Hey! Hope you're having a great summer. Rubi and I are up to our necks in baby care, but watching Lil' Jim grow every day has been amazing. In the meantime, I've been making sweet music and collaborating with some fantastic musicians. My June recording session in ATL with Stax Soul man William Bell (pictured right) went very well. The session was engineered at Wilbe Studios by a super-talented musician named Wizard Jones, who is currently preparing for a tour as the music director for New Edition and most recently was music director for Justin Bieber's live band. It was fascinating to hear Wiz describe how he handles these huge musical productions.
William and I recorded an intimate acoustic version of a song we wrote together called "In a Moment of Weakness." Cannot wait for you to hear it! During some downtime we listened to Sam Cooke's album "Live at the Harlem Square Club," recorded live in Miami in 1963. HIghly recommended listening. Mr. Bell has been very kind and generous to me and I feel very lucky to have the chance to work with such a legendary talent.
Have a few live performances coming up in the next few weeks. Playing guitar for drummer Greg Joseph's organ quartet at Rockwood Music Hall on Saturday June 28 at 3 pm... this set will feature Organist Ben Stivers (Barry Gibb, Greg Allman) and sax player Anna Webber. Expect some serious soul jazz ala Jack McDuff.
Playing with my own Electric Trio (Matt Brandau, Keith Robinson) out on Long Island on Friday, July 11; we'll be at New Plaza Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, NY, 7 - 10 pm. Free admission! We are also working on new material and fall tourdates for the trio - more news on that end soon.
Also playing guitar for my friends Smokey and the Mirror at the Red Wing Music Festival in Mt. Solon VA on Saturday July 12. Looks like a fun festival and a great line-up. More soon, folks!
Greg
Preview "Crosstown" on SoundCloud:
Preview the video for "More Than a Friend" on Vimeo:
