New Recording

The new album is shaping up nicely and I am having a lot of fun with it. After using only acoustic bass and a very acoustic sound for the new Christmas album (title: “christmas + santa fe”, release date: October 17th, 2000) I have chosen a bigger sound for this album. I have a lot of music and it sounds a bit like a mixture from the last 10 years. A little bit of “Innamorare”, a little bit of “The Hours between Night + Day”, and a little bit of “Opium”. From very mellow ballads to exciting rumbas. We have also recorded 4 coversongs for the album. A lovely version of “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix, featuring some beautiful guitar playing by Eric Schermerhorn (we also play his original music before our live shows), a rumba version of “The Girl from Ipanema” which we performed live with Luna Negra XL in 1997 and 1999, a beautiful version of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”, and another rumba of “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. I have heard a lot of versions of “Kashmir”, but they all sounded exactly like the original. My version is completely different. Very mellow and almost Bossa Nova-like in its mood. We also created 5 short mock-movie soundtrack interludes that we will put between some of the songs. All in all it looks to become a rather long album that I hope will take your mind on a beautiful journey. No release date for his album yet. Maybe Spring of next year.

Worst and best shows – Part 3

Best:

Opening for Miles Davis at the Paramount in Seattle in 1990:

Boy, were we scared to open for our idol Miles! After our performance, of which I remember absolutely nothing, Miles’ drummer pretends to want to give his sticks to our percussionist Davo and tells him he should play with their band…Best part: we get 4th row seats and witness an incredible performance by Miles and his band!!

Worst and best shows – Part 2

Worst:

Opening for Julio Iglesias at Radio City Music Hall in NYC in 1994

There is a huge hum in our in-ear monitors and since we can’t play together as a band with this hum I attempt to perform solo and without any monitor…all I can hear is the slapback echo of the main PA speakers from the back of the hall – miserable…the next day a dead rat is found in one of the electricity breakers of the theater and removed – the hum is gone and that evening we can at last perform as a band…..

Worst and best shows, Part 1:

Best: Villa Cordellina in Vicenza, Italy, in the Summer of 1996:
Imagine this setting: a stage in the garden of a beautiful villa from the mid 1700s in an incredible landscape near Venice, not far from the town that inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet…People are dressed to the nines and there is a long line of cars winding up to the concert grounds…the sun is setting…it starts to rain lightly about 2 minutes into our first song, Snakecharmer, and we are getting wet because the promoter didn’t give us the roof over the stage we asked for. Since we don’t want Jon to get electrocuted – since he plays an electric bassguitar, and we don’t want my flamenco guitar or the tablas to get damaged by the water, we stop the concert after the first song and run back to the dressing rooms. The audience waits patiently in their seats and 10 or 15 minutes later the rain stops. The audience’s patience and the incredible beauty of the landscape and this wonderful summer’s night have moved us greatly and we give one of our best performances.

Worst and best shows – Part 1

Best:

Villa Cordellina in Vicenza, Italy, in the Summer of 1996:

Imagine this setting: a stage in the garden of a beautiful villa from the mid 1700s in an incredible landscape near Venice, not far from the town that inspired Sakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet…People are dressed to the nines and there is a long line of cars winding up to the concert grounds…the sun is setting…it starts to rain lightly about 2 minutes into our first song, Snakecharmer, and we are getting wet because the promoter didn’t give us the roof over the stage we asked for. Since we don’t want Jon to get electrocuted – he plays an electric bassguitar, and we don’t want my flamenco guitar or the tablas to get damaged by the water, we stop the concert after the first song and run back to the dressing rooms. The audience waits patiently in their seats and 10 or 15 minutes later the rain stops. The audience’s patience and the incredible beauty of the landscape and this wonderful summer’s night have moved us greatly and we give one of our best performances.