Here’s my latest “Live in the Studio” video. “Here Is” is from my 2022 album “There to Now” and features the wonderful Henrik Bridger on bass and the most excellent Dave Patel on drums. As always, thanks for listening!
Tag: Live Performance
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Art Focus Artists’ Association 33rd Annual Spring Art Show
This coming Friday, I’m playing the reception for the Art Focus Artists’ Association 33rd Annual Spring Art Show (Friday, May 22nd, 7-9 p.m., Mabbett Hall in Poco). Please drop by to check out the work of over 20 Tri-Cities artists. Hope to see you there!
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Texture N°6
Here’s “Texture N°6”, the sixth piece in my ongoing series of textural music. To create the quiet, introspective vibe that the track has, I drew on a bunch of different styles/sounds — everything from folk guitar to 80s synths. Definitely happy with how the track came out, and I might end up subtitling it something like, “A Moment of Peace”. As always, thanks for listening/watching! -
Texture N°5
“Texture N°5” is probably the most arranged/produced of the pieces I’ve recorded for this ongoing series of textural music. I wrote the guitar part first, but then started feeling a few contrasting colours (drums, synth bass, and a couple of other synth keys) would work really well. For the guitar players out there… I’m using a drop D tuning with a Spider Capo. It’s a partial capo that lets me capo however many of the six strings I’d like. Truly opens up whole other worlds for writing/playing. As always, thank you for taking the time to listen/watch the video!
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Texture N°4
Texture N°4” is the fourth composition in my ongoing series of textural pieces. I always find it tough to describe my music, but I think this piece has a pretty relaxed vibe (at least compared to the first three textural pieces I wrote). Thanks for listening/watching, and I hope you like the video!
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Nobody Knows Why (Live in the Studio)
“Nobody Knows Why” is from my 2009 EP St. Joseph Street. The title of the EP is named after a street in downtown Toronto that I lived on for over 20 years. Doing this “Live in the Studio” video and playing over the album bed tracks brings me right back to my life in Toronto around 2009. For me, music really does have a way of transporting me to a time and place. Joining me on this track are bassist Henrik Bridger and drummer Dave Patel. As always, thanks for watching/listening and I hope you like the video!
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Texture N°3
If you like a touch of harmonic angularity (AKA chords that bite) in music, then you might enjoy my new piece, “Texture N°3”. This is my third composition in my ongoing series of textural music, and I would appreciate you checking out the video.
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Texture N°2
Here’s “Texture N°2″, the second in my series of textural music. As always, thanks for taking the time to watch/listen, and I hope you like the video!
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Love That Can Be Me (Live in the Studio)
My latest “Live in the Studio” video is a vocal version of “Love That Can Be Me” from my 2018 album Who Said It Was Easy? After moving from Toronto to Vancouver (well, Port Moody to be exact) in 2016, Who Said It Was Easy? was the first music I recorded in my then-new hometown. I’ve often thought about how a locale changes music (or even if it does). How would this tune be different if instead of recording the track in Port Moody, I recorded it in Frankfurt? Or Tokyo? No answers here, just questions. As always, thanks for listening/watching!
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Port Moody (Live in the Studio)
I don’t think it’ll come as a huge surprise that “Port Moody” (from my 2007 EP “5”) was indeed written for my current hometown of Port Moody. Now some of the music I write is specific and some more nebulous; “Port Moody” is somewhere in between. It really is about the feelings I had (and still currently have) for the area. But it’s also about the sky that can have stunning dark clouds, the incredible wildlife, and of course, the ever-present mountains.
I wrote “Port Moody” in a bedroom in my mother-in-law’s house in Port Moody and recorded the track back in my condo in Toronto. For this Live in the Studio video, I went back to the original recording to try to capture the overall mood for this now-over eighteen-year-old piece. I stuck mostly to what I recorded back in 2007, but there are a few minor changes to the guitar part.
As always, thanks for taking the time to watch the video, and I hope you like it!
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Summer in the Round (Live in the Studio)
Toronto in the late seventies/early eighties was an incredible time for music. Even for someone like me, who was a little too young to get into the clubs, there was so much great live original music happening. Got to see Yes at Maple Leaf Gardens, Kraftwerk at the Masonic Temple and the Police (and a bunch of other terrific bands) at the Police Picnic.
All of that was (obviously) amazing, but what really stands out to me was the Ontario Place Forum. For just the cost of getting into Ontario Place (I think it was something like $5), I was able to hear music SO many first rate bands/artists. Like who? How about Miles Davis, Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione, UZEB, Michael Hedges and many, many more.
