News

1/24/12 I was recently interviewed for the new jazz podcast "Break the Mold", hosted by Alex Sadnik. It was a really fun interview with all kinds of juicy topics discussed. :) Click the link below to check it out. Enjoy!

1/13/12 Happy New Year, friends! Hope the year's off to a great start. It's been a little while since I've written an update, so allow me to fill you in on some highlights of the last couple months. Back in November, Joe Bagg, Kye Palmer and I attended the primier of the Clint Eastwood film, "J.Edgar". It was a really fun experience and we were all happy to see that our scene didn't get cut. :) In fact, they used our music three different times in the film and gave us individual screen credit too. Thanks, Clint! A couple weeks later, I was interviewed by saxophonist, jazz aficianado, and host of the "Break the Mold" concert series, Alex Sadnik for his upcoming jazz podcast. It should be available for streaming in late January. On the recent gig front, I've been playing with Bob Sheppard, Adam Benjamin, Sigmund Fudge and Kansas City's own, Matt Otto. In fact, Matt is in town right now. We had a great time playing last week at the Blue Whale as part of the LAJC's Wednesday night residency that's happening all this month. I'll be playing there again next Wednesday with the Mike Scott trio. Looking forward to that! Also, next Tuesday I'll be down in Long Beach with the Josh Welchez/Matt Otto quintet (featuring Anthony Wilson and Ryan McGillicuddy). Hooray for jazz!! My good friend (and stellar drummer), Mark Feber and I got together last week to do some double drumming action with Jamie Rosenn and Joe Bagg. It was a down- right-hoot and we plan on booking some gigs featuriong the double drum line-up in the near future. Stay tuned for that....

Lastly, I'm happy to announce that I'm now officially a proud endorsee of Istanbul Cymbals. My latest acquisition is a big, beautiful 26" Istanbul/Agop Signature Ride Cymbal that is one of the most beautiful instruments I've ever owned (see photo below).

10/13/11 Kansas City was a blast! Special thanks to my good friends Matt Otto and Jennifer Cotter for putting me up and for showing me such a great time. Also, big thanks to Sam Wiseman for lending his beautiful set of Gretsch drums and Bosphorus cymbals while I was in town. It was so inspiring being there and getting a chance to meet so many new, burning musicians. I got a chance to play with some great local cats including bassist Ben Leifer and pianist T.J. Martley who sounded really great on Matt's original music and killed on the gig. I even had the chance to hear some great KC drummers including Sam Wiseman and Matt Leifer. I think it's fair to say the jazz scene/community in KC is thriving. Can't wait to go back! Here are a couple photos from the trip....

9/1/11 Yowza! Hope your summer has been a groove. It's hard to believe it's already "back to school" time and you know what that means.....Halloween is just around the corner. (Yikes!) More on that later. In recent news, the Adam Benjami/JH Duo Project had a great gig at few weeks back at Rocco Somazzi's super cool artspace, the "Royal T" in Culver City. It was very well attended and we played a bunch of brand new original material including a couple of my new ones. Check out the video page for a sample of what went down. The AB/JH Duo has another gig coming up on Sept. 16th down in Long Beach at the "Break the Mold" concert series. Really looking forward to that one! (Click GIG SCHEDULE at left for details.) Hope to see some of you there...

My good friend and musical brother, Matt Otto payed L.A. a visit last month and we had a chance to play AND record in a variety of musical settings while he was in town. The week kicked off with a rare live performance of "3-ish" (the chordless trio featuring Matt and myself with Ryan McGillicuddy on bass) at the Baked Potato. We were joined that night by stellar trombonist/composer/bandleader Alan Ferber, making it officailly "4-ish" for the evening. It was a gas. Alan's amazing. Video from that evening will be forthcoming. Later on in the week, Matt, Ryan and I went into the studio to cut "3-ish's" second album. We recorded for two days over at Nolan Shaheed's place and recorded over twenty tunes. It was a great experience all around and I think we got a lot of really excellent takes. Look for the new 3-ish album arriving "in stores" just in time for the holidays! :) The week ended with a JoE-LeSs ShOe (Otto, Rosenn, JH) concert at "Exhibit A" Gallery in Long Beach as part of the "Break the Mold" concert series hosted by Alex Sadnik. It was, by my estimation, one of the best JoE-LeSs gigs ever. Thanks, Alex.

Kansas City friends, I'll be in your neck of the woods Sept. 28th - Oct. 1st and playing at Jardine's (in K.C.) with the Matt Otto Quartet on Sept. 29th. Come out if your free and get in touch if you're interested in hanging or hooking up a lesson. Keep swingin'....

