Blog of David Marriott, Jr. and Red Raspus Music - Red Raspus Music

Five-By-Five: New Year's Eve 2014 with H.B. Radke at Boxley's

David Marriott — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 08:35:42 +0000

Happy New Year! I'm making a serious effort to do something online every day, so here's the first of what will hopefully be 365 posts this year. I'm starting with some short highlights from my New Year's Eve gig at the fabulous Boxley's in North Bend, Washington with H.B. Radke and the Jet City Swingers. Enjoy this short collection of five-second clips!

Triskaidekaband One Year Anniversary Gig: Tomorrow!

David Marriott, Jr. — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 06:31:33 +0000

Triskaidekaband: Tonight at Tula’s (End of Phase I)

David Marriott, Jr. — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 23:49:00 +0000

Tonight marks the fifth Triskaidekaband gig in a string of five months of Mondays at Tula’s, and the “breaking in” phase is over after tonight — Phase II begins with our Royal Room gig at the end of the month, June 24th, and things will go to a whole new level… hope you can come out tonight — don’t forget you can sit outside!

First Video in the Red Raspus Round-Up Series: Record Store Day 2012

David Marriott, Jr. — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:46:00 +0000

I finally finished a new video for my new official YouTube channel and have started a new series called Red Raspus Round-Up. The videos under the umbrella of Red Raspus Round-Up will cover events and experiences with photos, videos, audio -- whatever I can round-up! For starters, I did a round-up of Record Store Day 2012, which took place last Saturday. In addition to photos from the day, there's a complete video unboxing/unpacking of all the stuff I got, including the official freebie bag. I hope you enjoy, and if you haven't checked out our new channel, head on over and subscribe...

Huge Savings on Periodic Table of Jazz, Visualizing Kind of Blue, and Keep Calm and Dig Some Jazz Products -- Today Until 10am PT

David Marriott, Jr. — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:14:34 +0000

Big savings for Black Friday in the Red Raspus Music and Design store -- check out some of the deals available today if you use the code ZBLACKFRIDAY in our store:

50% off ALL posters, prints, postcards, and notecards
$5 off ALL shirts
20% off ALL iPad and iPhone cases

Be it our Periodic Table of Jazz, or the design called Visualizing Kind of Blue, or one of the three tribute to jazz greats in our Keep Calm and Dig Some Jazz series, there's sure to be a gift for the jazz fan in your life. Take advantage of these great savings until 10am Pacific Time -- use the code ZBLACKFRIDAY in our store to save now! These deals only last 10 hours total, so get out there and save some of that hard-earned money while you still can!

Red Raspus Design Site Debuts

David Marriott, Jr. — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:56:43 +0000

I've finally launched a separate site for my little music-design projects, and with a few new things going live in the next few weeks, I needed a better way to showcase them. If you haven't seen the Periodic Table of Jazz or Visualizing Kind of Blue: Flamenco Sketches before, now is your chance! It’s a little bare right now, but those buttons at the bottom will be filling up in no time, just wait. Thanks for your support, and Happy New Year!

Go directly to Red Raspus Design...

Saturday, July 24th - Wayne-ing Brass: The Music of Wayne Shorter for Brass Trio and Rhythm Section

David Marriott, Jr. — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:22:14 +0000

Wayne-ing Brass: The Music of Wayne Shorter for Brass and Rhythm

Thomas Marriott (tpt), Tom Varner (horn), David Marriott, Jr. (tbn), Bill Anschell(pno), Phil Sparks (bass), Matt Jorgensen (drums)

Music at Tula's begins at 7:30pm. $15 Cover. Reservations recommended. Call Tula’s at (206) 443-4221

Debuting at Tula's, this re-imagining of Wayne Shorter's music for brass trio and rhythm section is sure to be a unique night of music. Don't miss it!

Updates on The Periodic Table of Jazz - Video, Shirts, and More

David Marriott, Jr. — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:31:58 +0000

It's been a hugely exciting 24 hours since releasing The Periodic Table of Jazz to the world at large. I spent every free moment of the day on the phone, returning calls about the image, the idea, the design, and jazz in general. I received some great emails with questions - I will be getting to all of you, so please be patient. I also discovered more than a few more duplicate element symbols -- I think the color differences must be the explanation, otherwise how could so many people miss them, including me? I also took the opportunity to update the image in a few other ways, including taking a few missed opportunities with clever element symbols. One student requested shirts, and my motto has always been, "ask and you shall receive," so here are some Periodic Table of Jazz shirts - available in many styles, so take your pick.

