I have posted a version of this song before, but this recording is from my last show at Tula's Jazz Club. "Green Eyes" is one of the many songs that I fell in love with after listening to the one and only E.Badu. Josh Rawlings on piano, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass and Jeremy Jones on drums - also known as "The Teaching". They are by far my all-time favorite group to play with from the Seattle area. I am excited to say that they will be apart of my next album, which I have been so diligently working on for you fine folks. :-) Anyways...enjoy. Love and peace.
Click on photo to download song. Photo: Josh Rawlings (piano), Evan Flory-Barnes (bass), Jeremy Jones (drums) and myself performing at Tula's 2011. Special thank you to Jim Carey taking some great photos and for letting me use this pic!
Avatar and I have been friends since we were 14. One of the most gratifying things is to watch someone you grow up with excel and succeed in things that they do. I am so thankful to have such talented friends like Av who allow me to do my thing on their tracks. This track "So Dramatic" was produced by Blast Off Productions and mixed and mastered by DSane. Thanks to everyone involved in making this collaboration possible!
Click on photo to download song. Photo: Avatar's most recent mixtape, "Danny Darko".
Brad and I again at his grad recital. If you recognize the bass line he's grooving during the A section, it's from D'angelo's "Spanish Joint", (clever, right?).
Special thanks to Alex Chaloff for recording this audio and video of his graduate recital.
First and foremost, I want to thank Atuanya Priester (you can follow his blog at www.atuanyapriester.wordpress.com ) for catching these dope pics I am about to share with you. Atuanya was very helpful in the entire video process and he also appeared as an extra in the jazz club scene. This is the behind the scene footage he shot of our days filming Lace Cadence's "Moonlight".
There's the man himself, Jon Augustavo, working his craft.
Me and Isaac...chilling.
Ah, yes...the memories...
Jazz Club Scene with Evan Flory-Barnes on the bass
I am incredibly grateful that a dear friend of mine, Isaac, better known as Lace Cadence in the hip-hop and r&b realm, asked me if I would like to be involved in his video. I couldn't have been more thrilled to be apart of his project. "Moonlight" was the first music video of a song off Lace's new mix-tape, which you can download it at his website www.lacecadence.com. AND, of course, when I heard Jon Augustavo would be directing it, I knew we were going to have a quality piece of art. In less than a week's deadline, we had the venues, the concepts, the plot, etc., ready for filming. Working with Jon was easy. He has a very fine-tuned and natural instinct with the lens. I remember thinking about how efficient he was but at the same time very thoughtful.
Isaac produced and wrote "Moonlight". Needless to say, the visuals were driven completely by the music and lyrics of the song. And it was effortless, it makes sense that filming with Isaac would feel natural since we've been incredibly close since I was 14. He's a very talented and genuine person. And DO expect to hear more about him in the future, he's headed in great directions, no doubt.
We all had a great time. Thanks to Jon, we even took a mid-day break to chill back poolside, lakeside, just to soak in the beauty of the moment. My biggest gratitudes go to Seattle, where in all its' majestic scenery, lives an always-evolving and supportive music community.
"If music be the food of love, play on."
- Shakespeare, Twelfth Night.
Special thanks to: Blastoff Productions; Courtney Marotto - Makeup Artist; Evan Flory-Barnes - bassist in video; Brad Barrett - bassist in recording; Atuanya Priester - Photography/Film Footage & Extra; Dharma Martin - Extra; Lauren Fejarang - Video Assistant; Egan's Ballard Jam House - Jazz Club
If you know me, you know that one of my favorite artists of all time is Erykah Badu. I really wanted to do some of her music on my recital but was so stuck as to which one's I should do, so I said, what the hell might as well do a bunch of them as a medley. I tried to cover the evolution of her music. The whole recording is about 20 minutes which covers four of her songs including: Green Eyes, Telephone, Cleva, On & On and Bag Lady. If you haven't heard of this artist or her music, I HIGHLY suggest checking it out. It's been incredibly inspirational in my compositions as well as performance aspect. Thanks to Ben Stepner who really came through and helped me the arranging. And of course thanks to the rest of the band, Parker, Charles, Tcheser for grooving so damn hard.
Click on photo to download song. Photo: Erykah Badu's cover of her new album.
