A wholesome jam

Bram feeling it on the keys.

This Thursday was the first jam where I feel like it's really what it's supposed to be. Different flavors of musicians from all over, constantly flowing with new ideas, a fun celebration, a chill and soulful vibe.

The highlight for me was a nice groove that Paco started with a noteless rhythm on bass.

He just arrived from Spain and was recommended to the jam from some of his friends. Looking for a musical community, it seems he's happy with what he found. The groove that he started filled in with Francisco on the bongo and Fico at the drumset. Ali, Kit, and I filled in with some chords and melodies, but the rhythm was the driving force.

Francisco chilling with his friend.

Francisco is also a newcomer to Amsterdam looking for a good community. Before the jam he was telling me a story of playing his drum on the street, when a man started yelling at him to stop. But other people came to his defense, and a little girl tied a ribbon to his drum. Yes, you are appreciated. Sometimes the affirmation is there and sometimes it is not. But good work always has its impact.

Getting the groove on with Paco.

The next jam is on my birthday. I'm wrapping up a wonderful year, 27 (3 to the 3rd power). I expected it would be a joyful year, learning to open myself to be free and true. It has been.

As I close the chapter of 27, I open 28 (4 directions of 7). I hope to continue my outward growth and find balance. Let the celebration begin!

Gig this Saturday - Café Del Mondo, Amsterdam - Neil solo

Last minute booking for this Saturday in Café Del Mondo

It's a bar round the corner from my house, so I was keen to take the gig and add another local to my portfolio(can drinking establishments be collected in a portfolio???). Sandra is still in Sweden, Tamira is off seeing Zack Wylde, Fraser is working, so I have no one to hide behind. I'm going to knock out 2 sets of covers that I've been singing every week at the Jam Sessions.

Poster as always by Kenneth Clarke.

A percussivley policed jam

We had a few firsts at our jam session this week. We had our first Didgeridoo and the police came for a a listen. Not Sting and Stewart Copeland (although if you're listening boys, you're welcome to pop in), but the boys in blue, the fuzz or the Rozzers.

Other than the police following up a noise complaint, it was a damn good night. we had a lot of new faces. Multi-instrumentalists Nate and Francisco were there from the onset and we had some cool chilled out jams with the Didgeridoo and some percussion.

Once a few more people had arrived, despite having had a dodgy throat all week, I kicked the singing off with a few of our standards:

Luckily Eoghan arrived again to taise the bar and teach a few new songs. we did a pretty good jam on 'Movin' on up' by Primal Scream:



Now that I know it, I think I'm going to steal Eoghan's idea and Fraser and I will try it at the next open mike.

Ali also showed up around this point. He's a wonderful lead guitarist, but what I didn;t know is that he prefers acoustic. Ali and Eoghan then did a version of romeo and Juliet with David:

Ali then did some great folk in DADGAD tuning:

Christoph the drummer also made his first appearace at this Jam session. We had many a good Jam at the Mine with Christoph and it was great to see him again. He was there with another new face; Pascal. Sensing some serious talent I paired them with Lorenzo and Robert and we heard some of the best music that the Jam has produced so far; assisted throughout by Nate and Francisco on percussion . Well done boys!

A usual, the CC Muziek Café lounge was pretty full too:

After this the police arrived, so Tamira's set was particularly quiet. The regulars then kept the Jam going until I unplugged things at 1:30am so that I could go home to bed before work.

New article by Neil McKenzie on Technorati

I had an article published on Technorati. It's a short piece about the returns from spotify for amatuer musicians when using CDbaby. The title should read "Spotify for the amatuer musician" but somewhere along the way an "is" got added. So it looks positive in nature, whereas I intended it to be unbiased. Please comment, share and retweet and let me know what you think. If I get some response, I'll do this kind of thing more often.

http://technorati.com/entertainment/music/article/spotify-is-for-the-amatuer-musician/

Singing on Sundays !st Edition with Dené Theron, Danalyze, Petra Jordan, Mariandoro & Noam Vazana 13-2-2011

Review of the CC Muziek Café Jam Sessions in the Amsterdam Stun

Andy at the Amsterdam Stun has given us a great write up and photos in this month's edition. It's available here.

Led Zep and press interviews....

We had another great night last night. The previous week had given me a little confidence in the fact that I could sit back and enjoy the night a little. When I arrived, Robert and Fergus were already playing away. I quickly got everything set up and joined in. We now have a big enough group of musicians that there are several regular faces who are showing up – Bram, Ali, Wally, Roberto etc.

It was a very “Jammy” night, I don’t think I sang until about 23:00 and I was even playing the drums for quite a while.

After last Friday’s couch Jam – and a few new friends came along. Thanks to David and Elisa.

The band I'm playing in all came along(sans Tamira) and we ran through a few of the songs that I still need to work on before Saturday:

Lisa looks particularly annoyed, but no one is really sure why.

