jazzypaul

And now we're in our last day. We're good, I promise. Please support an up and coming jazz band trying to make some interesting noises in Chicago... www.indiegogo.com/paulabellatrio

And now we're down to 4 days, and I'm talking to myself in here, in here, in here, in here... www.indiegogo.com/paulabellatrio our version of Nine Inch Nails' Closer: Thanks for reading, thanks for pledging (if you choose to do so)!

we're down to the two week marker, and we're still $1100 shy of the bare minimum we need to get this thing pressed. I promise you'll like it. www.indiegogo.com/paulabellatrio

is this guy still at it? Yes. here, check this out...our take on A-Ha's Take On Me...

bumpity bump bump bump - we're down to the last 20 days of our campaign, and we desperately need some support from the greater jazz community. If you love you some jazz well off the beaten path, we might just be the band for you. check it out... www.indiegogo.com/paulabellatrio Thanks!

Here's a taste of what we've been up to in the studio...Our guitarist's attempt to write a George Benson tune (think Breezin' or In Flight era Benson) Channel 74 if you dig what you hear, or even if you don't, head here: www.indiegogo.com/paulabellatrio and get yourself a copy! Thanks!

So, it's been a while since I've posted here with any regularity, so I kinda feel like a douche even posting this, but there does seem to be a lot of interest in the Chicago jazz scene around these parts, so, I'm giving it a go. Anyway, my group, the paul abella trio has just recorded it's latest CD. It's a mish mash of a disc that has a little bit of everything, from an attempt to recreate George Benson's 70's sound to odd-metered jazz-influenced pop tunes. In between are some interpretations of some of our favorite tunes from Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan. So, because this stuff is not cheap, we're going the crowd funding route. If nothing else, click on the link to watch the fairly funny video... http://www.indiegogo.com/paulabellatrio If you're wondering what we sound like, here are a few links... Stairway To Heaven A snippet of us jamming on Jaco Pastorius' Come On Come Over Thanks for letting me waste a few minutes of your day...

She's a great player, and it's a genuinely solid disc. Note: I don't think she was ever in Von's band. However, the thing that didn't get mentioned in all of those quotes is that she's been a bit of a mover and shaker, starting up her own avant jazz series at Jerry's in Wicker Park. It's definitely a disc worth a listen, and she'll be one to watch in the next decade, I think.

ok, not a NO brass band, but a band that definitely came from that tradition and is building upon it: Youngblood Brass Band out of (wait for it) Madison, WI. I love, Love, LOVE these guys. Came across one of their discs for dirt cheap when I lived dangerously close to Dusty Groove, saw them play around the corner at the Empty Bottle and at a few street festivals in Chicago, and they just threw it down HARD. Their snare drummer was also a pretty damn good rapper, to boot. And at the end of the night, they gave shout outs to every single New Orleans brass band you could think of. They know their roots and they're doing something with them. Youngblood Brass Band

well, yes. And no. And yes. A few years back, maybe a decade or so, it used to be four days. Then the Thursday was cut from Grant Park. Then they brought back the Thursday as a paid event. Then they got rid of the paid event. I'm biting my lip here, but I think that there are a lot of wise things that could be done that aren't being done, and the end result is that the Jazz Festival will either turn into a one day affair or will be completely ravaged by sponsors.

it's a small world after all... yeah, Bob's a bad bad man on the bass, and I think that if he ever moved out of Joliet and towards Chicago/Cook County, he'd be busy 11 days a week. I will most certainly tell him that you said hello, and I will also let him know that he's racking up fines with the Geoff library. And thanks for the kind words! If at all possible, you should come out and see us some time! Some things are just deemed to be for all times, sir. My favorite slight tweak on something thus far...The "Master, Master" section of Master of Puppets, we're doing as all percussion, no harmony or melody. Should be fun!

I know that BBS's by their very nature are about as old school as it gets when it comes to teh interwebz, but c'mon people, do at least one of the following (and I am only irritated because, as blind-blake said, an Afro-Klezmer Orchestra that is truly both sounds like something I need to hear like yesterday): (I don't mean to self promote, I'm just showing how it's done. Mr. Crom, please use this as a template) 1) "hey guys, check out my myspace page!" 2) "hey guys, check out my CD on rhapsody!" 3) or, if you're really slick, put your video, audio and mailing list together and try this one: "hey guys, check out my reverb nation page!" Any way you do it, I'm not getting down to Atlanta any time soon, but I'll buy a CD of some bad ass Africa meets Klezmer music any day! So, let me hear it, mang!

Thank you! And, as of a couple of minutes ago, we're at 2498. The anticipation, at this point, is kinda killing me.

please, please, pretty please with sugar on top please...we're less than 25 downloads away from hitting the 2500 mark. And we do get paid for this too (the perks of having Microsoft run a promotion that you're a part of?)! So, please, if you've not heard our charming music yet, please take 30 seconds out of your day to get some free music on your hard drive by going here and downloading our version of Lucky Southern. Free to you. I still get paid. I like it. You should too. http://www.myspace.com/windows?homepage=thepaulabellatrio Thanks!

