CONTACT ME

If you wish to contact me about gig inquiries, projects, obtaining recordings or charts, private lessons and so forth, or just wanna say hi, please drop me a line at EarraticArt@gmail.com
all the best,
Anders

Playing small rooms part I

It's been a hot July here in New York, hottest ever recorded I heard. It's also been a month of lots of musical activity in the city. I went out to hear several good performances, seems the climate inspires venting and disarms people somewhat, encouraging us to pay attention to somebodyelse's stories for a while. A friend of mine for about 9 years, Kyle Forester, hosts a monthly series every second Monday of the month, aptly named Kyle's Korner at Otto's Shrunken Head on 14th Street between Avenue A and B. Once you walk in you're in a rather divey bar, equipped with a pinball machine and probably fake leather couches. There's lovely bartenders there. A corridor leads to a backroom where the musical action takes place. This room is rather small and has a Hawaiian theme, it's a tiki lounge with an AC, a mini stage, a PA, drums and some amps. I've played in Kyle's Korner several times before, with Gunnar, solo, and sitting in with other artists. This time Kyle was out of town, gracefully handing over the evening to me. I decided to ask two friends to join me, whom had never played together before. Gladly, they both agreed. I recently took a private lesson (first one in 8 years!) from Brahim Fribgane, an astonishing musician from Morocco. He plays a myriad of different instruments; various percussions, oud, guitar, sintir, and sings. I asked him to bring whatever instrument he wanted, mutually understanding that less is more in this type of situation. He played a cajon that night, a wooden box played with the hands, nice choice. Ras Moshe and I have played quite a few times over the past 8 years or so at different venues. He's one of my favorite horn players and a genuinely good dude. He played tenor sax and flute, I played my Les Paul Gold Top. I had a good feeling about this trio combination and had selected a few of my tunes, new and old, that would be fun and easy to use as a base with no rehearsal. Both of them dove right into the music with me and tuned in listening was going on right away. It pleased me to hear Ras play the melodies and going for it, and Brahim's timefeel and spur of the moment sense of direction is deep. We played "Reminders" from the AORTA book, "Powers", and "One foggy Night", two so far unrecorded songs, and a free piece. A problem free performance. The audience was very attentive and seemed to enjoy our flights. I was glad to see some friends and unfamiliar faces in the room.