The NAIL's posterous

Been slowly reading this for weeks. :)

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:18:32 -0800

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Mastering the Solo Piano cd with Silas Brown. Eeee!!!!!

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:16:53 -0800

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Enjoying the last few days of my winter break with cats & fire.

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:37:08 -0800

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A letter from John McLaughlin

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:40:00 -0800

Guitarist John McLaughlin - that amazing guitarist, founder of Mahavishnu & Shakti - recently turned 70. A little Facebook page was set up, called "Happy Birthday John McLaughlin". I took the time to write him a note. So did a lot of other folks... And he wrote back to all of us. I feel this is worth sharing, because it peaks about the porwer of Love, Music, and our connections with eachother.

Namaste'.

A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM JOHN:

Dearest friends. Today I wish to write to all of you who have written to me, or written on Facebook to celebrate my 70th birthday. By the time one gets to be 70 years old, you are supposed to have learned something about life, and today, I'd like to write a few words on the arrival of my 70th birthday which I celebrated in Mumbai India.

My life is a continuous miracle: That I am. There is another miracle, that the Infinite Universe also, is.There is yet another miracle: That we are given the most marvelous gift of love: That we have this capacity to love and be loved. Sometimes I am in awe of love, for it seems to me that love is Infinite and Cosmic in origin, and since love can only be experienced here and now, to love, is to live in the infinite here and now. This is what all the sages of old have recommended as a cure for everything!
And then there is music: what we all love, there's that word again, and in reality this is what brings all of us together. I am humbled and thrilled at the same time, by the numerous messages from you to celebrate my birthday, and without doubt, it is the work of music.
This has to be yet another kind of miracle: That we can make bumps and scrapes, booms, bangs, oohs and aahs, twangs and grinds, and out comes beauty........ And we all love this improbable beauty that comes out of all of these sounds, and that it can be so surprising, so different, and at the same time, so right. Music has this power to speak directly to the depths of our souls, and reminds us that this is where we all belong, and that in music as in love, we truly are one.
With Love and Blessings to all,
john

track: "Power Of Love" from the album "Apocolypse" by the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

01_Power_Of_Love.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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There always seems to be a fantastic selection of books passing thru our house. :)

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 04:50:00 -0800

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Official site: The Adventures of Unemployed Man

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:11:00 -0800

via unemployedman.com

Just read this book. I'm tempted to go buy 10,000 copies to give to EVERYONE. Really great storytelling - the story being the current financial clime here in the good ol' US of A. HIGHLY recommended. :)

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Friday Night Live. Ish.

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:59:00 -0800

It's another Friday Night here in Newburgh, the land of old forgotten homes...

Not all of them are forgotten of course. Some folk have done, and are still doing, beautiful amazing things fixing up these homes. Inspiring. Someday perhaps a photo study will be in order! Meanwhile, if you're interested check out the Newburgh Restoration blog.

We've lived in our 1920's era house for 12 1/2 years. The one thing I've learned about working on these places is that you need either Time, or Money, or Both. Sadly, I have niether... but sometimes things just need to be done, and we make do.

For our friday night this week, my wife & I took down another piece of our crumbling 90 year old plaster ceiling (leaving a big hole for all the lovely cold air to get in). We covered with plastic for now; we'll have to get someone in to sheet rock it as I am inept in such things.
Frankly, its bad condition had me worried it was going to fall & hurt someone. A big plaster chunk fell out of our kitchen ceiling 2 years ago. If my wife had been standing there she would have been seriously injured. All of the ceilings in our house are damaged from water, primarily because we have a flat roof. Another thing I've learned: don't buy a house with a flat roof. If you do, be prepared to deal with it. Here's a Pic:

So remember folks, older homes are awesome - if you've got the wherewithall to dive and and fix stuff. Honestly, not my forte. Trying to adapt.

More music coming soon, promise! :)

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Just Puttin' It Out There

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:21:23 -0700

I've been in this biz of music for a really long time now. I've worked with some great peeps, played in a few different countries, and developed my sound and style into a very individual approach.Some of those absolutely amazing folk I've got to work with include Tony Smith, Steve Lawson, Gregg Bendian, Zack Brock, Bob Meyer, Thierry Arpino, Francis Benitas, Charlie Kniceley, Steve Rust, Dean Sharp, Todd isler, Erik Lawrence, Fred Jacobs, Jim Cammack, Nadav Zelniker, Robert Kopec, & Ryan Ball - to name a few. (I'm not going to post a list of everyone I've ever worked with; it would be 20 pages long and only be meaningful to me.) I have met gobs of Great Players on the interwebz - from all over the globe - and these new friendships include the very real possibility of doing work together as time & tide allow.

But I've yet to work with - or even meet - practically any of the people I count as influences, people who have influenced or been significant to my musical developement. There's something in me that feels like I NEED to connect with these folk on some level, even just to thanks them. Some of them are gone already (like Tony Williams); life on earth is a finite affair. Perhaps I am looking for some kind of validation for a musical life spent in the trenches... In any case, I'm putting this out there.