I've also posted a bit larger version for folks to look at -- sorry, I'm trying not to let a printable version out into the wild for free quite yet, but I'm working on that as well (a free version).

Also, I've made a little video to show the process I went through making the poster. I made the video before making the latest changes to the design, but it should give you a look at the spurts of work that created the majority of the design. Enjoy the evolution of The Periodic Table of Jazz:

Last but not least, if you ordered a poster and it has the old design, feel free to send it back to Imagekind or Zazzle and re-order the updated version. Otherwise, you have a one-of-ten (or less) rare version print! Treasure it! Enjoy - more as it comes!

Now Available: The Periodic Table of Jazz

David Marriott, Jr. — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:51:58 +0000

At long last, and just in time for graduation season, comes The Periodic Table of Jazz, a beautiful poster depicting "an evolution of jazz style, improvisation and innovation" in a visualization homage to the periodic table of elements. Perfect for band directors, music grads, and jazz geeks and fans alike! For full details on how to purchase, plus a lengthy article about the poster's creation, visit The Periodic Table of Jazz page. Stay tuned for more "jazz meets graphic design" from Red Raspus Music - there's more to come... If you are already sold and want to skip the long read and order one now, go to our Zazzle or Imagekind pages and get yours ASAP!

New Band Debuts Tonight at Egan's: David Marriott Jr. Presents Pop Culture

David Marriott, Jr. — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:12:18 +0000

I'm unleashing a new project tonight at Egan's Ballard Jam House, or at least the first test of the concept. My new group, Pop Culture, is debuting tonight at 9pm playing one set until 10:30pm, with myself on trombone, Marc Fendel on saxophone, Chris Symer on bass, and Evan Woodle on drums. One set only! Come and check out the new project...

1KTF Music Giveaway Results and Video

David Marriott, Jr. — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:13:19 +0000

It's time to announce the winners of the One Thousand Twitter Follower Music Giveaway! I had a great time doing my first live stream today -- if you missed it, I've posted the video below. Thanks to all the folks who entered -- I decided to give music to the two-runners-ups, so followers @QTSCHO and @NutmegDesigns will both get a copy of Septology: In the Beginning. Here are the big winners:

BRONZE PACKAGE: Long-time Twitter friend and follower @ElementsOfJazz -- her new website Elements of Jazz just launched, check it out!.

SILVER PACKAGE: Photographer Juan-Carlo Hernandez, @jchernandezjazz on Twitter. Lots of beautiful stuff to check out on his blogs.

GOLD PACKAGE: Trombone player Martin Sager, @MSplaystrombone on Twitter. He asked me to please mention his "band leader Chris Hodges, The Chris Hodges Band, and Dothanjazz.com," as well as "the cities of Troy and Dothan, Alabama, and all the musicians of the Southeast. Keep doing what you're doing." We'll say more in our thank-you video, coming in the next day or two...

Thanks so much for all who entered, and we look forward to offering another batch of music when we hit the 5,000 follower mark. Stay tuned!

On Working and Performing with the Liberty High School Jazz Band

David Marriott, Jr. — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:03:36 +0000

I had the pleasure this past week of spending a few days with the Liberty High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Phil Donley. At his kind invitation, I spent some time with them Monday working with the band, performed some lunchtime concerts at the school on Friday with a short Q-and-A for the band members, and performed with them as guest artist at the Eighth Annual Liberty Jazz Night. Phil has done a great job getting his students to deal with some complex arrangements in a musical way, not just technical. Their rhythm sections are solid, the band features a few fine soloists, and they seem to dive in head first to whatever music Phil throws their way. They peaked at the performance Saturday night, so what more could you ask for!