Which brings me to this “Live in the Studio” video of my tune “Summer in the Round”. For those of you who don’t know the Ontario Place Forum, it was an outdoor, covered venue that was built around a circular, revolving stage. Of course, being an outdoor venue, the concerts were held during the summer and the seating was festival, so it was first come, first serve. I would get to the venue crazy early to get front row seats (if they were available), and often I could listen to the bands/artists soundcheck. So… circular stage/venue, summer concerts… “Summer in the Round”… never said I was a deep thinker : )
This “Live in the Studio” version of “Summer in the Round” features Dave Patel on drums and Henrik Bridger on bass. The piece was originally on my 2009 EP “St. Joseph Street” which, in addition to Dave and Henrik, also featured the phenomenal Bill McBirnie on flute.
As always, thanks for listening/watching and I hope you like the video!
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Violet Skies (Live in the Studio)
There’s just something about contrast in music that I’ve always liked. On “Violet Skies”, from my 1997 self-titled debut album, I tried to capture some of that contrast. I put percolating percussion loops right beside programmed drum machine parts, played an ambient synth pad to compliment my fast strummed rhythm guitars, and I think just as importantly, I wrote a (mostly) slower melody that floats on top of the overall “up” vibe of the track. On this Live in the Studio version of “Violet Skies”, I went back to the album track and learned the solo pretty much note for note.
I have to give a huge thanks to my brother Randy for putting together this video. He’s been an amazing help in getting me (somewhat) up to speed on the videos that I’ve edited in the past and, with his stellar work on “Violet Skies”, I know I sure have a lot more to learn about video in the future. As always, thanks for listening and I hope you like the video!
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Quiet Tones (Live in the Studio)
From my 2009 EP “St. Joseph Street”, here’s a Live in the Studio version of “Quiet Tones”. This tune features the incredible rhythm section of bassist Henrik Bridger and drummer Dave Patel. I know this tune is now 15 years old, but, like many of my other tracks, it truly feels like I was recording it yesterday. Thanks for listening and I hope you like the video!
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Spiral Path (Live in the Studio)
Took a bit of a break from getting the word out about my new album, There To Now to shoot another live in the studio video. This tune, “Spiral Path”, I released back in 1997 on my self-titled debut album (“Jamie Bonk”) and have loved playing it live ever since. I stayed pretty close to the album version of “Spiral Path” for the melody sections, but the solo definitely takes a bit of a different road. Hope you like the video!
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Tanzen (Live in the Studio)
I’ve always liked music that draws on a variety of sources — tracks that blend styles in a seamless way. And that’s exactly what I tried to do with “Tanzen”. All of the tunes on my 1997 self-titled debut album had some combination of styles and production techniques, but one of them, “Tanzen”, stands out to me. I think (hope!) I achieved a seamless blend of electronic and acoustic textures on the track. Here’s a live in the studio version of “Tanzen”. Thanks for taking the time to listen!
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’73 (Live in the Studio)
Like most writers, I find it tough to single out which of my tunes I like “better” than others. Some pieces are a true struggle to write and record and some just seem to flow right from the beginning. Some of my songs work great live and others, well, not so much. That said, ’73 is one of those pieces that, if you twist my arm, I’d put into the “like better” category. Here’s a live in the studio version of ’73. Thanks for taking the time to listen and I hope you like the music.
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“That’s How I Got To Memphis” (Live in the Studio)
My live in the studio take on Tom T. Hall’s classic song “That’s How I Got To Memphis”.
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“Just Now” (Live in the Studio)
Here’s a live in the studio version of “Just Now” from my album, A Perfect Tomorrow. I released A Perfect Tomorrow back in 2000 and I’ve played “Just Now” on countless gigs — the tune always seems to push me to try and play/improvise something new. Thanks for listening!
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“The Street Below” (Live in the Studio)
This is a live in the studio version of “The Street Below” from my debut album, Jamie Bonk. I wrote this tune all the way back in 1991 when Sonya and I were living in an apartment on a somewhat busy downtown Toronto street. We’re living in an apartment in Port Moody now, above a different (and thankfully calmer) street, but for me not a lot has changed. I still like looking at the traffic passing by, still like staying up way too late and I still like (even after 30 years!) playing “The Street Below”. Thank you for taking the time to listen and, as always, I hope you like the music.
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Jamie Bonk | “No Tuition”: Episode #6 – Interview With Peter Janson
It’s been a year since the release of the last “No Tuition” interview and I’m happy to be back talking with guitarist/composer Peter Janson. Peter’s one of the finest contemporary fingerstyle acoustic guitarists playing today and, as you’ll see in our interview, a terrific story teller as well!