The only reason I might NOT do the whole thing as a samba might be to (slightly) nod to the original and lay down some cajon hip-hop on the implied half time section coming out of the choruses on battery. insofar as Damage, Inc goes, the samba thing could work too. I wanted to see if I could mix it up a lil more though. Dunno yet. We've got a month and change to get it together. The club in question has one of those record on the fly CD recorders, so I think I'll be able to get all of the end results on disc. That'll be fun.

frankly, my eyes started to glaze over about 2 pages into this. Articles like that are absolute bullshit. what constitutes going and seeing jazz? I guarantee you that joe jazz reporter didn't go into the eclectic clubs that play a little bit of everything or the rock clubs that are willing to give a jazz band with an attitude and a draw a chance. So, already, the numbers are skewed. They don't take into account the fact that there are bands out there that realize that playing to a bunch of grumpy guys in sportcoats and turtlenecks trying to impress tha ladiez is a dead end street. And guess what? I've seen a lot of those bands sell out clubs on a fairly regular basis. Jazz, as an art form dedicated to keeping Blue Note's re-issue program in business for another 100 years, is dying a quick death, and I have no interest in going to the funeral. However, as an improvisational artform that lives, breathes and learns from the culture(s) around it, I don't see it going anywhere. As long as there's an audience that wants to hear music with a little more depth, there will be musicians eager to provide it.

I really like Mahanthappa's playing. But I flat out love what he did with the Indo-Pak Coalition disc. I love, love, love the music on that one.

Actually, the guitarist in the trio is a wonderful singer, and since we both grew up on hardcore 80's metal, he's chomping at the bit to get at them. I think I figured out Battery yesterday while I was doing my usual exercises on the cajon, as this works really well as a samba (think Stone Flower, rhythmically speaking). The Thing That Should Not Be, I think is gonna get the lounge singer treatment, because that tune's a big ass velveeta and nut ball if I've ever seen one. Right now, we're only down to Leper Messiah and Damage, Inc. for new treatments.

If only we were all midgets. Then we could go out as Mini-Tallica. That'd be awesome.

bump. FREE MUSIC! WHO DOESN'T LIKE FREE MUSIC?!?!? We're in the final days of a really neat campaign...long story short, Reverb Nation and Microsoft (huh? wha?) got together and chose 1001 bands on RN to be part of this promotion. We got to be part of it. They're even paying the bands that got over a certain amount of downloads (we've crossed that hurdle). I was kinda thinking that we'd hit 300 or maybe 500 downloads in the course of 90 days. After all, we're just three jerks playing a semi-obscure Keith Jarrett composition. Well, we're now damn close to 2500. As a matter of personal pride, I'd like to wrap up this promotion (it ends in 6 days) over that 2500 mark. So, if you want a free download of our version of Lucky Southern, please, click here.

Thanks for the tips! I (and I guess it's because I'm a drummer/percussionist) tend to do what you're talking about from a rhythmic standpoint, but I'm usually all for leaving the melody intact. But, when you're talking stuff like Metallica, where the melody is certainly almost never the main selling point of the tune, you might as well tweak the hell out of that too, right? So, again, thanks!

Okay, so November 13th, we're splitting a date with a gypsy jazz band that are dear friends of ours, and they mentioned that they were going to do a theme of some sort for the show (all 80's tunes, all TV themes or something). I mentioned that they should do an entire album and that we'd do one too for our set. It was agreed upon. So, my trio started putting our heads together and we decided that it'd be a hell of a lot of fun to arrange Metallica's Master of Puppets in its entirety for our lineup of guitar/vocals, upright bass and hand percussion. Now I'm listening to it. Probably the first time I've listened to it from start to finish since I was 21. Now, it's not as if anything on here is so incredibly difficult sounding, but the hard part seems to be figuring out ways to play all of this stuff so that it doesn't simply come off as so ridiculously small as to be laughable. Master of Puppets and Disposable Heroes both seem as if they're natural candidates to be fairly "stock" afro-cuban arrangements. Orion we can do straight out of the box. My two biggest worries are Battery and Damage, Inc. I'm sure this'll sink to the bottom of the Organissimo pond like a duck wearing cement shoes, but hey, if you've got any ideas, I'm all ears. Or eyes. Whatever the case may be.

to be part of a community. The only problem is, as each day goes by, I am starting to realize that I don't really fit in anywhere anymore.

Listening right now on Rhapsody. They've definitely grown as guitarists since their debut. This is really nice. Gotta love heavy metal flamenco guitar. God Bless Free Listens on Rhapsody!

I like the Broom record. Here was my review for Chicago Jazz Magazine... And as for other folks take on Monk's music, I can't believe no one mentioned this one yet...