MarshWorks

click to see full imageMy brother, Jonathan, and I are playing live on November 16, 2007, 7:00 - 9:00 PM, at PachaMama's Organic Cafe in Auburn, California! We've been playing together every week at our church for the last two years, and of course off and on for 25 years, and if I do say so, I think we're sounding quite good. Click the image to the left for the flyer, and here's a printable black and white one. It's free and the kids will be comfortable in the relaxed environment.

Jon plays a keyboard with quite a range of tambral possibilities (lots of cool instruments) and I play violin, probably in a way you've never heard before. Similar to many things in my life, I always want to be unique, and my playing strays quite far from the typical classical mold.

We play our own combination of ethnic music including Irish fiddling and Bluegrass, mixed with Modern Jazz (lots of Pat Metheny - youtube example here and another here ), Jazz (including the occasionally bebop standard), and Newage with luscious synthesizer orchestrations from Jon's keyboard. I wish we had a recent recording I could post... but we'll solve that soon...

Perhaps the strangest thing about my playing is that I don't strive for that "classical" ideal violin sound. Some songs require a raspy blues voice, often I lose the vibrato, and some notes need to fade away into a wispy nothingness. I keep a groove with non-tonal "chops", which make the violin sound like a snare drum. And if the phrase requires it, I can make the instrument sound like a Jimmy Hendrix fed-back electric guitar. (All acoustic, no electronic manipulation needed.) But, all the while, this is within the overall expression that is very accessible... not avant-garde at all.

If you're local to Auburn, I hope to see you there!