This past weekend, while clearing out one of the bedrooms in my house to make way for a nursery (yes folks, there's a little Gruss set to drop in December), I stumbled upon an old shoebox containing dozens of old cassette tapes from my years at Berklee. A literal time capsule back to 1996-2000, these tapes captured everything from late night jam sessions in 150 Mass Ave, board tapes from various gigs with Jonah Smith, instrumental funk tracks featuring a classmate named John, and most important...
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I know what you were thinking. "Ryan has been doing nothing the past two weeks but eating mashed potatoes, drinking his weight in Harpoon Winter Ale and taking extended naps. There's no way he'll have Volume VIII recorded, produced and edited by January 1st." Well, you were wrong. Yes, I have been overindulging a bit this holiday season, but I've also been busy in the studio, putting together my finest Loop Pack to date. Ladies and Gentlemen of the distinguished member's only section, I pre...
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Every winter, when I travel home to West Des Moines, Iowa to celebrate Christmas with my family, I also take part in a "reunion concert" of sorts with some old friends from high school. Fourteen years ago, just before packing up my bags and heading to Berklee, I teamed up with some other members of my high school jazz band to find a way to get into bars without a fake ID. The solution? Start a funk band. And give it a really bad name.
At first we were called Pushin' Chunky. Then we were ...
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Loop #98
[caption id="attachment_4279" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Fu Manchu Not Included"][/caption]
I'll admit, I started off today's recording session with a rather uninspired wank-fest. Not really sure about what to play, I inevitably ended up doing some mathematical-fusion-funk-jazz grooves that only Kenwood would appreciate. Then I discovered a new reverb plugin. A plugin so magical, it inspired me to play a plethora of 70's, heavy duty, straight up rock beats. The kin...
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My old mentor from college, Kenwood Dennard, is back to show us how to keep things flowing with Jaco Pastorius and John Scofield. From swing, to funk, to reggae, Kenwood always makes it feel good, no matter what style he's playing.
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[caption id="attachment_362" align="alignleft" width="227" caption="Kenwood Dennard"][/caption]
No loops today. I've got something much better. Sit back and enjoy the hip hop stylings of my old mentor, Kenwood Dennard, circa 1985.
I just stumbled across some old cassette tapes of my lessons with Kenwood. As soon as I can find the right adapter, I'll digitize and upload a few highlights. Don't worry, the keyboards and headset mic are present in these tapes as well.
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