7/28/11 Hi there gang. Hope you're having a great summer! Thought I would take a minute to let you know about some exciting gigs coming up next month. Firstly, pianist/keyboardist extrodinaire, Adam Benjamin and I will be bringing our duo music to the super cool, Royal T Cafe and Artspace in Culver City courtesy of everyone's favorite music promoter and jazz aficionado, Rocco Somazzi. For those of you who don't know, Rocco is a music promoter, booking agent and sometimes club owner who has been a fixture on the L.A. jazz scene for over fifteen years. He's a passionate music lover (and an all around great guy) committed to providing the best possible environment for musicians to freely express their creative ideas and for the listener to enjoy the very best in live, creative music. Thanks, Rocco! Can't wait. Later in the month, my good friend and musical brother, Matt Otto pays L.A. a visit and we have a couple of gigs lined up, as well as a recording session for a new 3-ish album! In preparation for the recording, there will be a rare, live 3-ish performance at the world famous Baked Potato on Sunday, August 21. We'll be playing a bunch of new music as well as some old chestnuts. Should be a great night. Lastly, JoE-LeSs ShOe has a gig at the end of the month on Friday, August 28th at the Exhibit A Gallery in Long Beach as part of the "Break the Mold" concert series. I've heard great things about this series and am told the venue is just beautiful. The ShOe is looking forward to it! For more info on all of the dates mentioned above, please click the 'gig schedule' link (at left). Thanks folks! Hope to see you at one (or more) of these....

5/13/11 Hi folks. Sorry it's been a while since my last update. It's been a great couple of months. Recent fun gigs include a duo hit with Adam Benjamin at the Blue Whale, in which vocalist and owner of the place, Joon Lee sat in with us for a set. It was big fun. I even broke out the "found object kit" (comprised of a wash basin, buckets, pots, etc) for this one. We played a variety of material including a couple of new (hard) tunes that Adam wrote specifically for the duo. Other perfromance highlights from the last couple of months include some greqat gigs with Sigmund Fudge; trumpeter Ron Stout's quartet; and various gigs with Larry Koonse and Bob Sheppard. The teaching has been very inspiring lately too. In fact, over the last couple of weeks, I was thrilled to be asked to sub for Joe LaBarbera up at Cal Arts (California Institute of the Arts) in Valencia. Joe has some very talented students that I had a great time getting to know and working with. I also got a chance to work/play with Joe's student ensemble (consisting of trpt., sax., guitar, piano, bass). We discussed several topics including developing good time; use of polyrhythms and odd groupings; playing the standard, "All the Things You Are" in 13/4 (for those musicians out there, 7/4 + 6/4 as 2+2+3 + 2+2+2). It was a super fun and rewarding experience. Thanks, Joe!

2/25/11 It's been an interesting and fun couple of weeks. A few weeks back, Joe Bagg and I recorded with fellow LA Jazz Collective member and guitarist, Mike Scott for Mike's upcoming album. It was a fun session over at Nolan Shaheed's studio in Pasadena on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Nolan's always great to work with and I think we got some really nice stuff! Stay tuned for a release date. Last week I was involved in something very exciting and different for me. I had the unigue experience of participating in the making of a feature length motion picture. The film is entitled "J Edgar", the life and story of J Edgar Hoover, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The scene I was involved in took place in 1935 New York City at the exclusive, "Stork Club". I was part of a four piece "dance band" featuring Kyle Eastwood on bass, Kye Palmer on trumpet and my good friend, Joe Bagg on piano. We played several tunes from that era (during the scene) including, "Red Sails in the Sunset", "I Only Have Eyes for You" and "Stomping at the Savoy". They had a beautiful set of Slingerlands (circa 1935 ) for me to play, complete with a 28" bass drum and original Slingerland Radioking calf skin heads! (See picture below.) We had a great time hanging on the set with Clint and the gang and getting a chance to see just how much work goes into project of this magnitude. I beleive the film will be released in early 2012. It was an incredible day and an experience I won't soon forget. Thanks again Kendall for recommending me! Oh yeah, I had to cut my hair (see below)....

1/19/11 Happy New Year! Hope 2011 is a happy, healthy and peaceful year for all of us. My year got started with a bang last week, with the JoE-LeSs-ShOe CD release party at the Baked Potato. We had a great turnout and the band sounded better than ever. A couple of days later, I performed at Steamers (in Fullerton) with the Matt Otto Quintet featuring my Los Angeles Jazz Collective bretheren - Gary Fukushima, Steve Cotter and Ryan McGillicuddy. It was a standing-room-only crowd and an incredibly appreciative audience. The finale of the week was a gig last Thursday (January 13th) at the Blue Whale in Little Tokyo. I led a quartet featuring the one and only Larry Goldings on piano, the incomparable Larry Koonse on guitar and the steadfast Ryan McGillicuddy on bass (how about those adjectives!). It was a stellar night of music and the turnout was unbelievable. The audiences at all three gigs were filled with many new and familiar faces. Special thanks to everyone who made it out last week and helped to make each event such a special and memorable occasion. (Video of all three events soon to be posted on this very site. Stay tuned...)

