Last night I went to hang out with my friends Donny Gruendler and Greg Bissonette. We went to a place called Cafe Cordial. It’s a great restaurant in the valley. They do live music there several days a week. I’ve performed there, many of my friends have performed there. It’s a great place. Excellent food, good atmosphere and great music. I felt a little like I was in a drummer convention with all the drummers around me.
The band last night was Bern. An 11 piece funk jazz thing. They do covers of songs from bands like Tower of Power, The Beatles, Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder, and more. What made it extremely cool were the arrangements of the songs. You’d hear familiar melodies, but the structures had changed and the feel was nowhere near the original. It was awesome. They are fronted by three singers who all sing very well.
That makes two great bands I’ve seen this week. A good week for music.
Another cat that was there last night was CJ Vanston. If you’re familiar with Spinal Tap, you’re familiar with CJ’s work. I’ve met CJ once before. A co-writer of mine had me come in to CJ’s studio to sing on a song he had co-written with CJ. I think that was about 2 years ago. CJ spotted me last night and recognized me and remembered my name. I was actually surprised, darn good memory for a guy that only met me once.
Fun night.
Yesterday was also a long day of music as I had mixed 4 of the 8 songs I’ve been working on with Robert. Still got 4 more to do, then comes all the mixing of the other 16 versions. Whew. Additionally I spent a little time updating a feature on the blog. Something you probably won’t notice, but at least I’ve made the change and it makes my life a little easier on the back end. That’s a good thing.
On to the music for today. Since I got a bit of the jazz and funk last night it’s only appropriate that I continue it on to you. Brother Joscephus has come across my radar and fits in very nicely to today’s vibe that I have floating from last night. He’s got that funky soulful vibe that I don’t hear as much as I should. I really dig his inflections in his voice. It really works like a sweet flowing honey over the music. A slight little bit of rasp and some great stylings for the french he’s got in the title.
The band is flowing well in the support of the vocal. The drums, the bass, the horns all pulling down the pocket as they should. I don’t really know what to say other than it makes me want to get up and shake myself on a dance floor. Sway around a little and sip some alcohol, get a big ol’ grin on my face and have fun. That’s a great thing about music, so many different kinds for so many different needs.
Go check out their CD and purchase that there song. May you hang with friends and see some great music tonight!