Guitarist Jake Reichbart

2012-01-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012!

As usual, my updates are late and also far and few in between. As a result, all kinds of great stories about gigs, recordings and trips never make it to the blog… Too bad but water under the bridge. I’ll try to mention a few cool stories and experiences from the past months, but first, the regular dates plus one-offs through, say, April or May, by which time I certainly hope to have updated the blog again… So:

Wednesday evenings at The Earle, solo guitar, 7-9PM.
Thursday evenings, at Mercy’s, solo guitar, 7-9PM.
One or two Fridays 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: Mostly Fridays, 5:30-8:30PM:

January 20
February 10
February 24
March 17 (Saturday!)
March 30
April 20
May 18

Freelance:

Friday, January 20, Darrel’s in Jackson, 9PM-1AM.
Saturday, January 21, Lakepointe Yacht Club,Livoinia, 9PM-1AM.
Saturday, February 4, Lakepointe Yacht Club, Livonia, 9PM-1AM.
Friday, February 10, Darrel’s in Jackson, 9PM-1AM.
Saturday, February 11, TC Gators, Canton, 9PM-1AM.
Saturday, March 3, Lakepointe Yacht Club, Livonia, 9PM-1AM.
Friday, March 9, Darrel’s in Jackson, 9PM-1AM.
Friday, March 23, Hard Knock Cafe, in Jackson, 9PM-1AM.
Saturday, March 31, TC Gators, Canton, 9PM-1AM.
Saturday, April 21, Zukey Lake Tavern, Pinckney, 9PM-1AM
Saturday, April 28, Lakepointe Yacht Club, 9PM-1AM.
Saturday, May 19, Hard Knock Cafe, in Jackson, 9PM-1AM.
Friday, June 22, Hard Knock Cafe, in Jackson, 9PM-1AM.

For it being winter, I actually have a decent 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:

Saturday, January 7, wedding ceremony and reception at the Michigan League, Ann Arbor, 4-9PM, with Jordan Schug on bass.
Saturday, January 14, with the Dave Sharp Trio at La Vita Bistro in Pinckney.
Thursday, January 26, with the Gwyneth Hayes Trio with Rob Avsharian on Drums. Vinology in Ann Arbor, 9PM-12AM.
Thursday, February 2, duo with Jordan Schug on bass, event for the Program in Biomedical Sciences at the Mezzanine level lobby, Hill Auditorium. 9-10PM.
Friday, February 3, with the Gwyneth Hayes Trio with Rob Avsharian on Drums. Banfield's Bar & Grill, Ann Arbor (East), 9PM-1AM.
Sunday, February 12, solo guitar concert at the Rochester Hills Public Library, 2-3:30PM. For more info - http://lookupdetroit.com/blog/2012/01/26/guitarist-jake-reichbart-to-perform-at-the-rochester-hills-public-library/
Thursday, February 16, with the Miles Brown Trio, Vinology in Ann Arbor, 9PM-12AM.
Sunday, February 19, the Jake Reichbart Trio with Jordan Schug and George Bennett at the Common Grill in Chelsea, 12-3PM.
Thursday, February 23, jQube will perform it's first live "general rehearsal" gig at The Elks in Ann Arbor, 7-11PM, PLEASE COME OUT!
Saturday, February 25 – and this is a big deal! – jQube is coming back to life with new members Jordan Schug and Rob Avsharian. Original Jazz/Rock/Funk fusion. Tap Room Ypsilanti, 9PM-1AM.
Monday, February 27, with the Gwyneth Hayes Trio with Rob Avsharian on Drums. UDetroit webcast! Tune in at http://www.udetroit.com/home.php. 8PM.
Saturday, March 3, 4:30PM-7PM, wedding ceremony and cocktails, solo guitar, Cobblestone Farm, Ann Arbor.
Friday, March 9, 3-4PM, solo guitar at The Sanctuary At St. Joseph's Village, email me for details.
Satruday, March 10, with the Gwyneth Hayes Trio with Rob Avsharian on Drums. Tap Room Ypsilanti, 9PM-1AM.
Sunday, March 18, gig with the Chayim Rubin Orchestra of Toronto, details TBA.
Thursday, March 22, The Jake Reichbart Trio with Jordan Schug and Mike Jellick, Vinology in Ann Arbor, 9PM-12AM.
Sunday, March 25, gig with the Avy Schreiber Orchestra, details TBA.
Sunday, April 15, with the Temple Israel Orchestra performing cantor Neil Michaels’ show “The Music in Me”. There will be six rehearsals in preceding weeks. The band will include Dan Maslanka on drums and Larry Prentis on bass, a three piece horn section and two keyboards. Afternoon concert at Temple Israel, contact Temple for tickets.
Thursday, April 19, with the Gwyneth Hayes Trio with Rob Avsharian on Drums. Vinology in Ann Arbor, 9PM-12AM.
Saturday, May 5, 3:30PM-6:30PM, wedding ceremony and cocktails, solo guitar, Metro Beach Park, Harrison TWP.
Saturday, May 12, 9PM-1AM, the Jake Reichbart trio at the Ottawa Tavern, the new jazz club in Grand Rapids! With Fred Knapp on drums and David Rosin on bass.
Saturday, May 26, 4-6PM, wedding ceremony and cocktails, solo guitar, Michigan League, Ann Arbor.
Sunday, May 27, 6:30-7:30PM, wedding ceremony and cocktails, solo guitar, Townsend Hotel, Birmingham.