12/16/10 Back in November, I attended Yamaha's "Drum Summit Day". Lots of Yamaha drum set artists were in attendence including David Garibladi, Tom Brechtlein and Akira Tanna. It was a fun-filled and educational afternoon. Special thanks to the good people at Yamaha Drums. I've been playing their drums since 1986 (and endorsing them since '92) and they're still my favorite! In other news, Joe Bagg and I did a fun two day performance workshop a few weeks back at USC for their studio guitar department. Each student was to bring in and perform a tune/arrangement with Joe and I (with no rehearsal) in front of an audience of their peers and teachers. The majority of the twenty five (or so) students did really great and it was an enjoyable experience overall.

Really looking forward to several geat gigs coming up including a JoE-LeSs ShOe CD release party at the Baked Poatato in January and a gig with Larry Goldings and Larry Koonse at the Blue Whale! See gig schedule page for all the details.

Hope you and yours have a beautiful holiday and a happy, healthy New Year. Enjoy the season!

12/15/10 Here's a quick explanation of my appraoch to writing original compositions:

My writing process always starts with singing what I hear first. I wanted to write a greasy AABA tune and was listening to a lot of John Scofield music at the time. I came up with the melody for my tune "Fat and Sassy" in the shower, of all places. The melody came rather quickly and when I got out of the shower (and dried off) I quickly sang it into my iPhone vox recorder. I then came up with the bass-line and sang that into a different recording device (my trusty Sony cassette Walkman) so that I could hear both parts at once. It worked! Lastly, I turned to my fellow "ShOe-mate", and good pal Jamie Rosenn for some help with the harmony. Thanks Jamie....you're a mench.

"Equal Knocks" is a minor blues in 11/4 (6/4 + 5/4) that's based on John Coltrane's, "Equinox". I wrote it (sung it) on a drive and didn't have a recording device (or iPhone) at the time. I called my home answering machine from my cell and sang the bass line into it. When I got home, I recorded myself singing the melody over the answering machine bass line and presto!, "Equal Knocks" was born. Matt Otto was kind enough to help with the harmony on this one. Thank Matt! Both "Fat and Sassy" and "Equal Knocks" appear on the brand new JoE-LeSs ShOe album, "OuTsOLE". Check it out!

10/8/10 Greetings and happy October to you. Hope you're enjoying the season of the witch...MOAAHHHH!! The JoE-LeSs ShOe CD Release Party last week at the Blue Whale was a great success! Thanks to all that were in attendance and a special thanks to those of you that purchased your very own copy of our new CD, "OuTsOLe". For those of you who haven't gotten it yet, "OuTsOLe" will be available right here, on this very website by the end of the month and also available on CD Baby and iTunes. In other news, I'm excited to report that the JH Trio (featuring Adam Benjamin and Ryan McGillicuddy) will be playing the world famous Baked Potato next week on Sunday, Oct. 17 - see gig schedule for details. Check out the new video just posted (on the video page) of the duo gig Adam Benjamin and I played back in August at the Steynberg Gallery in San Luis Obispo, CA. Hope you enjoy it and that you're able to join us at the Spud next week! Be well...

8/10/10 The LAJC Summer Festival at the Blue Whale a few weeks back was a blast! There were two full nights of music, with four bands a night. The place was packed both nights and the music was very well received. I played on Friday night with guitarist Mike Scott's trio (with Joe Bagg on organ). It was such a fun weekend with tons of great music and good times. Thank you Joon!! I also recently played a couple of fun gigs with the Ryan McGillicuddy trio at this new place in Glendale called Club NYX. We played the first week with Adam Benjamin on piano and the second week with Joe Bagg. Sigmund Fudge was back at the Baked Potato this past Sunday night and we had a great turn out with a very enthusiastic audience. Many of my students were there, including many from MI as well other friends, family and assorted jazz lovers. Thanks to everyone for coming out and making it such a great show! One last thing I should mention...Adam Benjamin and I are doing a duo concert (that's right, duo) coming up on Friday, Aug. 20 at the Steynberg Gallery in San Luis Obispo, CA. Tickets are $10 at the door and we play from 8-10:30PM (see gig schedule page for more details). If you live up that way, it would be great to see you there! It's sure to be a special night. Bye for now...enjoy what's left of the summer!

