nothing) price. Please SHARE this music with friends via Facebook, Twitter, embed it in your blog, whatever… It’s a subtle way of showing your friends how hip you are and helping me out at the same time.

This was a fun project to assemble. What do think? Is it cool? Is it dumb?

Talk to me…

So I have.

That’s one of the coolest things about being completely independent musician: Total autonomy. Someone graciously expresses interest in your music and you provide it to them. Just like that.

Like always, it’s yours for a Pay What You Want (even nothing) price, because, that’s just how I do it.

The other day I was seduced by the uke’s sound & vibe I had something of an epiphany which resulted in this tenor uke “following me home.”

Guess I’ll keep it.

UPDATE: By special request, I have made the audio from this impromptu performance available for FREE Stream or Download via my Bandcamp store.

The response was inspiring! All over the world came these lovely notes of appreciation for the track. They still come through now and again. Everyone seems to dig the reharmonization towards the end. It’s been really cool. There is even another video that Mike Conaty made the very first day of the song’s release here!

During one day of the recording sessions, I filmed some of the guitar and bass takes just to give a glimpse into the process. This was an overdub affair as I played everything on the tune except the drums which were beautifully performed by my first-call drummer Joe Shotwell.

I’ve also decided to make the song available via the Atmos Trio Store. As usual, the song can be streamed, embedded or downloaded at a “Pay What You Want (even nothing) price.

Artwork by the wonderful Linda Palmer.

Here’s a fairly up-tempo tune that the band stretches out on a little. Good times!

This was filmed on a Creative Vado HD cam. Audio was EQ’d/ compressed using Ableton Live and video edited in Final Cut Express.

My biggest surprise came from Mike Conaty who, upon hearing the track, was inspired to film, edit and post this gorgeous video. It really captures the vibe of the tune. Thanks Mike!!

I always love it when these spontaneous collaborations occur. I hope to see much more of this in the future.

“Reptile” is basically a funk tune. The instrumentation is a little different in so far as the rhythm guitar part is played on a steel-string acoustic guitar. The solo is my old work-hourse frankestein ’80’s-era Strat.

This track features my buds Joe Shotwell on drums and Jack Hines on bass.

Reptile by AtmosTrio

I love playing this guitar, this excerpt from an upcoming album provides a glimpse into why.

Desire solo by AtmosTrio

Album artwork by Linda Palmer (www.ponor.info)

Steve and I met on twitter last spring. We organized and performed together at the Atmos Trio “Twitter House Concert.” Once he expressed interest in playing on my Ustream show, I didn’t waste any time arranging to make it happen.

The Ustream gigs have been the surprise of the year for me. From my home studio, I performed several solo guitar shows, and played host to special guests Damian Erskine, Todd Johnson and even broadcast some gigs from my group, The Atmos Trio.

Due to the regularity of the show, an audience from all over the world routinely returned, show-after-show. Among them is artist extraordinaire Linda Palmer. I had seen here wonderful artwork and I was thrilled when she agreed to contribute the album cover. She actually contributed many pieces, all of which are great. Please take in some of her fine work while you listen.

Here is a brief song-by-song reflection for those who were not present during the broadcast.

Song for Stasia: Originally recorded by Anna Maria Jopek and Pat Metheny, this Marcin Kydryński composition served as a beautiful vehicle for our musical simpatico. I put this chart in front of Steve and he’s sight-reading here.

Minor Matter: A completely improvised tune based on a minor blues form.

Alright Right Now: One of Steve Uccello’s composition. This is what I sounded like sight-reading Steve’s tune on this day.

Travels: A classic country jazz ballad by Pat Metheny. We tried to make this sound like we’ve been playing together for a long time–even though this session marked only the second time Steve and I had played together.

Autumn Leaves: A “Jazz 101″ type tune. All jazzers know this song. We called a tune and counted it off…

Tenor Madness: Contemplating Sonny Rollins on his blues classic.