Mark and Regan, members of “The Jazzkats” will be joining some old band mates to play a monthly gig at Pandora’s Lounge on Washington and Rainbow at the end of the month, Friday, July 29th, from 9pm to midnight.
Join them for an impromptu jam session on the patio of “The Madhouse” at 1am immediately following the gig at Pandora’s. This coffee house is the perfect setting for an espresso brew, teramisu, and the Jazzkats too.
Hope to see you there.
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It has been over two weeks since I heard the sad news of the passing of the great Clarence Clemmons. It is an end of an era.
For me, it was 1976, I was 17, and I seemed to be at the perfect age when I first heard “Born to Run”. This struck me as such a great rock and roll anthem. And not only that, it had a sax! And not just any old sax – a gritty, ballsy, peel the chrome off the bumper, kind of sax.
It happened to be the same B flat tenor sax that I was learning to play at the time. I was a modest jazz band soloist who happened to be playing the same horn that Clarence played. That is really where the similarity stopped. At that time, I was happy to be able to ad-lib most melody lines and I could take off on a blues pentatonic riff like nobody else in school. Still, when I went to try and cover Clarence Clemmons, I remember thinking, “this could take years, if ever”.
What a monstrous sound that came out of his horn. I had the pleasure of seeing him in a nightclub in Lake Tahoe when he was with the Red Rockets. I have never heard anything quite like it. My ears rang for weeks, it was so loud. At that point I was nearly 30 and even though I had played into my share of microphones, nothing could compare to what I was hearing that night. I was literally blown away by the sound that came through that P.A. back in 1989.
For me, I honestly don’t relate to his particular style, but I remember feeling proud that there was such a force in Rock and Roll and I had a chance to witness it from 30 feet away. And also, I can’t claim to be a fanatic like the legions of “Bruce” fans but I love the energy and the honesty. And today, I really feel that there is an influential piece missing from my musical story because I have been so moved by all of it.
And so it was a bit ironic two weeks ago, when Regan called up one of the few Bruce songs that he knew. For some reason I flipped on my Iphone and recorded “One Step Up” We had never rehearsed it and I think we captured a “moment” of inspiration. I found out later that evening that Clarence was in intensive care and had recently suffered a massive stroke. I am thinking, suddenly this tribute becomes poignant.
Please forgive the borrowing of the slideshow as “The Jazzkats” pay homage to the “Big Man”
Regan Wood singing “One Step Up” with Mark Valentine accompanying on Sax. Enjoy.
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Sometimes the thing just clicks. That’s how I would describe the chemistry between Regan and I as we are entering our tenth month of rehearsals. We have been digging through thousands of songs to find our sound which is a nice mixture of R&B, Jazz, and Pop Melodies.
Initially, the group was designed for me to play lead on sax creating instrumental background music as for a cocktail party or dinner house setting, but Regan has such a tremendous voice (Regan’s Demo) and an amazing song book that we have decided to expand to do at least one set of vocal arrangements where I will be accompanying him.
Our songlist focuses on material that spans 40 years. We cover jazz standards that are easy to listen to. Bossa Nova and latin flavored. Next we cover pop music from the best singer song writers in the business. (Think Carol King, James Taylor, Paul Simon) We were also heavily influenced by Lennon and McCartney as well as Bacharach and David.
We round out our set list with some more current covers by Nora Jones, Jack Johnson, and John Mayer. We have such a variety that there is sure to be a part of our show that you will enjoy.
We will be announcing live dates late April or early May 2011. Hope to see you then.
The Look of Love
Tequila
