JasonShadrick

Describe your first experience playing music.

My first experience really playing was going to my drum kit that my dad had bought me (an old Leedy kit, made by Ludwig  with WFL snare) immediately following the Beatles’ first performance on American TV on Feb 9, 1964. I had not been inspired to play anything in particular until that moment, and suddenly I was digging in like my life depended on it!

What has been your most significant musical experience?

That live TV broadcast was the seminal one for me, but the one that made me decide to go on living when I was at my most down-moment was hearing Ivan Lins sing “Daquilo De Eu Sei” for the first time (the original version on the Philips label). It was transcendental.

What is the best advice on pursuing a career in music you were ever given?

To focus on playing one instrument- bass!!

What is your favorite sound?

I think it would be the sound of natural water movement; waterfalls, ocean waves, rivers & streams, etc.

Name some of your biggest non-musical influences.

I like to give credit to anybody with  positive message. That would include people like Jesus, Deepak Chopra, Louise Hay, Krishna, Tony Robbins, Ghandi, Obama.

What is the most memorable concert you ever attended?

Brian Wilson’s band of the last few years has been mighty impressive, from a perspective of well-played parts & great singing. Also there have been some Tower Of Power performances that I have seen over the years that were so funky, it smelled like something the cat dragged in!!

Put your iPod on shuffle and name the first 5 songs that come up.

1. “Song of The King” from Rogers & Hammerstein’s “The King & I”

2. “Respect” by Otis Redding

3. “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles

4. “Pamela” by Toto

5. “Driftin’” by Will Lee (Wow, that’s embarrassing, except that Jeff Beck is on the track!!)

Visit Will at www.willlee.com

Describe your first experience playing music.

When I was very young around 3 or 4 my parents used to sing folk songs with their friends at parties. I would sing along an pluck on a ukelele or bang on the table or whatever. My mother was studying classical piano so I heard her practice. I remember liking Bartok’s Hungarian and Rumanian folk songs . Later I took up piano and violin before I took up guitar and played in the elementary school orchestra in Berkeley California. we backed up the jazz band and played songs like Oh Happy Day and Mercy Mercy Mercy. I didn’t start guitar until I was 10.

What has been your most significant musical experience?

Tough question. For me there is no other thrill better than writing some music and then hearing it played by other people. In High School I had a class with Art Lande where we had to come up with a song or small composition for a group every week. It was the deadline that did it and I ended up writing my first songs.
What is the best advice on pursuing a career in music you were ever given?

Well I was never given much career advice it seems, but I do remember one of my early guitar teachers saying that you should make yourself indispensable in a group situation.

What is your favorite sound?

If this was the actors studio I would say something like my first born laughter or something. I am going to be boring and just use music. I like the human voice best.

Name some of your biggest non-musical influences.

I like art, film, literature, food, nature. I think art and film are huge influences…I will really want to play or compose after I see some good art. Music will never be as abstract as painting though. Making scores or writing down music on paper seems like the closest sometimes. I like making a visual image that somehow corresponds to music. I used to like to draw for hours while listening to music and it made me think of how shapes, colors and form can be similar in both fields.

What was the most memorable concert you ever attended?

Well when I was young and not as jaded I got something out of nearly every concert I went to. I can’t say which were the most memorable but Top 5 today are probably Led Zeppelin, Prince (before he was famous) Charles Mingus, Elvis Costello and the Carla Bley big band.Tomorrow I will have another top 5 list.

Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 5 songs that appear

Dr Lonnie Smith “Turning point”
Aphex Twin “To cure a weakling child”
Franco   “Na Basani Yo Te”
Will Bernard  “Nature walk”
Soul Children “Hearsay”

Go see Will live.  He tours constantly.  www.willbernard.com

Describe your first experience playing music.

I can remember my Mom teaching me some piano snippets as a young Kochling. She has secret powers. She taught me a 12 bar boogie pattern early on and those three chords have hounded me every since.

What has been your most significant musical experience?

I used to do a duo with a legendary keyboard player named Jr. Brantley when I was a teenager and he taught me many things. One of the things he told me was that I would never have to worry about money. That certainly didn’t stop me from worrying but it gave me the confidence to trudge ahead and his musical lessons were invaluable.

What is the best advice on pursuing a career in music you were ever given?

Somewhere along the line I heard some semblance of the following….

If you can’t take occasionally hearing that your best ain’t shit, that everything you think is cool, ain’t, that you ain’t ever going to amount to a hump of scat and/or if you can’t stand seeing cheese elevated time and time again to the heights of success while truly gifted folks live in squaller, GET OUT NOW! BUT, if you can take it, try hard, stick to your guns and treat people the way you want to be treated, you’ll always do fine.

What is your favorite sound?

Strats, Teles and the growl of an expresso machine…

Name some of your biggest non-musical influences

Fight or flight reflex….Negative reinforcement…kruesening…unkruesening

What is the most memorable concert you ever attended?

The first time I saw Eric Clapton with Albert Lee…Summerfest, Milwaukee, 1983…

Put your iPod on shuffle and name the first 5 songs that come up.