For gigs starting in May-June, I’ll try my best to make a new update in a timely manner…

Other activities:

I recently finished recording a CD with bassist Jon Liebman for his Hal Leonard book "Bass Aerobics" which is now available! Buy directly from John at http://www.forbassplayersonly.com. 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.
I have now 52 (!) instructional DVDs to go with my various solo guitar performances on YouTube, email me for a complete list. AND two new DVD lessons have been commissioned for my solo guitar performances of “Badge” by Cream and “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. These should be ready by the third week of January.
Two new Jake Reichbart solo jazz guitar DVDs are also in production right now for Hal Leonard! One, of jazz standards, is nearly complete, the second, of Christmas tunes, is about half done. Both will include ten songs with video lessons and TABS and are scheduled to be released later this year.
I also have a series of lessons at Hal Leonard for streaming, some of the individual song lessons from the above Hal Leonard DVDs are already available to download, 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.
Although we just passed Christmas, I must mention a mini album recording I did with a wonderful young vocalist by the name of Bradley McNett, six Christmas tunes at the cost of $5…! To sample and purchase, visit here: http://brad-jake.bandcamp.com.
I am working right now on a YouTube collaboration video with musicians throughout Europe, a cover of "I Don't Want To Go Home" by the Alan Parsons Project, I will post a link just as soon as available.

Trips:

Two European trips are now in active discussions! If they take place, the first will be to the Paris-Nancy area, April 2 - April 12. During this time I hope to gig or record with guitarist Sylvain Courtney, do a clinic at MAI in Nancy and record a CD with Slikk Tim. The second trip will, hopefully, take place late October – mid November and will include solo guitar gigs as will as fronting a jazz group for concerts throughout the UK, possibly Amsterdam as well. Lots of details to be figured out here…

A small handful of recent highlights:

A great New Year’s Eve gig took place at Mercy’s Restaurant, a duo with Shannon Wade on bass. Shannon also filled in with my trio at the Common Grill on December 18 and did a fabulous job!
On Wednesday, December 21, I performed with the great vocalist, Janice Franco, at the UDetroit Café, live broadcast, good times!
Also on the 18th, later in the evening, I played with Gwyneth Hayes at the Old Town in Ann Arbor for the first time. What a treat it was! Hole to do it again…

