What music people like or don’t like is purely subjective. You can love or hate Coldplay – up to you. You can argue for hours on the merits of Katy Perry but in the end, you like her music or you don’t. Many artists who slave away for years and years and put thousands of hours into their craft have a hard time rationalizing this. Hours of practice time, pain and artistic suffering is a cool story but it won’t make people love your music (nor should it). Putting my ego aside and realizing this freed me from my musical snobbery and in fact, helped me to appreciate even more the hard work bands do to get noticed. And here’s the really important point I want to make:

Bands who succeed today are great at marketing and how good or bad the music is has absolutely nothing to do with a great marketing plan.

So in a nutshell – 1. get over yourself and 2. start marketing your music. And we’ll revisit this topic again next year when I ask for your vote again Thanks everyone.

Eli and Alejandro

I recently had the opportunity to go into the studio for Alejandro Escovedo’s latest recording which is due out April of 2012. Producing the session was Tony Visconti who played bass and recorded with David Bowie for over 12 years (including some of his biggest hits like Fame, Young Americans, etc.). My partner in crime was Mr. Ephraim Owens on trumpet and I even played bari sax on a couple of cuts thanks to friend Scotty McIntosh who let me use his horn.

I first came to know about Alejandro way back in the 80′s when he was playing with the True Believers, an Austin super group featuring 3 guitar players (including Jon Dee Graham). Over the years, he’s recorded many, many great records under his own name and has become an Austin legend – playing with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and touring the country constantly. I first started playing with Alejandro last spring when Ephraim asked me to play at SXSW for Alejandro’s big show at the San Jose Hotel.

Eli and Ephraim

The session took place at Jim Eno’s studio called Public Hi-Fi and it was a really quick, fun day. Jim plays drums with Spoon and has built a really cool spot that is comfortable and sounds great. Tony was incredibly quick as he and guitarist David Pulkingham came up with the horn parts on the spot and Ephraim and I put them down. It’s days like this where the stars align and you feel like anything is possible as a musician. If only there were more opportunities like this! At this point in my life, however, I know that these are rare moments so I took a bunch of pictures and tried to take it all in. Alejandro asked us to play SXSW again this Spring so look for us on stage in the parking lot of the San Jose Hotel in a few months. Happy New Year!

Dr. James Polk telling one of his famous stories

One of the highlights for me was the ability to go into the recording studio with Dr. James Polk, Austin jazz icon and former musical director for Ray Charles for many years. Dr. Polk played on my first CD, Standards, and I was thrilled to be able to have him play on my latest effort. Recorded in two days at Churchhouse Studios just before Thanksgiving, the new CD will feature Dr. Polk on Hammond B3 organ, Jake Langley on guitar, Daniel Durham on bass and Scott Laningham on drums.

The program features two new original compositions and eight standards that I arranged for the group. In contrast to my last CD Dream Story, which features all original compositions and is heavily influenced by the nuanced style of Wayne Shorter, this CD is very accessible, swinging and just feels good. Nothing wrong with that!

I’m going back into the studio next week to mix the recording and I hope to have it ready to release sometime in Feb or March – before SXSW. If you are interested in participating in this recording with me, please consider joining Patronism.com where 100% of your subscription goes to finishing this CD. Thanks for reading and enjoy your holiday!

I’ve added my performances for December on the Shows page which includes a date this Friday, December 9 at The Elephant Room. The band features Pete Rodriguez on trumpet, Scott Laningham on drums, Daniel Durham on bass and Ben Irom on piano. We start at 9:30pm and play ’til the wee hours. Hope to see you tomorrow night.

The Casa Karen concert series is produced by George Oldziey and Suzi Stern, fantastic musicians in their own right, who have carefully created the perfect listening environment. The setting is George and Suzi’s living room, where listeners are up-close and personal with the musicians and without the usual distractions of bar talk, wait-staff or less-than-ideal seating. Every seat is perfect and the room is filled with the amazing sounds of the 9-foot grand piano which is really something to hear.

Doors open at 7pm, show starts at 7:30pm. Tickets are $20. Free refreshments and treats of all sorts! Casa Karen is located at 7402 Greehaven Dr 78757 call for more info and reservations which are recommended: 512-459-9900 credit card payment accepted. This series is very popular and seating is limited so please, call now for reservations.

I also will be featuring two fantastic musicians on my November 11 gig at the Elephant Room: Peter Stoltzman on piano and Pete Rodriguez on trumpet. Mr. Stoltzman, an accomplished pianist has recently accepted a teaching job in Chicago but he’s back for a rare appearance. Mr. Rodriguez has recently returned to us from NYC and is a true talent on trumpet.

Finally, I was asked to sit in with the Bo-Keys, a Memphis-soul band, at the Continental Club this month on November 10. Full horn section with a serious groove.