We also had a returning drummer in the form of Wally, who kicked off a medley of Led Zeppelin songs:

We managed to make it all the way through Stairway to heaven with nearly the right words. Whole Lotta Love with no words, and Thank You with a lyric sheet. It was great fun too loud, and very entertaining.

While all this was going on, Matthew was interviewing various Jam Session hosts and regulars for a promo video for the bar. Watch this space - embarassing-interview-youtube-moment on the horizon.

As with last week the night closed magnificently with a Set by Giovanni and James which featured lots of guest stars:

Roll on next weekkkkkkkkkkk.............

Self Expression at the Jam

Being the co-host of the Thursday Tunes Jam Session has been a real joy. I feel like our last jam reached a new level of expression for our musicians. We had a positive vibe going, with a good rotation of musicians at each instrument, and a constant flow of creative ideas on the stage.

As a keyboard player, I really enjoyed hearing some of the other keyboard players, Naro and Brian. Naro has an awareness and presence when he plays, with rhythm and dynamic support for the group. Brian played some awesome blues. It was really beautiful to hear how both these guys were heard without stepping on anybody's toes. They are masters of backing off and accenting at the right moment.

The question was brought to me about what our jam is, and what are the expectations. For me, the jam is an opportunity for musicians to come together and express themselves. We encourage new arrangements of musicians and the emergence of new styles. Sometimes we play covers of songs that have some space to jam (we've got a book of chords to choose from), and sometimes we just jam on spontaneous chord progressions or the blues. It would be great to see somebody explain how to play an original song and do that too.

Mostly we encourage people to come together on the stage, but I think it's acceptable if a group or individual wants to perform a couple songs on their own to get some exposure and experience. But even then maybe it is best if the door is open for others to contribute their own musical energy, and the original members might open their ears to a new idea. Nobody should feel excluded in our jam session.

A highlight of the night was when the musicians really got rockin' and people jumped up on the floor to dance. Roberto had the energy going on the drums, and it was great playing with him. I also enjoyed complimenting Danielle's singing on the melodica. And it was great backing up "We don't need no education" on the melodica, while Danielle added a melody from another song (what was it again??).

Neil is an experienced musician and jam session host, so it's fun working with him. Oftentimes he is directing things at the stage, while I am mingling with the audience to find out who is waiting for a chance to get up on the stage with some complimentary musicians.

In the end I'm really happy to help manifest an environment that is fun for musicians and people who just enjoy listening to live music. It's cozy, welcoming, and René is always there to chat it up at the bar (he has some crazy stories...ask him about Brazil!)

Our next jam is posted as an event on Facebook.

Check out the new website for our beautiful venue, CC Muziekcafé.

Join the Thursday Tunes group on Facebook.

Last nights Jam at CC-Café turned out full of spirit again!

Last night (Thursday the 3rd) the Jam in CC Café turned out into a huge variety of Jams by Musicians that let the whole evening roll.

From Musicians playing Coversongs to just starting to play without a plan and interacting with each other to doing your own thing backed-up by the others. The audience was singing loud with us!

The people from De Plug Amsterdam played some nice 70 classics; and the Guitarbuilder of Rebel Relic Amsterdam took us on a raptrip and everyone began to dance.

Andre Smoge; the master of tuning in with whats going on on stage, popped and subtilly adding something nice by guitar and voice.

Danielle (Danalyze) sang some funk and soul in a jam and tried to get people to play with each other.

Devin played Keyboard and really showed his talent on the Melodica this night. He is currently working on the website of the café www.ccafe.nl and i think the new version is online, check it out! Devin's website.

Two Singers amused us with Purple Rain where they actively communicated with the audience so everyone ended up singing too! Garreth and a Lady whose name ill post as soon as i know it.

Rene the owner of the cafe sang proud mary with a female singer supported by Deen on Drums and Robert Shaw on Guitar amazing us with his solo's.

Pianoplayer Brian Hickey came over towards the end and just jumped right up stage while Danielle was playing the Drums. They've played some Music before in the past but never in this setting which was great fun!

Brian can play anything and he showed us that until the place closed! Wonderful!
DeboraJCarter's on which he playes the Piano:
http://www.deborahjcarter.com/JBTD9823.htm

Tamira and her friends James and Giovanni came in too and played some great Covers. . Followed by a James and Danielle duet Cover of the Verve!

The evening ended with James and Brian Hickey on piano which was a very interesting combination!

Lets keep this interacting on stage spirit up everyone! See you next Thursday at CCcafé!

Sandra Sunshine ...in two planets...

Several monthas after Tamira's album appeared - Sandra's is now up there. For those that don;t know Sandra - she was an integral part of the Jam Session when it was at Coco's Mine. Take a listen:

http://open.spotify.com/album/437CaUfrAzZSHx4jiN8YtD

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Branching out....

I wrote a small piece about the Amsterdam music scene in the winter for an Amsterdam Travel blog.