My new album, Necessity, can now be streamed in its entirety on Bandcamp!
Category: What’s New
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Ron Scott
I just started doing some co-writing with singer/songwriter Ron Scott. We’re just finishing off our first tune and I think it sounds fantastic! Hopefully, we’ll write a whole bunch more tunes! Ron and I have known each other for over twenty years and we’ve played in quite a few different bands together, so there’s certainly a musical simpatico. Here’s a blast from my (and Ron’s) musical past… This is “If This Is Love” from my My World album (which Ron sang on and wrote).
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mwe3.com Interview
Please check out the terrific interview I did with mwe3.com’s Robert Silverstein!
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Cocoland Music – Mana’o Radio 91.5 FM (Maui, Hawaii)
A great big thanks to Robbie Ray for playing a track from Necessity on his Cocoland Music program on Mana’o Radio 91.5 FM (Maui, Hawaii)!!
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New Gear
I’ve been updating my studio and I thought I’d write a short post about the hardware and software I’ve picked up.
The biggest change has been the addition of a brand new Mac Mini. I bought a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 with 16 Gigs of RAM and a one terabyte Fusion Drive. To say the computer has some serious grunt would be an understatement. A massive understatement. I seem to have no real limits now when I use Logic. I haven’t been able to bring the computer to its knees and that’s a very, very freeing feeling. Logic is showing eight cores on this quad core chip (which seems odd), but I’m not complaining!
I also updated Pianteq Play to Pianoteq Stage and purchased the Blüthner Model 1 add-on. I’m not a piano player, but the Blüthner Model 1 is truly inspiring to write with and I’m positive it’ll be on the next few albums I’m working on now.
And lastly, I bought the new Sweetone from Sonimus. Just a gorgeous, simple and effective eq/filter. I’ve already used it on some liners for radio stations (i.e. This is Jamie Bonk and you’re listening to X radio station…) and it worked beautifully. I used the Sonimus Satson and SonEQ plugins extensively on my last solo record (Necessity) and Sweetone is sure to become a go-to plugin for me in the future.
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One World Radio
Thanks to One World Radio for playing “One Foot Forward” from my new album Necessity this morning!!
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Western Gulf Media Group
Thanks to R A Campbell for adding Necessity to several of the stations in the Western Gulf Media Group! Very much appreciate the adds!
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KJAZZ Radio UK – January 20, 2013
Thanks to KJAZZ Radio UK for their continued support of Necessity! “One Foot Forward” is #4 on their Top Ten chart for the week of January 20th!
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Audiosyncracy’s Best of 2012
I’m extremely happy to have my new album Necessity included in Audiosyncracy’s Best of 2012!! Thank you Jamey — I truly appreciate the honour!
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Smooth Jazz Ride’s Review of “Necessity”
Huge thanks to Smooth Jazz Ride (Ronald Jackson) for their fantastic review of my new album, “Necessity”!!
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“Necessity” – Smooth Jazz Daily Review
Terrific review of Necessity by Hans-Bernd Hülsmann (Smooth Jazz Daily)!!
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Blue Chip Picks
Just received two new Blue Chip picks in the mail today… A TD 40 and a TP-1R 40. Basically, they’re backups for Blue Chips I already have. Yes, I know, Blue Chip picks are INSANELY expensive ($35 each). So if you’re a player who likes to fling picks into the audience or you regularly lose picks, Blue Chip picks are not for you (unless you happen to be a rock star with a boatload of disposable income that is!). I almost never lose picks (still have picks from high school) and I can’t think of the last (or the first) time I flung a pick into an audience, so I can kind of rationalize the price. Cost aside, Blue Chips are hands down the best I’ve ever used — terrific tone, almost indestructible and they stick to my fingers like no other pick. Love ’em!
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Metalworks
A big thanks to Metalworks for having me back for another semester! This semester I’m teaching four MIDI classes and one Song Writing Analysis class. Should be a fun (and busy) next four months!
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My 2013 Musical Goals
So here we are approaching the end of 2012 and it’s once again that time of year for resolutions. Like just about everyone I know, I have the same kinds of resolutions: eat healthier; work out more; be a “better” person. But seeing as I’m a musician, I thought I would share my musical resolutions, or better yet, goals for 2013. So here we go…
1. Practice. Not only practice more, but more consistently and with greater focus and intent. Practice is a hurdle for any working musician, but without it you won’t be working for long.
2. Related to #1, practice all of the things that make me a stronger player. In particular, I want to work on balancing out picked notes with slurs, so that my playing is more fluid.
3. Singing. When singing harmony with Sixteen Different Minds, I’d like to be able to consistently sing something approaching a known, recognizable interval. There’s nothing wrong with micro-tonal singing, except when it’s unintended!
4. Memorize 20-30 more Celtic/Irish tunes on the mandolin so I can sit in on a jam session at the Dora Keogh.
Of course, I also have more directed career goals. I’d like to record one or two more records this year. And gig more. And I have some tech goals like working on my own custom synth/sample patches for Logic and Omnisphere. And updating the hardware in my studio… Lots of things to shoot for in 2013 — it’s going to be a great year!
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Denis Poole’s (Smooth Jazz Therapy) Review of “Necessity”
Check out the stellar, hot-off-the-press review of Necessity by Denis Poole (Smooth Jazz Therapy)!!!
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KJAZZ Radio UK
Starting to get some airplay for Necessity! Thanks to KJAZZ Radio UK for playing “One Foot Forward”!
