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JIMMY
MAC |
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For
guitar fans, the new CD from Bay area fretboard master James "Jimmy"
Mac will be one of the quickest hours they ever spend. A wild
amalgamation of jazzy, funky, rockin guitar instrumentals, Life
Is Good is a top form follow up to Macs 2006 CD, Just
A Kid Havin Fun. Mac describes Life Is Good as being,
Compositionally a big improvement in melodic diversity.
Macs guitar work simply shines on these instrumental tracks
with the guitarist adding, Getting Damien Masterson in
on this project totally breathed new life in to this project. His
Harmonica work is brilliant. Mac also cites the excellent back-up
playing by Jimi Fischer on bass/drums and synth. Guitar fans
into guitar heroes like Jeff Beck and rising guitar aces like Scott
Bradoka will be blown away by Macs guitar sounds, slide work
and fusion compositions. Thirteen modern fusion classics, Life
Is Good is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. www.jamminwithjimmy.com How long
havent I played would be an easier question to answer. Anyway,
Id say 30 years between guitar and violin. I studied at William
Patterson College and privately with Bob DeVos, Bill Connors, Mario
Escudero and Leonid Bolotine. All Music intrigues me. Blues, jazz
(especially Parker), classical and cultural music such as HuongThanh/Nguyen
Le. But it was in my second year of music theory under the direction
of Dr. Jeff Kresky my eyes were opened to harmonic development outside
of the traditional classical approach. After hearing Blow By Blow
and Wired I was hooked on instrumental guitar music!
The new
CD will be the best example of my guitar and compositional skills
to date. Its a combination of Live material and new studio
compositions and one track from my New Jersey days with Dave Larue
and Van Romaine. Since all the tracks were with different drummers
there is a new energy discovered in each track that demonstrates the
skills of that rhythm section. Plus a host of great guests. For those
fans who enjoyed my other CDs, this CD will be a great introduction
to my new format with co-production by Andrew Higgins (bassist on
the project.) Composition is my primary concern and I enjoy the challenge
of composing and integrating different instruments into guitar based
compositions. Experimenting with pedal steel and violin as instruments
of interest while focusing on using them in a non-stereotypical format.
I would rather implement the sonic characteristics of these instruments
outside of their expected roles. The album was recorded in Digital
Performer and Pro Tools. The live stuff was culled from a full day
of jams on tunes from my first CD but they were rewritten for live
performance and thanks to Andrews musicianship and creativity
post-production time, gave these tracks new life. This collection
of recordings is truly a group project and not just a Jimmy Mac guitar
record. The new studio tracks were recorded at Studio 101 in Marin
County and at various private studios through out the Bay area.
My favorite
guitar is my Sadowsky Custom Telecaster. I also use an old Strat and
a Gibson SG for slide.
As for amps: old Fender Twin and a Blues Deluxe but Mesa Boogies
are in the mix as well. All demos are done with my PODxt Live and
I use Fulltone, Eventide and Digitech pedals. For rhythm I use my
Tele through a Twin clean. The primary effect used is the Eventide
Modfactorgreat pedal for customized chorus as well as other
killer sounds. For
solos I use all sorts of goo Fulltone Wah, OCD, Octavia ultra,
Digitech Whammy II, The Vox Satchurator, Ibanex Tube Screamer. Then
again I also use plug-in digital-delays for post-production so there
you go. Anything goes!
As for strings, I have a varied gauge selection so its not standard
and I use different vendors such as GHS or DAddario. Oh yeah
a Taylor acoustic.
Jeff
Beck is certainly a major influence but I really dig Scott Henderson,
Robben Ford, Gary Moore and Oz Noy. As for albumsany Jeff Beck
record, Tribal Tech, Corridors Of Power by Gary Moore
hmmm
a lot of of non-guitar records as well. As a former violinist I have
always enjoyed the Bach Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin as well
as the cello works. I love a good R&B vocalist like Stevie Wonder
and 70s funk bands like the Ohio Players, Chaka Khan , Sly Stone
etc. The blues is always in my playing so B.B., Albert and Freddie
and the messengers that followed like Mike Bloomfield, Clapton and
Peter Green are a big influence too. But I cant dismiss the
impact of jazz. In fact, I probably down play it but almost everyone
that hears me live calls me a jazz player so thanks to years of Wes,
Martino and my great teacher Bob DeVos, I guess Im guilty as
charged.
Well,
I would like to get the new CD out by this fall 2009 and do a live
gig to support it. Since I do all the business work...there is a demand
for my old Three Point Play catalog. I
never re-released the work I did with Three Point Play. Kim Stone,
Dave LaRue & Fisher played bass. Mike Stern did some guitar and
whole host of guests including Broadway guitarist Chris Cicchino (Toxic
Avenger and soon to be in Rock of Ages). Good record. 9/11 was release
date and it never hit the stores. Eversonic went out of biz and wouldn't
return my stock. It was good stuff...a lot of out-takes etc. I
need to free up time to do the new artwork and select the appropriate
tracks. Double OT was the title. The distributor and label
are out of business and I have been contacted by several fans and
a few distributors with interest in carrying the CD. Its a very
unstable industry as far as Im concerned so I focus on what
I can do as opposed to what I cant.
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