Today I am putting forth this (partial) list of the musicians (whom I am aware of) with whom I desire to befriend, record and/or perform. (I remain open to those I am not yet aware of.)

Wayne Shorter
John Scofield
John McLaughlin
Jack Dejohnette
Ray Gomez
Billy Cobham
Jan Hammer
Jerry Goodman
Allen Holdsworth
Victor Bailey
Dennis Chambers
Omar Hakim
Pat Metheny
Dave Holland
Chick Corea
Herbie Hancock
Brian Eno
Christian McBride
Vernon Reid
DJ Logic
Joni Mitchell
Squarepusher
Beck
Jeff Beck
Victor Wooten
Imogen Heap
Bjork
David Bowie
Jan Garberek
Bill Frisell
Stevie Wonder
Robert Fripp
Ralph Towner
Adrian Belew
Paco Serry
Richard Bona
Vinnie Coliuta
Narada Michael Walden
Carlos Santana
David Byrne
Marc Johnson
Eddie Gomez
Joe Satriani
Peter Erskine
Terry Bozio
Jon Chrisitanson
Stanley Clarke
Richard Thompson
Peter Gabriel
Scott Henderson
Trilok Gurtu
Charlie Haden
Medeski Martin & Wood
Eberhard Weber
Zakir Hussain
Mark Egan
Jon Christianson
Kermit Driscoll

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Father/Daughter museum tour: MoMA

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:16:38 -0700

See the full gallery on Posterous

p134.mov Watch on Posterous

My daughter is rather brilliant; or as the English say, "clever". So when she suggested we spend more time together, the idea of a museum tour came up almost immediately. Here's a few pix from our trip to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

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Morning: coffee + AIFF

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:43:00 -0700

Last night I did something - finally did something - that I had begun to think might not actually happen: I mixed a solo piano record. The fact that I had the guts to even record in the first place is amazing enough to me. I had set very high technical standards for myself as a keyboard player, of which the piano undoubtedly plays a big part. But piano by itself? I had to fundamentally change the way I thought about doing this, and treat it more as a very individual personal kind of thing - abandoning the idea of technical perfection in favor of musicality.
Having wrapped my head around that, I got myself in front of a piano with some good mics for 2 days back in January. My schedule has been so nuts I was starting to think I was never going to finish this long long overdue project.
Bit here we are: morning coffee and mix files. It's what's for breakfast. Look for a release... well, sometime relatively soon. No need to rush things!

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Mixing.my first solo piano cd!! I love mixing. Especially with engineer Ryan Ball. :)

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:14:54 -0700

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Imogen Heap and Her Wonderful Gloves. : Take a Step Back

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:21:00 -0700

via leighdaviesofficial.co.uk

Another truly amazing performance by our friend Ms. Heap. As my daughter says, "she wins the interwebs". I'm familiar with each musical technique - reverb wet/dry balance, overdrive, filtering etc - but to put it into a seamlessly controlled package they way she does is jaw-dropping. Enjoy. :)

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Storm King Arts Center. Coolest. Place. Ever.

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 11:37:20 -0700

Taken at Storm King Art Center

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The great Newburgh to Beacon Hudson River Swim about to start!

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:58:18 -0700

Taken at Torches On the Hudson

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Sometimes things get Weird.

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:50:38 -0700

What a weird day yesterday...

1st, a gig I was excited about for months was rained out. Over & done. The rain was predicted for more or less precisely the time we were supposed to play.

Wha....? OK, haha. The joke's on us. Thanks, Mr Universe. I too laughed it off.

Well, ok. I've been working very hard. I could use the night off. So? Settle in. And the rain begins to fall, harder & harder. Big storm.

Then the phone rings. It's bad news. An old friend - someone from High School, someone I haven't seen in 30+ years - had taken his own life.

Another much bigger and deeper "wha....?"

Very sad indeed. In fact, nearly 24 hours later, I'm still reeling. This guy was a drummer, from an early band, right out of school. The bassist, drummer and myself had very much fun, experimenting with music, roaming the NYC streets together. So much history. And sadder still? I've forgotten quite a bit of it. it was a long time ago...

I'm reminded we played our graduation together, 2 years in a row. Sessions at the drummer's collective in NYC, circa 1979. Geez.

Of course, there are the cassettes. I have boxes full of tapes, more than a few containing music of that particular trio. I've got some digitizing to do; then I will master everything and share some tidbits with you all. My friend Conrad (said bass player) says he was PICTURES. I've never seen them.

I know we've all been through this to a certain point. Certainly as we get older.

- -

Well, work continues... sending out vocal parts to teen Shakespeare performers. I will be directing the cast singing a madrigal.

But my mind turns back, back... to a time of youth, a forgotten time, a place that exists only in my mind now, and the mind of a few others.