7/12/10 Hi again folks. Thanks for stopping by. Hope your summer is going swimmingly! I've had some really fun gigs recently including a gig with visiting New York vibraphonist, Tyler Blanton (w/ Dave Robaire on bass) and a hit at the Blue Whale with my friends Jeff D'Angelo and Bob Sheppard. The LAJC has another Jazz Fest coming up in a couple weeks, this time at the Blue Whale! For a complete list of the band line-up and schedule, please click the LAJC link at left. I'll be playing with the Mike Scott trio (w/ Joe Bagg on organ) on Friday night of the festival. It should be a great time! In other news, I'm currently on summer break from UC Irvine, but picked up an extra day of teaching at MI to keep me out of trouble. ;) I'm also in the process of finishing the updated curriculum for "Bebop and Beyond" (the class I teach at MI). I hope to have it completed by the fall. Also, the new JoE-LeSs ShOe album is almost finished and set for release in October with a CD release party to follow! More on that later.... Take care and enjoy your summer!

5/14/10 Hi there! I recently posted some new videos to this site including the first in what I hope to be a series of free lessons. Check 'em out and subscribe to my YouTube channel (jharnell) if you'd like to be notified when new videos are posted. With the recent purchase of the small, but mighty Flip HD video camera, there will be plenty more videos to follow! Played some really fun gigs last week including a JH trio concert with Larry Koonse and Hamilton Price down on beautiful Laguna Beach and a Blue Whale hit with the Ryan McGillicuddy Quartet featuring Adam Benjamin and Jamie Rosenn. Also, my good friend and musical brother, Matt Otto was in town a couple weeks back. It was so good to see him and play again. We did a JoE-LeSs ShOe gig at the Blue Whale that was an absolute blast and very well attended. We also played a CD release concert for a project we're both involved featuring the music of Tom Waits. It's a beautiful recording entitled "Innocent When You Dream: Celebrating the Music of Tom Waits" and it features Brandon Bernstein on guitar; Aaron Shragge on Trumpet/Shakuhachi Flute; Matt Otto on tenor saxophone; Ryan McGillicuddy on bass; Greg Leisz on Pedal Steel Guitar/Dobro and yours truly on drums. Click the link below to check it out on CDBaby (it's also available on iTunes.) Happy listening and thanks for stopping by!

3/17/10 Wow, it's been a while. Lots of exciting stuff happening. Good news everyone...there's a beautiful new jazz spot in Los Angeles! It's called "The Blue Whale" (www.thebluewhalemusic.com) and it's located downtown in little Tokyo. The Blue Whale is owned and operated by all around great-guy and vocalist, Joon Lee and has quickly become one of my favorite places to play in town. I've been fortunate to have played there three Saturdays in a row, with three different groups. The first of which was with my buddy Ryan McGillicudy's adventurous quartet with Jamie Rosenn and Adam Benjamin; the second was with great South Korean pianist, Janguen Bae's trio; and last week I played with stellar saxophonist Bob Sheppard and Jeff D'Angelo. The attendance all around has been great, with lots of musicicans coming out to support the music and sometimes even sitting in. Joe LaBarbara and Tom Warrington sat in on the gig with Shepp the other night and sounded fantastic. In other news, I recently had an opportunity to play with one of my favorite alto players from NY, Dave Binney. We played over here at my place with Adam Benjamin and Hamilton Price. This weekend I'll by playing a concert with my pals Joe Bagg and Ryan McGillicuddy up in San Luis Obispo for the SLO County Jazz Federation. Maybe we'll see you there...

11/10/09 Halloween was epic! (see the photo page for confirmation.) We did the entire house as our version of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (dubbed "Fear and Loathing in Van Nuys"). We've almost got our place back to a semi-normal state.....almost. I've got some fun gigs coming up this week with east coast saxophonist Eric Rasmussen. The quartet will mostly be playing music from Eric's recent Steeplechase release, "School of Tristano" with a few of his original compositions sprinked in. My good friend and bandmate Jamie Rosenn will also be one those gigs (see gig schedule page for all the detes.) I'm excited to let you know that JoE-LeSs ShoE will be performing at Juanita's Restaurant and Bar (a new venue for us) in Highland Park on December 10th, so mark those calenders! We'll be playing some of the material off the new ShOe CD which is still being mixed and should be ready by the end of February. Oh, one last thing.........I'm forty today. Holy $&@#!

