Good intentions and all but as you can clearly see, I have neglected to make any new posts in a while. Perhaps a more realistic approach would be to aim for an update every two or three months instead of two or three weeks…? I have all kinds of cool stories and experiences from the past months, which I will try to post further below but first, the regular dates:

Wednesday evenings at The Earle, solo guitar, 7-9PM.
Thursday evenings, at Mercy’s, solo guitar, 7-9PM.
One Friday a month at the Polo Fields CC, solo guitar, see below upcoming dates.
Several dates per month with my bar band Freelance, see below upcoming dates

The restaurant at Polo Fields on the west side of Ann Arbor: 

All Fridays, 6-9PM: October 7, November 25, December 16.

Freelance: 

Friday, September 23, Lakepointe Yacht Club, 9PM-1AM. 

Saturday, October 15, Hard Knock Café in Jackson, 9PM-1AM. 

Friday, November 4, Lakepointe Yacht Club, 9PM-1AM. 

Saturday, November 19, Hard Knock Café in Jackson, 9PM-1AM. 

Saturday, December 9 Hard Knock Café in Jackson, 9PM-1AM.

I also have a considerable number of “One Off” dates of all types, public and private, coming up. Here is a sampling, keeping in mind that gigs get added all the time:

Solo guitar: 

Saturday September 24, wedding ceremony at the Lafayette Grande in Pontiac, 4-6PM. 

Friday, September 30, corporate event at company HQ, 5:30-8:30PM. 

Saturday October 1, wedding ceremony at Gene Davis hall in Jackson. 

Saturday, October 8, wedding ceremony at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 5-8PM. 

Saturday, October 15, wedding ceremony again at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, 4:30-7PM. 

I’ll stop here, by late October I really ought to make an updated post...

There are a good number of group dates as well, I’ll make an effort to post any highlights as they come up. However, I must mention two special dates with the Jake Reichbart Trio in France:

Saturday, November 19th. At the beautiful bar-cabaret "La Rhue" at Jumilhac-Le-Grand.

Friday , November 25th at "Le Cercle ",  in the historic downtown of Périgueux. 

All European fans are invited!

Other activities:

I just finished recording a CD with bassist Jon Liebman for his upcoming funk recording for Hal Leonard which will be available very soon. All recordings took place at my studio using my Ibanez Prestige into my Marshall AVT 100.

I have a mountain of new videos at my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/jreichbart, please subscribe if you haven’t yet. Here are some recent ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEGSHjRCe1M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPB646rBUsc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7DaywVP7nA

I have now 52 (!) instructional DVDs to go with my various solo guitar performances on YouTube, email me for a complete list.

I also have a series of lessons at Hal Leonard for streaming, click here: http://www.guitarinstructor.com/product/viewinstructor.do?biographyid=861 to see all the lessons that are available for download.

Of course my Hal Leonard DVD “Pop hits for solo jazz guitar” is available everywhere online, often well below list price. Just copy the DVD title into your search bar and find it at your favorite retailer.

I am rehearsing with bassist/vocalist Gwenyth Hayes for a soul trio setting. We may have our first gig on October 2 at the Elks in Ann Arbor, I’ll confirm if it materializes.

What else? A handful of recent past highlights:

It was great to jam just last night at Vinology with Nicole New (vocal), Shannon Wade (bass) and Gary Schunk (keys). Looking forward to doing it again!

On September 14 I performed a gig for Legal Services of SE Michigan at the house of the president of Eastern Michigan University. My third year doing this event, what a house, what a treat!

Speaking of treats, I performed on September 10 at the American-Polish Cultural Center with the very talented multi instrumentalist David Mosher. Guitar, mandolin, fiddle, voice and great on all!

I led a band for an event on September 4 at the Ann Arbor City Club with Cliff Monear, Jordan Schug, Greg Koltyk and George Bennett. Everybody played their ass off!

OK, once again I have to draw the line here on postings going back, I just have to try to post more frequently… Please drop me a line with questions or whatever. 

Jake

March 2011 updte

The month already started so let's go:

First, the regular dates:

Tuesday evenings at Mercy’s, the Jake Reichbart Trio, 7-9PM.
Wednesday evenings at The Earle, solo guitar, 7-9PM.
Thursday evenings, at Mercy’s, solo guitar, 7-9PM.
One Friday a month at the Polo Fields CC, see below this month’s date.

Last night I performed a a real nice wedding ceremony plus cocktail hour (and a half) at the Michigan League in Ann Arbor. Bless the couple - they actually hired a live band and after I packed up, I had a chance to hang with guitarist/vocalist extraordinaire Duane Harlick, sax man Chris Kearcher and keyboardist Tom Taylor with whom I played a buch of sequenced gigs in the 90s.

Moving on: On Friday, March 11, I will play my monthly date at the restaurant at Polo Fields on the west side of Ann Arbor, 5:30PM-8:30PM.

The Next night, March 12, I will be rockin’ out again with Freelance at the Lakepointe Yacht Club, 9P-1AM, open to the public, come on out!

On Saturday, March 19, I'll be performing solo guitar at a cool event at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. They call it, I believe, Casino Night but it really is a singles night, casino, comedian, music... I did it last years as well and had a blast!

