Freedom Blues Dance (feat. Ben Rice)

#83 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, Freedom Blues Dance, features the Pacific Northwestern blues slinger, Ben Rice. A very unassuming character, this Ben Rice guy is...he showed up on time, took out his guitar, plugged in, slapped a capo on, and started soloing. When he was done with his first pass he could've split but he was obviously having fun, as I was listening to him, so he played some more. I asked if he was familiar with Tinariwen (my favorite band in the world for the last 15 years) and he was not. What about Bombino? Nope. But there's something so Malian about his playing. Maybe it's the study of all the deep folk-blues combined with his knowledge of Mariachi and Celtic music? Whatever it is, I dig where he's coming from! Ben is an award-winning solo artist, before the plague, he toured internationally and has made three albums so far. I'm not sure how old he is, he looks like he's about 15 but he drove himself to the studio so he's probably a little older. Well, regardless of his age or lack of knowledge of Tinariwen, I think you will agree, Ben's killin' it here.

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Alvino Bennett (Dave Mason, Stevie Wonder) on drums, myself on bass and a very special guest, the Grammy-winning percussionist, Christian Pepin, on congas. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA with additional tracking at NTA, San Bruno CA. Mixing and Mastering duties were handled by the infamous F-Bomb.

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Shtup (feat. Howard Wiley)

#82 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series is a full-on Bay Area jazz, funk, blues experience; SHTUP, featuring Berkley born, Berklee schooled and West Coast Get Down member, Howard Wiley on Saxophone. Headlining gigs at 12 years old, Howard's been on the jazz scene for more than a quarter-century now. Sharing stages and studying with the heaviest of heavies, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Gerald Albright and being a member of the West Coast Get Down along with Kamasi Washington, Howard has recorded and performed with Lauryn Hill, Sheila E, Cory Henry, Christian McBride, and Chester Thompson. He is a founding member of the new Bay Area collective Black London and has three critically acclaimed albums of his own as well. My favorite being The Angola Project inspired by field recordings of inmates at Louisiana’s Angola Prison. Howard's a badass and a good dude; I hope we get to do more...Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Oakland born, Derrek Phillips, (Gloria Gaynor, Robben Ford, Charlie Hunter) on drums and myself on guitar and bass. The track was recorded at NTA in San Bruno, CA, and The Phamily Room, Nashville TN. Mellifluously mixed and mastered by the infamous F-Bomb.