In recent weeks I had the pleasure to gig, record or jam with many musicians I have not met before as well as ones I have not worked with in a while. It’s been a great pleasure and I will do my best to play with them again asap. In no particular order: Tim Haldeman, Dan Picolo, Dave Sharp, Paul Finkbeiner, Ralph Tope, Duncan McMillan, Takashi Iio, Mike Jellick, Sébastien Levanneur, Brandon Cooper, Stefan Kukurugya, Miles Brown, Noah Jackson, Jessie Kramer, Phil Hale, Sam Weber, Damon Warmack, Doug Horn, Tony Viviano, Kurt Krahnke, Paul Keller, Sarah Barnes D'Angelo, Meri Slaven, Bob Mervak, Kris Kurzawa, Mary Seelhorst, Erin Zurbukchen, Eric Nyhuis, Myron Grant, Rob Gamblin, Steve McNanny, Doug Bacckus, Scott Gwinell, Kelly Broadway, Janice Franco, Jordan Schug, Chris Codish, Jim Simonson, Neil Donato, Pete Kahn, Mark Kieme, Avy Schreiber, Rob Avsharian, George Bennett, Shannon Wade, Ben Jansson, Bradley McNett, Greg Koltyk, Timothy Gay, Dennis Sheridan, Jon Liebman… And I’m sure I left out many fine musicians who were at Damon’s famous birthday party!

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

2011-09-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Good intentions and all but as you can clearly see, I have neglected to makeany new posts in a while. Perhaps a more realistic approach would be to aim foran 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, whichI 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 bandFreelance, 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, LakepointeYacht 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, publicand private, coming up. Here is a sampling, keeping in mind that gigs get addedall the time:

Solo guitar:

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

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

Saturday October 1, wedding ceremony at Gene Davis hall inJackson.

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

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

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

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

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

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

All Europeanfans are invited!

Other activities:

I just finished recording a CD with bassist Jon Liebman for his upcomingfunk recording for Hal Leonard which will be available very soon. Allrecordings took place at my studio using my Ibanez Prestige into my MarshallAVT 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 guitarperformances 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=861to see all the lessons that are available for download.

Of course my Hal Leonard DVD “Pop hits for solo jazz guitar” is availableeverywhere online, often well below list price. Just copy the DVD title intoyour 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 confirmif 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 thehouse of the president of Eastern Michigan University. My third year doing this event, what ahouse, what a treat!

Speaking of treats, I performed on September 10 at the American-PolishCultural 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 withCliff Monear, Jordan Schug, Greg Koltyk and George Bennett. Everybody playedtheir ass off!

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

Jake

2011-06-01T06:58:00.001-07:00

March 2011 updte

2011-03-06T02:00:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

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.

End of 2010 plus January 2011 update

2010-12-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

Hello!

As we are nearing the end of 2010, I'd first like to wish everybody a happy new year! I'd like to also fill you in on the latest news:

First off, there's a brand new www.jakereichbart.com, check it out, it's sleek, efficient and cool (thanks John Smith!)

If you haven't heard, my Hal Leonard DVD "Pop hits for solo jazz guitar" is out and available everywhere. I don't sell them directly, just copy the title into your search bar and numerous sources will pop up.

On Thursday, 12/30/10, I will have the third and final recording session, adding guitar tracks to the CD accompanying bassist Jon Liebman's latest Hal Leonard book. I will add a link to the book once available. I will use my Ibanez Sabre Prestige model guitar through a Yamaha DG100 using a AKG Perception100 condenser mic into Jon's Mac-book where he already has all his bass and drum tracks. Musical content is mostly rock and funk.

Last night, Tuesday, 12/28, my trio had it's best crowd yet at Mercy's. It's a great room, come on out on a Tuesday. I play there solo on Thursdays as well.

Tonight, Wednesday, 12/29, instead of being at the Earle (thanks Sven Anderson for covering for me!), I will play with a New York band (will they make it with the snow storm?) for an orthodox Jewish wedding at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. Two other locals will be on the job, Mark Kieme (sax) and Bob Jensen (tpt).

New Years Eve rocking out with Freelance at "4 Friends" in Canton.

January 2011:

My regular Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday gigs continue as usual (see December post for details, just to the right under "blog archive"). A handful of additional gigs:

On January 8 I am looking forward to performing a ceremony and later in the evening with a trio for a wedding at Meadowbrook Hall. In addition to being a beautiful historic venue, I am particularly exited to play with George Bennett on drums and Cliff Monear on keyboard and bass pedals.