The next evening, Sunday, March 20, I will be performing with the famous "Shlock Rock" Guy, Lenny Solomon http://www.shlockrock.com/. We'll be jamming out to everything from The Beatles to Lady Gaga put to Hebrew lyrics... Also on the job Mark Kieme -sax and Rob Avsharian - drums.

On March 25 I'll be heading to France! Musical activities include Jamming with the amazing guitarist Sylvain Courtney, a concert/clinic at the music schoo MAI http://www.maifrance.com/ on Monday March 28 and a gig with my French trio on Friday, April 1, at the Le Cafe de la Place in Perigueux!

Other stuff:

Two new solo guitar YouTube videos: Stevie Wonder's Living For The City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-DY9IswjAM as well as Follow Me by Pat Metheny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R5TeWrPyIU

Two new video lessons have been added to my Hal Leonard page for the jazz standards Doxy and St. Thomas and two new videos yet have been submitted for the songs I Remember You as well as When Sunny Gets Blue, check out http://www.guitarinstructor.com/product/viewinstructor.do?biographyid=861 to see all the lessons that are available for download.

Late February 2011 update

An exhausting and very snowy February is coming to an end... On top of all the gigs mentioned below, several were added. The Jake Reichbart trio performed at The Common Grill for Sunday brunch on 2/20, with George Bennett on drums and Jordan Schug on bass, with a massive snow storm raging outside... Also, I performed a solo gig at the Kensington Court hotel in Ann Arbor on Friday, 2/25, at 6:30AM! I got up at 5AM to clear the snow from a fresh snow storm... The gig was for the annual breakfast business meeting for the Ann Arbor Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

My new Hal Leonard videos for Doxy and St Thomas are up and are posted at http://www.guitarinstructor.com/product/viewinstructor.do?biographyid=861.

The March update is coming soon!

February 2011 Update

Welcome to the February 2011 update!

The regular dates:

Tuesday evenings at Mercy’s, the Jake Reichbart Trio, 7-9PM.

Wednesday evenings at The Earle, solo guitar, 7-9PM.

Thursday evenings, at Mercy’s, solo guitar, 7-9PM.

One Friday a month at the Polo Fields CC, see below this month’s date.

The month started with a major snow storm but that didn’t stop the crowds from completely filling Mercy’s on Tuesday night to hear the trio! (OK, they came for a dinner before going to hear the Cleveland Symphony at the Hill Auditorium across the street, but so what…). We are at Mercy’s every Tuesday, 7-9PM, come on out!

Several U of M gigs this month: On Wednesday 2/3 and 2/9, I will play solo gigs for the MHealthy expo event, 11AM-1PM. The former date is at the Michigan League ballroom and the latter date at the Dow Auditorium at the hospital. Open to all U of M employees!

On Thursday, 2/10, my trio will play a cocktail party at the Masco Cabinetry headquarters for their open house, 5-8PM, by invitation only.

On Saturday, 2/10, my trio will play for the U of M Electrical Engineering annual faculty dinner, invitation only.

On 2/14, I will be playing with the Chaiym Rubin band from Toronto at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. Looking forward to jam with Toronto keyboard wizard Jerry Caringi!!

On 2/19, I will be rockin’ out again with Freelance at the Lakepointe Yacht Club, 9P-1AM, open to the public, come on out!

On 2/25, I will play my monthly date at the restaurant at Polo Fields on the west side of Ann Arbor, 5:30PM-8:30PM.

I’ll post added dates as they occur.

Non gig stuff:
Two recent uploads to YouTube, my solo guitar version for Paul Simon’s very lovely Long, Long Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTWaMtbIqG0 as well as a solo guitar arrangement plus free lesson for the Beatles’ Things We Said Today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRR3hI6TrNI.

Two new solo jazz guitar arrangements lessons delivered to Hal Leonard to be viewed at GuitarInstructor.com see here: http://www.guitarinstructor.com/product/viewinstructor.do?biographyid=861. Two new lessons are being delivered each month, the lessons for January are for Sonny Rollis’ Doxy as well as St. Thomas.

Mid January, 2011 updates

Just a few quick updates:

I have taken a sub for two of my normal Wednesday gigs on 1/12 and 1/26 at The Earle (Thanks Patrick Whitehead!) as I have been received calls to do two jobs with the Simcha Mann band, out of Cleveland, at the Hyatt regency in Dearborn. Also on the job Mark Kieme on sax and veteran Detroit Bass player, Gary Leach.

So far this month gigs have gone real well (check previous post):

The Meadowbrook Hall gig with Cliff Monear and George Bennett will go down in our personal history books as one of the most fun ever...!

My regular trio played an extra night last Thursday at Mercy's, it was restaurant week and the owner (Thanks, Steve!) wanted something extra special for the guests.

Last night Freelance rocked the Lakepointe Yacht Club with many new tunes (Not the least "I kissed A Girl"...!). Since I have been breaking lots of strings lately (I never break strings), I have decided to take a backup guitar, A Strat I made out of two: Body, neck and hardware from my 2004 Mexican Strat with the electronics from my 1995 Strat Plus. Didn't need it...

New update coming early February.