Garage Concrete (MP3 album)
Experimental electronic soundscapes and free-jazz blowouts. Owing as much to Stockhausen as the wild abandon of a high school garage band, Garage Concréte is heady without being pretentious.
9 MP3 Songs in this album (44:18) !
Related styles: ELECTRONIC: Experimental, JAZZ: Free Jazz
Details:
The musicians on Garage Concréte may comprise the world''s oldest garage band. Playing on and off since 1979, Ned Judy (keyboards), Larry Melton (bass) and Mark Merella (percussion) bring a level of telepathy to their improvisations. This disc focuses on the more abstract of their collaborations with experiments in electronics, soundscapes, looping and free-jazz blowouts. Owing as much to Stockhausen as the wild abandon of a high school garage band Garage Concréte is heady without being pretentious. Special guest David Goodrich, another long time cohort, provides eerie guitar work on two tracks.
"Their music ranges from ethereal to earthy, and it finds a sonic haven on both ends of that spectrum. The group builds an aesthetically convincing bridge over the varied terrain or firmament they travel". - Frank Rubolino, All About Jazz
Band Bios:
Mark Merella - percussion, electronics, short wave radio
Mark Merella is a percussionist adept at both drum set and and hand percussion. He has worked with a variety of artists in the jazz and Latin fields including saxophonists Fred Foss and Rene McLean, trumpeter Tommy Williams and percussionist Steve Berrios co-founder of the Fort Apache Band. Mark has also worked with the groups Rumba Club, Mambo Combo, Ala Carte Brass & Percussion and as part of Havana Select he played for Celia Cruz''s induction into the Smithsonian and 1997''s Black Music Conference in Chicago. On the R&B circuit Mark has worked with The Flamingos, Bo Diddley and Mary Wilson of The Supremes. Mark was also commissioned by the American Composers Forum to compose a piece for Jane Franklin Dance, which premiered March 1st, 2003. A highlight of Mark''s career was playing with the Latin Jazz All Stars alongside Steve Turre, Ray Vega and Andy Gonzalez. Currently Mark co-leads the group Mosaic, performs with The D.C. Improvisers Collective, teaches and freelances throughout the Washington/Baltimore area.
Ned Judy - digital piano, synthesizer
Ned Judy has worked in a wide variety of musical situations including those of pianist, composer, sound designer, and educator. While Ned has been involved with recorded music for more than twenty years, he has also worked extensively in live theatre, participating in productions in New York, Los Angeles, Vienna, Singapore, and Havana. He has composed music and designed sound for works by Eduado Pavlovsky, David Hirsh and Jude Narita. He collaborated with Eva Cassiday during her formative years and has worked with Little Anthony, The Shirelles and Michael Henderson. His improvisational concepts are reflective of his experience on the main stage at The Second City California, where he served as musical director.
Larry Melton - acoustic & electric bass
Larry Melton is a bass player who commands a wide variety of styles. He has been involved in situations ranging from straight ahead jazz to Latin and fusion. Larry is currently active with the group Mambo Combo and was a member of Permanent Vacation from 1985 - 92. With many recordings to his credit Larry is also producing and recording at his own Meltdown Studios.
David Goodrich - guitar, ebow, mandocastor
Born and raised in Washington D.C. suburb Bowie Maryland, David Goodrich (a.k.a. Goody) began playing music at the age of two on a drum set given to him by a neighbor. Picking up guitar in junior high, he spent his teenage afternoons jamming with friends and soon found himself in a variety of bands, gigging professionally in Annapolis and D.C. clubs before he was old enough to get into them. Earning a scholarship to Boston''s Berklee School of Music in 1985, Goody moved to Boston, found himself studying with jazz greats Joe Henderson and Pat Metheny, and quickly began laying the foundation for his own innovative musical style. Fusing jazz and improvisation with folk and world music, Goody''s approach to songwriting, playing and performing is based on years of listening and training, along with a carefully honed sense of intuition. Specializing in stringed instruments (acoustic, electric, Hawaiian, steel & slide guitars, mandolin, mandocaster) he has been an integral part of numerous jazz, rock, and acoustic ensembles over the past fifteen years.
As a member of the influential rock band Groovasaurus from 1991-1998, Goody and his bandmates helped define the resurgent Boston music scene of the ''90s, receiving consecutive Boston Music Awards and Best of Boston accolades. In 1995 Goody began collaborating with old friend and ground-breaking singer/songwriter Peter Mulvey on Mulvey''s studio projects Rapture and Deep Blue. When Groovasaurus called it quits after three CDs and eight wildly successful years, Goody teamed up with Mulvey, co-writing and producing his next two projects, Glencree (a live album, recorded while the duo were on tour in Ireland) and The Trouble with Poets (a studio album recorded in 2000). The pair also hit the road for a touring schedule that continues to see them playing more than a hundred shows a year in North America and Europe.
In addition to working with Peter as a co-writer, producer and accompanist, Goody has also worked with an extraordinary array of today''s best independent singer/songwriters. He appears on over 75 recordings, including the Grammy-nominated Avalon Blues, and has performed internationally on hundreds of stages with artists such as the Indigo Girls, Erin McKeown, Lori McKenna, Jennifer Kimball, Pamela Means and Toni Lynn Washington.
A much sought after collaborator known for both his distinctive sensibility and his mind-bending versatility, Goody has also produced CDs for critically acclaimed artists Rose Polenzani, Anita Suhanin, Tim Gearan, and, most recently, legendary songwriter Chris Smither.
Further extending his range as a prolific composer and versatile instrumentalist, Goody has been composing music for film and video since 1997, working on an exciting range of projects including a PBS documentary, Racism in Milwaukee, and The Last Jew from Lublin, a Yiddish language film about a Holocaust survivor.