MP3 Jon Tomlinson - Rosa and the Mustard Man

Jon Tomlinson is a songwriter, pianist, and guitarist of undeniable talent. His music is quirky, bittersweet, hilarious, wistful, and sometimes all of the above. ROSA is a collection of new songs and serious musicianship in a jazz-folk-pop style.

22 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Pop, ROCK: Jam-band



Details:
A brief musical journey through the life of Jon Tomlinson

1977
Star Wars is premiered, and Jon is born in Long Beach, California.

1984
Jon pretends to be Duran Duran with his brother and friends. Jonâs someone dumb like John Taylor. Jon rides a mini Caballero with bonite, Indyâs and Vision Street-style wheels. Jon likes the song âMaxwellâs Silver Hammer.â

1987
Jon sees friend his friend Josh Rovner play âLet It Beâ dressed like a hippie at a talent show. He asks Josh to show him how to play the guitar. Josh teaches him the âStray Cat Strutâ intro. Jon starts classical guitar lessons with Dawn Kelly and the Noad book.

1990
Jon acquires an electric guitar and writes his first song with Jon Plichta from down the street. Jon Plichta is now a boxer.

She was beautiful
Everything about her was municipal
She was everything a teenage boy could want

Jon argues with the bass playerâs mom about the definition of municipal. Ultimately Jon loses. Jon joins jazz band in junior high, where he meets Aaron Owens (Hepcat) and Ike Owens (The Mars Volte). Jon remembers playing âBirdland.â Jon and Aaron play Guns âN Roses and Tesla.

Jon gets more into Metallica. He joins a band called Mortal Terror as lead guitarist and lead singer. He gets kicked out of the band for not wearing tight black pants. On one of their two gigs, Jon wears white jeans and a Hawaiian shirt. There was conflict.

1993
Jon goes to Poly High School. Jon and friends form Pocket Lent, a funk band. Jon sings âLetâs Get It Onâ at Lucyâs Bar in north Long Beach. It is really, really bad. They win the battle of the bands at Milliken High School and start playing parties. Jon gets kicked out for not showing up for rehearsals. There are no hard feeling at all.

Jon joins the Poly jazz band, where he meets the Tenn brothers: Mugabe, Tokunbo, and Muthoni. Tribal Style was formed. Tokunbo helped Jon pass English that year also. Thank you. That year Jon won Most Improved Musician and Best Rhythm Section along with Mugabe at the San Clemente Jazz Festival. Steve, Jon, and Mugabe would drop reggae beats during jazz band practice. It pissed Mr. Osman off sometimes. Sorry. The following year Jon got Fâs in jazz band and class piano for absences. There was no way around it.

Tribal Styleâs first gig was at Watson I Presume, a coffeehouse in Lakewood. Jon accidentally broke some kid from another bandâs guitar amp. Sorry. Tribal Style plays in Long Beach with all the other reggae, ragamuffin, and hip-hop bands. For a while everyone had dreads. All their shows rocked, and Jon realizes that playing shows and dancing fans are an important part of life. So are other things, such as God. Tribal Style also plays in the Los Angeles reggae community, including Kingston 12. Tribal Style begins to pick up motion and gets warm-up acts for Steel Pulse, Israel Vibrations, Burning Spear, Ziggy Marley and more.

1995
Jon begins to play with Steve Lewis on drums and Joel Long on bass. They played an original jazzy jam band sound. There was maturity in this music.

Tribal Style continues to play. The band relocates to Tampa and starts a buzz in Jamaica and Florida. Reggae music is in abundance. The band continues to write, record, and perform all over the south and in Jamaica.

2000
Jon starts college and studies piano, theory, and jazz harmony. At the University of Tampa, he concentrates on music composition and piano. Jon meets Bonne Kramer, a musical theatre performer, and she likes Jon a lot. Jon says sorry. But he likes her too. Their like turns into love.

2003
Tribal Style continues to play in Florida. Jon decides to go to New York to do a masterâs in composition at NYU. Jon moves to NYC and starts school. At NYU Jon studies composition, arranging, and songwriting with Dinu Ghezzo, Justin Della Joio, and Rachel Shanken.

2005
Living in New York, Jon meets Mitch Winston, who wants to build a recording studio. Mitch also buys a Winnebago on eBay. Jon helps build the studio. Jon gigs in New York with lots of musicians, lots of jazz, lots of theatre, lots of school, and lots of songs. Jon and Mitch fly to Salt Lake and drive the Winnebago to Long Beach. They do a show there. It worked. They continue to do shows in New York and the northeast.

Jon takes the fall semester off from school and records this album. All the songs were written from December 2003 to September 2005.

2006
Rosa and the Mustard Man is finished.
Mitch sells the Winnebago on Ebay.
Jon lives in Harlem for the summer.
Joyce lands a job.
Jim retires.
Bonne dances.
The Civilized Hyenas is released.
Rosa and the Mustard Man is released.
Israel defends itself.

2007
Jon goes on tour opening up for...