“Girl” The Beatles
“Sunset Over Broadway” Roy Buchanan
“Spiral Dance” Keith Jarrett
“Your Time is Gonna Come” Led Zeppelin
“Water of Love” Dire Straits

Find out more about Greg at www.gregkoch.com

Alex is one of my favorite guitarists.  We met right after I moved to the east coast at a Labor Day BBQ of a mutual friend.  It was a bit surreal to see a guy you had listened to for quite a while ask you to pass the bread.  Anyways, Alex is not only an incredible metal guitarist, over the last decade he has established himself as a jazz guitarist.  This past summer we were lucky enough to have him as a guest artist in McLean, VA.

Please check out his website at www.alexskolnick.com

Describe your first experience playing music

I believe it was at a friends house or a friend of my parents who had a piano. I tapped out the riff to ‘Smoke On The Water”

What has been your most significant musical experience?

I think that may have been it! Also, hearing Miles Davis with of his electric bands while flipping channels on TV. He combined screaming electric guitarists (probably it was Scofield or Stern, not sure) with world music percussion, funk bass grooves and jazz harmony. It had the power of metal.  Right then it was clear that how deep music could go and how it was all universal.

What is the best advice on pursuing a career in music you were ever given?

“It takes ten songs to write one good one.” Several people have said something like this to me and I’ve found it to be true. Then there is the quote by the late Hunter S. Thomson:

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

What is your favorite sound?

The ocean

Name some of your biggest non-musical influences.

Books, especially those by Erica Jong, Tom Wolfe, Thomas Wolfe, Philip Roth, and Henry Rollins, to name a few. Also, food and chefs, especially Anthony Bourdaine and Thomas Keller.

What was the most memorable concert you ever attended?

Prince, ‘Musicology’ tour 2005. He made the Continental Arena in NJ feel like a small dance club and was played guitar as well as any great rock guitarist I’ve ever seen.

Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 5 songs that appear

“Better Off Without A Wife” (Tom Waits)

” Now He Beats The Drum — Now He Stops” (Chick Corea)

“Mercy Street” (Peter Gabriel)

“The Art Of Fugue, BWV1080: Contrapunctus I” (JS Bach)

“Thunderbird” (ZZ Top)

One of the best clinics I saw this summer was with Oteil Burbridge and his longtime musical companion Jimmy Herring. Oteil is a master musician and one of easiest guys to work with. From his work with The Aquarium Rescue Unit to his current position in the Allman Brothers Band, Oteil is as versatile as they get.  I recently caught up with Oteil at an Allman Brothers/Widespread Panic show in Hartford.  The show was great and Oteil really gave everyone a lesson on how to lay down the groove with a four string P-Bass and a pick.

Describe your first experience playing music.

That’s heard to recall because it was so early. I remember my first snare drum, a Christmas present. My mom and dad said I was beating on everything so they got me a drum. I was five. My memory is really bad so going that far back is pretty vague. Its something can’t remember not doing.

What has been your most significant musical experience?

All of them have been so valuable. Any time that I get to play with my brother Kofi is a peak experience because he’s so musical in so many ways and to such an extreme degree. Playing with Col. Bruce Hampton totally changed me forever. It was my first “born again” experience. Playing with the Allman Brothers has been so influencial because I now think that they might have been the first true Fusion group to start from rock and go towards jazz succesfully. Jazz Rock Fusion artists rarely had vocals except for occasionally like with Allan Holdsworth, Tony Williams Lifetime, Brand X or Andre Cecarelli. Now I just to work with great singers. that’s what gets me off the most, especially gospel and blues.

What is the best advice on pursuing a career in music you were ever given?

Don’t!

Just kidding, but seriously, making a career out of it can really take the fun out of it. You really have to be realistic about it. I think the best “career” advice I was ever given was a comment that Col. Bruce made once. He said, “99 percent of success is just showing up.” What he meant was that so many musicians show up late, drunk, not at all, or are hard to work with. If you are an amazing player, what does it matter if you are late, absent, too inebriated or difficult to work with? Its the basics that really matter. I want longevity so I have to take care of my body, mind and spirit to have that to its fullest, not just practice. But the best advice I could give is to not let anything come between you and the joy of music. When its not joyful anymore, you’re robbing yourself, and everyone else.

What is your favorite sound?

My fiance laughing. Babies laughing. Motorcycles engines.

Name some of your biggest non-musical influences.

Everything should theoretically influence your music. I’m aiming for my music to reflect my life. Sunrises and sunsets, being in love, friends, family, politics, religion, motorcycles, books, comedians, animals, plants, nature, etc.

What was the most memorable concert you ever attended?

Sun Ra and Bobby Blue Bland, both for obvious reasons. I saw Jaco in his prime when I was seventeen and that made me decide to take the chance on pursuing music as a career. I would give anything to have seen Charlie Christian, Blind Willie Johnson, Rev. James Cleveland, Bob Marley and Howlin’ Wolf live. Fortunately there is great video of Howlin’ Wolf, James Cleveland and Bob Marley.

Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 5 songs that appear

I do Pandora internet radio now and its programmed to two stations; Bobby Blue Bland and Rev. James Cleveland. I lost all my itunes when my last computer crashed but it would have bounced between Charlie Christian, James Brown, Ralph Stanley, The Meters, Miles, George Jones, Mahalia Jackson, Weather Report, Blind Willie Johnson, Stravinsky, Ravi Shankar and tons of Bob Marley. Family Man might be my all time favorite bassist by the way.

Check out Oteil’s website at myspace.com/oteilburbridge