It was an honor to bring 9 of my Madison jazz musician friends to Camagüey, Cuba in January 2019 to perform with the amazing musicians of that city. Organized by myself and Ricardo Gonzalez of The Madison/Camagüey Sister City Association, Camagüey Jazz 2019 was a first of a kind project that created unique Big Band Jazz sound that wowed audiences. Check out this news report from Channel 3 News about the project.
In December of 2018, Golpe Tierra traveled for the first time to perform in India. Special thanks to Pawan Benjamin and the US Consulate Mumbai for inviting us. Please visit our facebook page to get a sample of the tour. In addition to performances, we also taught clinics and masterclasses. Here is my favorite pic of your after we performed for the “Museum Kids” program at the Art House in Bhopal. Stay tuned for our upcoming video recorded live at The Quarter in Mumbai!
I’m happy to announce the release of our new album Golpe con Golpe. My brother from another mother, Richard Hildner and I started this project to highlight the wonderful musical traditions of Peru and combine this with our love for Jazz and other Latin American Folk music styles. This album shows our love for music and our desires for social change. You can preview and purchase our album on our Bandcamp.
I’m proud to announce that in 2016 I joined the faculty of The University of Wisconsin Mead-Witter School of Music as the Jazz Bass Instructor. I’ve enjoyed being a bass educator for decades but to join the Jazz Studies Program at the UW School of Music is a true honor. It is especially humbling to take over for the legendary Richard Davis after he retired in the spring semester in 2016. The UW Jazz Studies Director, Johannes Wallmann, has build an incredible academic program and I’m excited to contribute to its development. For information on how to enroll at The UW Madison Music School please visit http://www.music.wisc.edu/apply.
I’m happy to announce Golpe Tierra has released a new album that was recorded live at South Madison Police Station in July 2015. You can purchase it exclusively on Bandcamp. Full album download includes many high fidelity formats and 5.1 surround mixes (see pdf bonus item). I can’t express the joy I feel making music with my good friends Richard Hildner and Juan Tomas Martinez. Check it out!
Working with Mark Hetzler, Vince Fuh, and Todd Hammes was an incredible experience and the music came out great. This project was a challenging and transformative experience and I’m happy it is now available for the world to hear. We were able to experiment with all the sounds our instruments could produce. Also, you actually get to hear my arco playing (with bow)!!! Special thanks to Mark Hetzler, Professor of Trombone at UW-Madison, for inviting me into this project.
Check out the whole album here!
Here’s a track written by Todd Hammes called Blindfold Duet
I’ve known Anna Laube since we played in West High’s Jazz Band together. Today, she’s an amazing songwriter and singer. I recorded some tracks for her on her new album, Music’s Where We Always Meet. This track also features Chuck Leavell from The Allman Brothers on Keys.
Oh My! (Oh Me Oh Me Oh My)
I was honored to perform along with The Madison Youth Choir’s Ragazzi. Anthony Cao wrote an incredible arrangement for Kurt Elling’s The Waking. It was also super fun to play acoustically in The Capitol Theater with my new upright bass. Recorded on May 3rd, 2015.
I had a blast performing with Afro Cuban Music Legend Juan De Marcos with my project El Clan Destino in Feburary. Juan De Marcos was visiting Madison in anticipation of his fall residency at UW-Madison. We played ‘Marieta’ and ‘La Negra Tomasa’ together and his soneos were awesome. I’m looking forward to more collaborations this fall. Thanks to Susan Kepecs for the great photos!
This is the first time I performed Ida Jo’s wonderful music and it was broadcast on the WPR show Simply Folk. Yikes:) Ida Jo is great songwriter and musician. Working with both her and Scott Lamps was a treat. Below you’ll find an a couple songs from the show (I edited out the interviews). For the complete show (two extra songs) you can stream or download here. I highly recommend checking out the entire show online. Host Stephanie Elkins was awesome and even gave me a shout out!. Taped in October 2014 at Vilas Hall.