It's always nice getting good feedback from students, so I was delighted to get mentioned in a few posts on Twitter by some students from Liberty High School's Jazz Band:

My thanks to director Phil Donley for the invitation, and to all the band members of the Liberty High School Jazz Band for making my time with you so fun and easy. The performance Saturday night was a blast, to be sure! For those of you not in attendance, here's the program from the concert:

Mountlake Terrace High School Jazz Band Premieres Two of My Arrangements at Hot Java Cool Jazz

David Marriott, Jr. — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:13:04 +0000

When Mountlake Terrace High School band director Darin Faul approached me earlier this year to arrange Norah Jones' "Back to Manhattan" for the MTHS Jazz Band, I was excited, flattered, and most of all thankful -- I needed the work, too! There wasn't much to it, mainly just adding a backdrop to the original version, staying out of the way of the vocalist. But the last two things I've arranged for him -- Duke Ellington's "The Single Petal of a Rose" and Artie Shaw's "Concerto for Clarinet" -- were somewhat more daunting tasks. Ellington himself only recorded the piece as a solo piano composition, and the Artie Shaw piece had originally been recorded for a full orchestra -- and then there were the reputations of the pieces and the artists themselves. With a quick turnaround time needed for their Hot Java Cool Jazz performance, I had to squeeze all my musical and physical juices to get something completed that I was happy with.

Well, after seeing these two videos from the concert, I can only say, "Bravo!" The Mountlake Terrace High School Jazz Band, under the direction of Darin Faul, has hit a series of home-runs with these new charts, and made a whole ton of music out of some ink I put on a page. You clearly got the vibes I was going for, and then some. Bravo! Enjoy the videos of the two charts below:

What I've Learned From My First Thousand Twitter Followers - Plus Three Giveaways!

David Marriott, Jr. — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:33:12 +0000

Sometime late last week, I crossed the line to go beyond one thousand Twitter followers, and I thought I'd celebrate a little by sending some music out into the Twitterverse. But before I give out the details of the giveaway, I decided to share a few of the lessons I've learned over the course of gaining those first thousand followers and some tips out there from other sources:

Twitter works best for musicians when they interact -- don't just automate your calendar and sit back, waiting for people to follow you. Just like in forums or blogs, results come from activity -- and in this case, interactivity.
Don't waste your time with auto-follow services -- you'll just end up with a bunch of worthless followers you'll have to sift through and delete later. Rather, subscribe to keyword search results and go through the list once a day or week. You'll be much happier with your list of followers.
Keep an open mind regarding who might follow you and who you might follow. Just because you see an affiliate site following you doesn't mean that they aren't a fan of your music. Feel each and every follower out -- I put possible fans in a list called "potential something" so I can see where they are coming from.
Read these lists of suggestions: Twitter 101 for Jazz Musicians posted on TwitJazzNet, Musicians Twitter Roadmap on Ariel Publicity, and Top Twitter Tips for Musicians by Steve Lawson -- these basics to using the service will keep you on the right path.

Now for the giveaway! For any of my followers, I will be giving out three packages I've named in honor of our recent Olympics here in the Northwest...

BRONZE AWARD PACKAGE

CD copy of Marriott Brothers Band, "The High Country" - autographed by me to the winner
MP3 copy of David Marriott, Jr., "Septology: In the Beginning"

SILVER AWARD PACKAGE

CD copy of Marriott Brothers Band, "The High Country" - autographed by me to the winner
CD copy of Emerald City Jazz Orchestra, "Alive and Swingin'" - autographed by me and the bandleader to the winner
MP3 copy of David Marriott, Jr., "Septology: In the Beginning"

GOLD AWARD PACKAGE

CD copy of Marriott Brothers Band, "The High Country" - autographed by me to the winner
CD copy of Emerald City Jazz Orchestra, "Alive and Swingin'" - autographed by me and the bandleader to the winner
MP3 copy of David Marriott, Jr., "Septology: In the Beginning"
MP3 copy of David Marriott, Jr., "Early Originals 1995-2000"
Custom video greeting, announcement and "thank you" on our blog and YouTube channel, with link of your choice included (your band, website, blog, Twitter -- whatever within reason)
UPDATED!! $50 iTunes Gift Card!!

Winners will be drawn from random live on my uStream channel on March 30th at 4:00pm (moved up from 5:00pm) Seattle time. I'll be using some software to draw the winners from the list of contestants (at least, that's the plan).

So what do you have to do to enter the 1KTF Giveaway? It's simple:

Compose an email to david.marriott@gmail.com.
Type "1KTF Giveaway" in the Subject field.
Include your Twitter name (@redraspus, for example) in the Body of the e-mail.
Send it!

That's it! You only need to enter once and you are good to go for the drawing. As long as I can verify you as a follower at the time of the drawing on March 30th, you are elligible for one of the three prize packages. Winners will be contacted regarding shipping details for physical goods, and download codes will be e-mailed immediately for digital goods. Thanks for entering, thanks for following, and thanks for your support!