On January 18 I will perform at the University of Michigan for the grand opening of the Tech Transfer facility on North Campus. This is a pretty big even with the U president scheduled to speak.

Freelance will be back at Lakepoint Yacht Club on January 21.

I will return to Polo Fields Country Club for my bi-monthly performance on January 28, 5:30-8:30PM in the restaurant, solo guitar. The club is closed the first half of the month.

Once again, happy new year!

Jake Reichbart music and gig updates, Dec 2010:

2010-12-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

Hi! I don’t update frequently (actually this is my first FB update…), so this may be a bit long, kindly bear with me…The biggest news of the day is that my “Pop hits for solo jazz guitar“ DVD on the Hal Leonard label is finally available! Look here http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=320905&lid=49&menuid=3012&subsiteid=67& and click on “Closer Look”. The individual segments have been available for a while on www.Guitarinstructor.com along with segments from my next DVD “Latin hits for solo jazz guitar“, to be published soon, as well as other jazz standards. I expect to add new videos to www.Guitarinstructor.com on an ongoing basis at a rate of 2 a month.

Ongoing gigs:

Every Tuesday evening, 7-9PM, The Jake Reichbart Trio at Mercy’s restaurant at the Bell Tower Hotel in Ann Arbor. W/George Bennett – drums and Ben Rolston – Bass.

Every Wednesday evening, 7-9PM, solo jazz guitar at The Earle in Ann Arbor (18 years and going!)

Every Thursday evening, 7-9PM, solo jazz guitar at Mercy’s restaurant at the Bell Tower Hotel in Ann Arbor.

Every other Friday, solo jazz guitar at the Polo Fields Country Club in Ann Arbor, 5:30-8:30PM. The dates for December are the 3rd and the 17th.

Other gigs:

Thursday, December 2nd, the Ann Arbor Klezmer Trio with Greg Koltyk on Clarinet and Kurt Krahnke on bass will perform a one hour special show at the U of M hospital main lobby, 12-1PM.

The Jake Reichbart Trio W/George Bennett – drums and Ben Rolston – Bass, will perform our annual Holiday Brunch at The Common Grill in Chelsea on Sunday, 12/19, 12-3PM. Make your reservation today!!

I’ll perform solo guitar for the UEP (University Events Planners) holiday party at Webber’s Inn on Wednesday, December 8th, 3-5PM. Stop by!

On Saturday, December 11, I will be leading a band for a holiday party at Polo Fields CC, featuring some great musicians I am looking forward to working with: George Bennett on drums, Louis Johnson (leader of Motor City Beat) on sax, the amazing Sven Andersen on keys/bass and the very talented Kelly Broadway on vocals.

Another holiday party for Denison Consulting (is it 10 years in a row now?). Solo guitar. See you Denison’s office on Thursday 12/16, 4:30-7:30PM.

Freelance band: I will be rocking out with these guys this Saturday, 12/4, at the Lake Point Yacht Club, in Livonia, 9:30PM-1:30PM. No jazz here - lots of AC/DC, Buckcherry, etc… We will also perform on New Year’s Eve at 4 Friends bar and grill in Canton, similar hours…

There are some other musical activities to report: In the next week or two I will lay down the guitar tracks for Jon Liebman’s new CD (Jon is a major bass player, look for him here on FB under “For bass players only”). I’m also glad to report that I have re-hooked-up, after 20 years, with drummer Rob Avsharian and we have two projects we are working on: One with Duncan McMillan on Fender Rhodes and synth bass. The other project, with a yet to be named bass player, will be an attempt to revive my old jQube project, a pure fusion guitar/bass/drums trio performing primarily original music. As soon as any of these come to fruition I will update.

Sorry about the lengthy update. I suppose shorter, more frequent updates, would be better (a new year’s resolution…?).

Recommended links:

I am so glad I had a chance to catch up, here on FB, with 2 outstanding drummers I used to work with, Steve Nistor and Steve Aho. Check them out, they're great! Also, in the department of guitar players who make me wish I have picked up carpentry instead of guitar, please look up the amazing Peter Mazza (NY) and Sylvain Courtney (France). Dang!