8/5/09 Went and saw the new Judd Apatow movie (starring Adam Sandler) "Funny People" over the weekend. That's the movie I did that session for back in February with Larry Goldings and Darek Oles. They used the piece of music we recorded, but unfortunately it's barely audible. The music is in a scene about an hour and forty-five minutes into the film that takes place out on a patio with the main characters enjoying some wine after a meal. Check it out (you're going to have to listen close!). In other headlines, JoE-LeSs shOe finished recording our second CD! It came out beautifully and should (hopefully!) be out by the end of the year. Summer's been great. Some fun gigs, trips to the beach and lots of teaching. Also, last month Joe Bagg, Jamie Rosenn and I switched insturments (that's right, switched insturments!) at our friends Drew and Jenna's Annual Covers Party. We played the Eddie Grant classic from the eighties, "Electric Avenue". I sang and 'played bass'. It was a momentous occasion, needless to say (see photo below). If you want to check out a video of the performance, here's the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWrrVEyxMuI Enjoy!

6/12/09 Breaking news...JoE-LeSs ShOe is going into the studio next week to record our second CD. The ShOe has been rehearsing long and hard and has a whole album's worth of all new, original material to delight and excite your eardrums! I'll keep you posted on the developments. I'm really loolking forward to playing at Spazio this week (6/17) with a fantastic band featuring Larry Koonse, Matt Otto, and Hamilton Price and later on this month, there's another L.A. Jazz Collective "Mini-Fest" (Fri. 6/26 and Sat. 6/27) at Cafe Metropol. I'll be playing with three bands Friday and one on Saturday. For all the details, please check out our website at lajazzcollective.com We're treating this festival as sort of a going away party for my good friend and musical comrade, Matt Otto, who is moving to Kansas City, Missouri. :( He will be sorely missed, but has promised to come back to L.A. as often as possible. He better. We need him.....

4/1/09 I finally got around to re-vamping the website! I'm excited about finally getting it done and have added a bunch of videos and other goodies. Take a look around and be sure to pick up a copy of the new 3-ish CD while your here! Also, there are some great gigs happening this month including the Los Angeles Jazz Collective's Spring Festival at the Pasadena Jazz Institute on Aprill 17 and 18, and the world premier performance of a brand new group, "Sigmund Fudge" featuring Joe Bagg, Jamie Rosenn, Ryan McGillicuddy and myself, at the Baked Potato on April 19. Click on 'gig schedule' (at left) for all the details on what's happening. Have a great month.

2/13/09 I did a recording session earlier in the week with Larry Goldings and Darek Oles for the soon to be released Judd Apatow film "Funny People", starring Adam Sandler. We recorded three of Larry's original compositions, one of which will be featured in the film. Each take we did had to be nine minutes in length (!) to accompany the specific scene. We recorded at Bill Schnee studios in beautiful Studio City, CA. It was an absolute blast! On the listening front, I've really been digging the Bloomdaddies "Racer X" (from a few years ago) and Peter Bernstein's new one entitled "Monk", with Doug Weiss and Bill Stewart. The new 3-ish CD "Baobab" will be available on CD Baby and iTunes by the end of February. I'll have a link set up soon. Happy listening!

1/20/09 Man, what a weekend! The gig with the Larry Goldings Quartet Friday night at Spazio was incredible. The band was Larry on Hammond B3 organ, Tim Reis on saxophones, and my good friend and teacher, Larry Koonse on guitar. The place was absolutely packed, filled with lots of musicians such as Jimmy Wyble, Darek Oles, Dave Koonse and my rhythm section mate from the Maynard Ferguson band, Ron Oswanski. Many of the LAJC members were in attendance as well including my pals Matt Otto, Jamie Rosenn, Joe Bagg, Steve Cotter and Mike Scott. The quartet played some standards as well as some of Larry's original music and need I say, it was a special night that I won't soon forget. In other news, "3-ish" (the chordless trio I'm in with Otto and McGillicuddy) had a very successful CD release party back in late December. The 3-ish CD will be available on this very website, as well as on iTunes, in a matter of days. Stay tuned and thanks for listening.

11/25/08 The LAJC Fall Festival was this past weekend and man, was it a blast! The Collective played a total of three nights; two nights at the Pasadena Jazz Institute and one night at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. The turnout was fantastic for all of the nights and I do believe the word is spreading about our "little" group! We actually had the cover story in the November issue of the L.A. Jazz Scene (here's a link to the article: www.lajazzcollective.com/page20/page20.html) I played with a total of five bands over the course of the festival: Joe Bagg's quintet and Steve Cotter's trio Friday night, Ryan McGillicuddy's quartet and Josh Welchez' quartet Saturday, and I led my own trio featuring Joe Bagg and Hamilton Price at the Bakery on Monday night. (For a complete line-up of all the players, check out this link: www.lajazzcollective.com/blog/). It was so much fun to play everyone's original music and to hear so many great musicians. I can't wait till the next one! I'm back at the Bakery next week with the Matt Otto Quintet on Dec. 2 and have a CD RELEASE PARTY coming up on Dec. 21 with 3ish (the trio I'm in with Otto and McGillicuddy) at the good ol' Baked Potato. It's gonna be a fun month! Until then, happy turkey and mash potatoes to all...and to all a goodnight!

