Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers – Available everywhere!

My new CD, Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers – A Tribute To Big John Patton, is available all over the web for your enjoyment. It’s currently enjoying a lot of excitement and airplay from radio stations across the US.

Jim Alfredson's Dirty Fingers (BIG O 2419)

Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers (BIG O 2419)

You can order a physical copy from Amazon.com, CDBaby.com, or direct from the Big O Store, which is my label’s outlet. Note that the Big O Store is the only place you can also purchase the companion DVD, featuring 90 minutes of music including three tracks not on the CD.

If digital downloads are more your thing, it is also available in mp3 format on Amazon, iTunes, CDBaby, and more.

Here are some examples from the companion DVD, again only available via the Big O Store.

The new CD is here!

My newest release, Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers – A Tribute to Big John Patton, has arrived from the duplicators.  It looks really great!  Designer Rick VanderLeek did an amazing job.  The photographs from Jessica D. Cowles are vivid and full of energy.

The news CDs are here!  The new CDs are here!

The news CDs are here! The new CDs are here!

I’m very excited about this release.  The music is classic 60s soul-jazz with a group of incredible musicians.  Big John’s compositions and playing are a huge influence on me and he has not received the recognition he is due.  I hope this releases helps mitigate that a little.

A match made in heaven.

A match made in heaven.

The last step in this process is to duplicate the DVDs, which I am doing locally.  The DVD is an extra add-on that will be slid into the pocket of the CD package, along with the liner notes. I decided upon this route to save some money.  Having two trays in the packaging would be expensive and I was also worried about those that didn’t order the DVD seeing that extra tray and assuming something was missing.

Shipping to all Kickstarter backers should be done by the end of the week.

The CD is already getting airplay around the country.  Here’s a little taste for those that may have missed it the first time around.

My next project is a departure from the jazz thing.  Its a progressive rock album of original material with me singing (and playing keys, obviously).  More about that soon.

Genesis – In The Cage (solo section)

I first heard The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway towards the tail end of my sophomore year in high school.  This would’ve been 1993 or so.  My eldest sister got me hooked on Genesis and Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins and it was her collection of tapes and CDs that I listened to.  I also dubbed them rabidly, so I could block out the world during the excruciating 40+ minute bus rides to and from middle and high school with my headphones and my WalkMan.  I started listening to Gabriel, thanks to her, in third grade. By high school I had heard almost every Genesis album except The Lamb.

She held The Lamb back from me due to its more pronounced adult themes, ie Counting Out Time.  I remember her handing it over to me like it was some sort of Rite of Passage. Maybe it was.  I listened to it almost daily for two years, attempting to decode the various mythological references and figure out the meaning of the story.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

I became obsessed.  I probably scared numerous people away; certainly plenty of girls. But I didn’t care.  The music was captivating and atmospheric.  Tony Banks’ keyboards sounded other-worldly and Gabriel’s lyrics labyrinthine.  Phil Collins’ drums parts were perfectly played, Mike Rutherford’s bass and pedals and guitar serpentine, and Steve Hackett’s solos just soared.  But as any Genesis fan will agree, one solo stood out among them all:  The keyboard solo from “In The Cage”.

It encapsulates the sound of 1970s progressive rock in so many ways.  The Hammond organ, the analog synth lead sound courtesy of an Arp ProSoloist, the rhythmic and harmonic compositional qualities inspired by classical music… it’s all there.  Genesis immediately recognized how iconic it was.  They kept it in their live set, usually as part of a medley, up through the very last tour in 2008.

I’ve always wanted to learn that solo and I’ve been playing around with it for a few months. So tonight I decided to give it a go.

I played a couple little flubs, but not so bad.  It was immensely fun to take everything apart and figure out how it all goes together.  The chord sequence is classic Banks.  I used my Hammond SK2 as both an organ and a MIDI controller.  The lower manual is for the organ chords, played with my left hand.  The upper manual is MIDI’d to my Moog Voyager for the monophonic lead synth part.  The backing track is a MIDI file I found on the internet.

Banks once commented that he wasn’t much of an improviser. I consider myself a good improviser due to years of playing jazz but a challenge for me is to sit down and compose a solo like Banks. I’m currently working on a progressive rock album that features some through-composed solos alongside improvised solos. I plan to finish that project in early 2014.

I hope you enjoy the video!

Getting closer…

I’m really excited that another project is almost coming to fruition.  My tribute to Big John Patton is in the final production stages and should be sent to the duplicators early next week.  I posted another video from the upcoming companion DVD on the ol’ YouTubes.

This clip features just the trio of myself, Ralph Tope on guitar, and Randy Gelispie on drums.  Listen to that ride cymbal work.  Randy is the walking definition of ‘master’.

Complete Sessionography

Someone over on the organissimo forums asked for the complete sessionography for the Patton tribute recording sessions.  If you’re curious what songs we recorded and how many takes on what days, have a gander.

organissimo discussion form

All in all, 19 songs were tracked for this project between the original session on February 24, 2013 that initiated the Kickstarter and the three day August 2013 sessions.

New CD available for pre-order

In case you missed participating in the Kickstarter, my new CD is now available for pre-order.  Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers – A Tribute To Big John Patton also has a companion DVD, which you can order as an add-on.  Click here to pre-order the release!

The trio in the studio, tracking material for the new CD.  Aug 24, 2013

The trio in the studio, tracking material for the new CD – August 23, 2013.  Jim Cooper, Ralph Tope, and Jim Alfredson.

The CD is just under 60 minutes long with nine songs, seven from Big John Patton’s extensive catalog, running the gamut from boogaloo to swing to funk to latin.  The disc is rounded out by a beautiful rendering of the modern standard My Valentine (written by Sir Paul McCartney) and an original by your’s truly dedicated to Patton called Gentle John.

The DVD will feature footage of the sessions and a couple bonus songs not on the CD.  Here’s a taste of the DVD.

I’m very proud of this disc and excited about it’s release.  It has been a lot of work to get the music and video together but it will be worth it.  The music sounds fantastic and watching the musicians in action is really enjoyable.  Did I mention who is on the disc?  Ralph Tope on guitar (featured on organissimo’s Dedicated), Mark Kieme on saxophones, Dwight Adams on trumpet, Jim Cooper on vibraphone, and the inimitable Randy Gelispie on drums.  It was a true pleasure and honor to work with them.

 

Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers

Here’s a little taste of the upcoming release.  I hope to have a preorder page up soon.  Good Juice originally appeared on the Blue Note release “Oh Baby!” by Big John Patton.  This version features fantastic solos by Dwight Adams and Mark Kieme on trumpet and tenor respectively.

Randy Gelispie’s drum solo at the end of the song deftly displays why I’ve been wanting to do a recording project with him for so long.  He is a true master, one of the best jazz drummers alive today hands down.  It was a true honor to be able to play with him.  I’m already planning my next project with him!