Update on 2010-03-30 10:55 by David Marriott, Jr.

UPDATE ON DRAWING TIME: I'll be moving up the drawing an hour, so the drawing will happen at 4pm Pacific Daylight Time. The stream address is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/red-raspus-music so be ready for the drawing!

Valentine's Week Special - Free MP3 Download of "With All My Love"

David Marriott, Jr. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:20:00 +0000

This week only, as part of a Valentine's Week special promotion, I've decided to make the original ballad, "With All My Love", available as a free download on my music site. Originally recorded and released on the album "The High Country" with John Hansen, Geoff Harper, and Jon Wikan, I have since repackaged all of my original compositions from 1995-2000 in a new collection, "Early Originals". Follow the links above, or just click the download link below -- enjoy!

Mulgrew Miller's Advice for Young Jazz Musicians (Video)

David Marriott, Jr. — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:13:34 +0000

Writer and video journalist Bret Primack posts original video related to jazz with an insane amount of regularity -- four new videos posted just in the last 24 hours! One of this latest batch is from a group of videos featuring veteran pianist Mulgrew Miller, and this most recent entry where Miller gives some advice to budding young jazz musicians is not to be missed:

New Food for the CD Player - Steve Grossman "Perspective"

David Marriott, Jr. — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:39:39 +0000

I try to stop into Silver Platters on Queen Anne whenever I'm in the neighborhood, so I pulled in after a nice dinner at my folks for a quick browse -- just taking a look, I told myself. These are always famous last words, as I somehow ended up at the cash register with this Steve Grossman reissue -- one I have never seen on CD, I might add. Steve Grossman's "Perspective" was released by Atlantic Records in 1979 and presents Grossman in a big budget production for the first time as a leader. He revisits some of the material from the Stone Alliance library, but each is given a fresh sound in the expanded group. Onaje Allan Gumbs also contributes arrangements on what would basically be Grossman's "final" record as a leader for a while, and certainly from this period. My brother found this on vinyl a few years ago -- just when I thought I had already found all the old Steve Grossman -- and when I saw it on CD, I had to snag the only copy on the outside chance that it was the last copy in print. Thanks to Wounded Bird Records for reissuing this monster!

Thankfully, you can pick it up on Amazon, but it doesn't appear to be available digitally -- you're out of luck if you can't play a CD for this one!

Ten Years After It's Original Release, "Septology: In The Beginning" is Now Available on iTunes

David Marriott, Jr. — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:05:30 +0000

My recording titled "Septology: In The Beginning" is now available online via iTunes and a wide variety of other sources! It's taken a long time, but it's finally here, ten years after it's initial release in 1999. This recording, along with the two recordings I did with my brother Thomas, helped to start my career, and gained me a great deal of recognition as a composer. Commissioned by Earshot Jazz through a grant they received -- thank you again! -- and debuted at Jazz Alley, the work and the recording are still, ten years later, one of my proudest moments. My friends all sound so great, and it reminds me of a productive and care-free time in my life. Obviously influenced by the works of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and the Wynton Marsalis Septet, it was my first extended work, and truly helped me find my compositional voice. I've since written two more extended works for the group -- performed, but unrecorded -- and am working on a new work that will be recorded, and very soon. Your support can only make it happen sooner! If you've never checked it out, now's your chance. Try the widget below, or find us in the iTunes and Amazon stores, as well as a variety of others (via Tunecore) -- get it cheap at Amie Street, for example. Thanks again, and spread the word!

Group Photo from Recent Phil Kelly Recording Session

David Marriott, Jr. — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:17:42 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the weekend out at Bear Creek Studios recording Phil Kelly's new big band record. Award-winning photographer Daniel Sheehan was on hand to take a group photo, and he's been kind enough to share the image on his blog, Eyeshot Jazz. Enjoy!

The Partial Observer Presents "How To Alienate Your Audience in 10 Easy Steps"

David Marriott, Jr. — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:02:41 +0000

In a recent series of articles for The Partial Observer, Neo Classical columnist Holly Mulcahy writes about the ten most common ways that performers alienate their audiences. While the article is generally written from the context of a classical musician's point of view, nearly every word in this article applies to the vast majority of musicians as a whole. The article is written with humor to demonstrate it's points without coming across heavy-handed. Musicians: pay attention to this article -- it could help you get hired back!