10/21/08 With Halloween fast approaching, things around here are getting pretty scary! Stay tuned for pictures of this year's festivities if you dare. Lately I've been very busy teaching at UC Irvine, Musicians Institute and World Mission University as well as teaching several private students at my home studio. On the gig front, I'm looking forward to playing with my good friends Joe Bagg and Jamie Rosenn this weekend at Herb Alpert's club Vibrato (www.vibratogrilljazz.com). Also, the Los Angeles Jazz Collective is hosting a three day festival in November that I'll be playing at with a few different bands. I'll even be leading my own trio at the Jazz Bakery on Monday, Nov. 24 featuring Bagg on piano and Hamilton Price on bass (see "gigs" page for more info or visit www.lajazzcollective.com .) A couple of quick movie recommendations for your viewing pleasure: The Onion Movie (truly hilarious!) and Heckler (documentary starring comedian Jamie Kennedy explores the often contentious relationship between the people onstage and the vocal critics in the audience who are more than willing to make their opinions known.) Enjoy!

8/8/08 Hi again peeps Last weekend, the Los Angeles Jazz Collective hosted our second event at the Pasadena Jazz Institute and JoE-LeSs ShOe was one of four bands to rock the house. These LAJC events are always so much fun...great music, great hang, great people. What more could you ask for?! For more info on the event or the LAJC, please visit www.lajazzcollective.com/blog/?p=60 Also, last weekend my quartet, "ShOe WITH JOe" featuring Matt Otto, Jamie Rosenn AND Sir Joe Bagg III esq., performed at the Baked Potato to a nearly sold out crowd. Viva la Spud! Other interesting gigs of late include hits with alto saxophonist Aaron Wolf (JimDangles) up in San Luis Obispo, Gigs/Clinic with piano-ist and keyboarder extrodinaire, Adam Benjamin (Kneebody), and a LIVE radio broadcast with Opton 3ish (Bagg, Rosenn) on KPFK 90.3FM. Here's the link if you'd like to hear it: feed://archive.kpfk.org/parchive/xml/gv_sergio.xml We're about 2/3 of the way into the broadcast. Option 3ish will be performing again at the Angel City Jazz Festival hosted by one of the L.A. jazz scene's most valuable assets, Rocco Somazzi on Sept. 1, 2008. For all the info on the killer festival line-up check out www.angelcityjazzfestival.com/Angel_City_Jazz_Festival/home.html . Last night, The Matt Otto/Jason Harnell Duo Project performed at Rocco's downtown venue , Cafe Metropol. I played a "drum kit" of my own design comprised of "items I found around the house" and Matt played sax, sounds, and vocals. It was our first gig and let me just say, it was a blast! I've posted a couple of short video clips at http://www.youtube.com/user/jharnell and here are some photos...Enjoy!

6/3/08 Greetings once again web-folk. Let's see...where to begin? I'm really digging a couple of books I'd like to recommend to any of you interested in the joys of reading. The first is a book by Daniel J. Levitin entitled "This is Your Brain on Music". It's a fascinating read and you don't have to play an insturment to appreciate it. The other is "The Basic Kafka" which is a collection of stories by the brilliant European writer Franz Kafka. Amazing stuff! I've also really been enjoying a series of lectures (given to me by my friend Matt Otto) by the great philosopher Alan Watts . If you've never checked him out, I highly recommend it. Musically, I've really been digging Nate Wood's most recent solo effort, "Fall" (where he plays ALL of the insturments, wrote all the songs and lyrics, and sings!) Bill Stewart's newest release entitled Incandescance has also been a source of great inspiration lately. On the gig front, recent fun stuff has included a gig at the Catalina bar and grill with the talented vocalist Sara Lieb, a recording session for film composer Robert Litton and weekly trio sessions with Adam Benjamin and Hamilton Price. Feel free to check out my "gigs" page for more on where I'll be playing in June. Take care and happy summer...

4/25/08 Gotta love the springtime in Southern Cal. Last weekend I was up in Northern California and Reno, NV doing some dates with the Paul Roth Quartet (formerly known as "the JimDangles") and it was cold, windy as hell, and even snowed (hard!) one night. Weather aside, we had an absolute ball. It was Paul on alto saxophone, Peter Slocumbe on tenor saxophone, and my travel buddy, Ryan McGillicuddy on bass. We played Moody's in Truckee, CA Friday and Saturday nights, did three gigs (and a jam session!) on Sunday, and gave a masterclass at UNR on Monday. UNR faculty members Peter Epstein and David Ake sat in with us on a couple of tunes and sounded fantastic. McGillicuddy and I stayed at a beautiful artist retreat just outside of Reno called the Franktown Ranch. (Thanks again Richard and Ursala.) We also played a concert at the Ranch on Sunday afternoon that was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Later that night, we even had a chance to go into downtown Reno and do some gambling where I won thirty-five bucks on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine. Viva la Reno!