*sigh*.

thank you for your indulgence. :)

- Neil

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Canceling tonight's show :(

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:16:00 -0700

Hey boys & girls,
We are officially CANCELING tonight's gig at Didier Dumas Patiserrie in Nyack NY due to impending inclement weather. We were so looking forward to this! Stellar band, great scene, awesome food, etc. No alternate venue could be secured.
The Young Lions (reggae) are still playing tomorrow night at the Wherehouse here in Newburgh; come out and say hi if you're around...
As for the NA3? We'll just have to wait... :)

Thanks, all. :)

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Rosendale Street festival!

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:56:01 -0700

See the full gallery on Posterous

Hitting at 6 pm. More pix soon. .)

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Our charming living room, all set up & awaiting the arrival of @solobasssteve, @lobelia et al for today's #Houseconcert.

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 07:54:13 -0700

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A surprise concert...Todd Rundgren

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 17:22:00 -0700

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Having lived 51 years, and played music most of that time, I'm not exactly sure why I was surprised when a buddy called to say he had an extra ticket to see Todd Rundgren at the Bearsville theater. It's practically a full house here. Since I did a coupe of gigs with Jesse Gress (Todd's guitarist) I was invited backstage. I'm now sitting front row balcony and the show's about to start. Other than my friend (also friends with the band), I don't actually know anyone here. But that's ok. It's wicked cool to be here anyway. I know the show's gonna kick arse. :)

- - - -

Here's a couple more pix from during the show, which was just super fun. The sound wasn't great - the Bearsville sound system just doesn't sound that good - and the band was tired (from the TR "music survivor's camp" of the previous week) but the VIBE was super high - all about peace & love, everyone smiling...

Some of the tunes they played:

Real man
Hello It's Me
Dream Goes On Forever
(Blues)
Ooh Baby Baby
I Saw The Light

..and tons of others, most of which I didn't recognize. But it certainly was a great scene for sure. :)

See the full gallery on Posterous

Dream_Goes_On_(iPhone_&_iPod).m4v Watch on Posterous

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The Mahavishnu Project — Show Review in Metroland

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:41:00 -0700

Bearsville Theater, June 10

Rating: +3 (from 3 votes)
The Mahavishnu Project’s whole shtick is that they re-create albums by the Mahavishnu Orchestra in their entirety. They do this with the blessing of the members of the original group, including guitarist John McLaughlin, who has said that they re-create the tunes in “an unbelievable way.” At the Bearsville Theater, the fare for the night included the entire album Visions of the Emerald Beyond, and also a few selections from Birds of Fire and Inner Mounting Flame.

The drummer and bandleader, Gregg Bendian, announced that they would be playing the entire album from start to finish with no breaks in between. This direct-flight approach made the evening seem something like a guided meditation.

Some of the pieces built to fiendish intensity within odd, deeply grooving time signatures like 10/8, 9/8 or 14/8, exploding and collapsing into subdued interludes, like an elegant string quartet with screaming classical violin over pulsing, legato cello and viola.

The orchestration of the tunes was incredibly complex and just as stable as any of Beethoven’s epic symphonies. To access the full sonic spectrum, the instruments would often trade roles. Sometimes the keyboard would be comping and sometimes it would be leading. The same was true for the electric violin and guitar. On certain tunes, the instruments would use their “natural sounds” and, on others, the soloists seemed to emulate the sound of the electric guitar. This was especially noticeable from Neil Alexander on the keytar. When he was soloing, he would frequently use one hand to play fiendish single-note lines and the other to facilitate bends and expressive touches that emulated the sound of the guitar.

Another aspect of the orchestration was a musical gestalt in which new sounds were created beyond the mere sum of the parts creating them. Examples of this were the combination of soprano sax and electric violin, or vocals and keytar. This effect made it not immediately apparent what was causing certain sounds at times. Bendian or Alexander would conduct the inner layers to produce lush pads of ambiguous sound.

In addition to the music, there were projected graphics that seemed to fade in and out and assume different colors and brightness in relation to the music. One especially memorable graphic happened on “Pastoral,” which featured the string section, acoustic guitar, and Bendian on dumbek, an Eastern hand drum. This was an almost Renaissance-sounding piece, and the graphic on-screen faded in with the word “Greece” and an outline evocative of the curly hair on a Greek statue. Bendian grooved along on dumbek while Chern Hwei played a sitar-like melody on electric violin and Glenn Alexander strummed along on acoustic guitar.

The music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra incorporates many styles, from American jazz and bluegrass to European and Indian classical styles. The Project did not just re-create the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, but they made it their own, while upholding the standards of excellence that were set by the likes of John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, and the rest of the original crew.

Tagged as: Birds of Fire, fusion, Inner Mounting Flame, jazz-rock, John McLaughlin, keytar, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Visions of the Emerald Beyond

via metroland.net

Thanks Jeff!

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