3/17/08 The trip to Dubai was amazing! (Feel free to visit the photo page to see some pics!) We (Vocalist Antonia Bennett, Joe Bagg, Ryan McGillicuddy and myself) were there to perform at the Skyward International Jazz Festival on Friday 2/26/08. The Festival itself was very well attended (a few thousand people) and we were there for a total of four days which left us plenty of time to explore and chillax. We stayed at a beautiful resort right on the beach (Joe, Ryan and I even rented bodyboards and went surfing in the Persian Gulf.) We even had a chance to go indoor skiing and ride a camel (in the same day!) It was an absolute blast. In other news, I'm off from school for a couple of weeks and really looking forward to having some time to catch up reading (lately I'm really digging The Art of Practicing by M. Brusser and Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World), practicing, transcribing, etc. The Los Angeles Jazz Collective is gaining steam with the inaugural concerts coming up on April 4 and 5 (for more info check out http://www.myspace.com/lajazzcollective)
Enjoy the day.

7/31/07 Gotta love the summertime. My lovely wife and I just returned from an amazing five day vacation up in Cambria, CA. We stayed right on the ocean, hiked, ate great food and soaked in the jacuzzi. It reminded me of just how nice it is to get away and soak for a while...you dig? In music news, we are currently finishing up the artwork and layout concept for the upcoming JoE-LeSs ShOe CD. It will be available on CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon, etc in the coming months. I'll keep you posted. Exciting gigs coming up this month include a hit with the Joe Bagg Trio (with Joe on B3 and Leonard Thompson on piano!) at Vibrato, a couple of gigs with the JimDangles (from Reno, NV) and assorted dates with the always inventive Matt Otto. For more specific info on these and other upcoming shows, you can check out the "gigs" page on my site. Enjoy the day...

6/19/07 Wow, it's been a crazy few weeks! The gigs with Kate McGarry went great and were super fun. The gig at the Vic was an all NY band with some of my very favorite musicians: Gary Versace (p), Rueben Rogers (b), and Keith Ganz (g). The gig at Steamers was with Keith Ganz, fellow UCI professor Darek Oles on bass and,of course, Kate. It was truly an inspiring weekend.

The following weekend, JoE-LeSs ShOe played the Aroma Spring Jazz Festival in beautiful Idyllwild, CA. People seemed to really dig the band and we had an absolute ball hanging in the wilderness. Sara and I even rented a cabin for the weekend (complete with fireplace and jacuzzi) and had everybody over for a hang after the gig. Good times!

This past weekend I was in St. Joseph, Missouri playing at the Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival with Vocalist Kimberly Ford and my good pals Leonard Thompson and Ryan McGillicuddy. We opened up for Bobby Watson in the 90 degree heat, 90% humidity and it was burin'...literally.

As for now, I'm done with school for a few weeks and I'm really looking forward to some time off. See you at the beach!

Enjoy the summer...

5/7/07 My class at P.I.T. (Bebop and Beyond: Developing Musical Creativity on the Drumset) is in it's fifth week and it's been going great. I've got some really good students in the class and It's been a great learning experience for me as well. Let's see what else...I had some fun gigs last week including a JoE-LesS ShOe gig at LAND on 2nd Street (thanks to all of you who came out!) and a gig with the Matt Otto Quartet at Cafe Metropol featuring the one and only Larry Koonse. Man, what a blast that was! I'm also really looking forward to a couple of gigs I have at the end of the month with vocalist extraordonaire, Kate McGarry. That's gonna be swingin'! By the way...for those of you who have inquired, the JoE-LesS ShOe recording is slated to be mixed in the coming weeks and will hopefully be available for purchase on-line by June. We should have the CD completed in July...we hope. Until next time...

3/26/07 Wow, it's almost April? The time she does-a-fly. Recent gigs of interest include a two day recording session for the Houston Chronicle (as in newspaper). I know, I thought they stopped making newspapers in the 80's too! Anyway, they didn't, and we recorded a total of fourteen spots, mostly for T.V but we did a few radio jingles as well. It is was a very different experience in that it was just upright bass (Randy Landas) and me and we played live to picture, composing on the spot. If you're in Houston check it out. Let's see...what else. I'm looking forward to a gig a have this Sunday (4/1/07) with Michael Bluestein and John Crooks at Charlie O's. That should be a lot of fun. On the educational front, schools out for spring break (where's my beer bong?) When it starts back up, I'll be teaching my new class at P.I.T., "BEBOP AND BEYOND: DEVELOPING MUSICAL CREATIVITY ON THE DRUMSET". I'm really looking forward to it. Until next time...

2/23/07 Greetings web folk. It's been a productive and enjoyable month thus far. Last week, the faculty rhythm section at UC Irvine (Kei Akagi, Darek Oles, and myself) teamed up with Kei Akagi's Trio in from Tokyo (Tomokaza Sugimoto on bass and Tamaya Honda on drums) to perform some master classes at UCI. Also, I've completed the ten week syllabus for the course I'll be teaching at P.I.T. next quarter entitled BeBop and Beyond: Developing Musical Creativity on the Drumset. I'm really excited about it. Recent fun gigs include a Steamers hit with the Matt Otto Quartet (with special guest Hamilton Price on bass) and a JoE-LeSS shOe gig at Mario's Place in Riverside (a venue I've been playing for over ten years now!) Speaking of JoE-leSs ShOe, we go back in the studio next week to finish the recording. If you go to my myspace page you can hear three of the tunes from the upcoming album. On a different note, I'm currently reading two books that I highly recommend: A New Earth by Eckart Tolle and Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. They're both fantastic. Happy reading!

1/23/07 Happy New Year! Hope the new year is panning out well thus far and that the holidays didn't leave you too bloated or regretful. Things here have been busy lately what with gigs, teaching, and the occasional Karaoke throw down...(good times.) I'm in the process of developing my own elective course for P.I.T. which will be offered next term. The working title for the course is "Developing Musical Creativity on the Drum Set." I'm excited about it and will keep you posted on further developments. I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico over the weekend performing with talented vocalist Lea DeLaria and my good pals Joe Bagg and Ryan McGillicuddy. We played at the beautiful Lensic Theater in downtown Sante Fe where it was snowing heavily and the high was 25 degrees. The gig was a blast and so was the hang. Lea's latest record, entitled "Double Standards", has some of my favorite musicians on the planet on it including Seamus Blake, Christian McBride and Bill Stewart on drums. This weekend, I'm looking forward to a gig at the world famous Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach with the Ron Stout Quartet (with Jerry Pinter on tenor saxophone, Joe Bagg on Hammond B3 and of course, Ron on trumpet. Should be a blast! Until next time...keep swinging.

12/15/06 Happy merry and a jolly who-wa-diddy-dooble to all! Hope the season has been fun so far with only minor outbursts of road rage and indigestion. I, myself have yet to buy any gifts. I guess instead of typing this I should be at the mall. Oh well...I.O.U.s for everybody!! The Joe-less Shoe recording went great and we've got seven songs in the can: three Rosenn's, two Otto's, two Harnell's and a PARRRTRIDGE IN AAAA PEAR TREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! But seriously, the stuff is really sounding great thanks to wizard engineer and all around good guy, Steve Perkins of Creation Studios in Tustin. Thanks Steve. We'll be going back in the studio in January to finish the project. As for other news, I had a nice holiday gig last night with some friends. The always engaging Sara Lieb was present, as well as the "original" three wisemen: Mark Waggoner, Leonard Thompson, and Ryan McGillicuddy...good times! As for the holidays, I have family coming to visit from Florida and we're doing the Christmas dinner at our place for the first time. Should be interesting. If I make it out alive, I'll post pictures. Happy Holidays everybody.

11/14/06 Well, it looks like we survived Halloween (I think?) and we got Turkey day on the way. I just celebrated a birthday too (wee-hee!).

So it's official, Joe-less shoe is going into the studio to record on December thirteenth! That means hopefully sometime in the near future, you'll be able to purchase the CD right here on this website. (Man, we're in the future! ) Check back for more details. :) Anyway, not much else to report.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and get you're protective eye gear ready...Christmas is right around the corner.

10/13/06 Halloween is in the air! Can you feel it? If no, perhaps you need to spend some quality time with a pumpkin and/or maybe eat a few hundred pieces of candy corn while listening to Bartok and watching the Charlie Brown Halloween Special with the sound turned off. Try it! It worked for me. I've been feeling Halloween in the air since around mid-July. (Below is a photo from last year's Halloween party. I'm the fat one.) Big times.

I'm back teaching full force at both UC Irvine and the Musicians Institute in Hollywood and I've got some good students. Interesting gigs of late include a concert with NY vocalist/educator Jay Clayton, a gig with the Joe Bagg trio, and a recording session where I played an old chair (literally). It was for a film and they videoed me as I tracked so they could show the actor what I did.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Enjoy October. It rules.

9/14/06 Howdy folks. So I'm finally getting around to adding a news page to my site. Something I've been meaning to do for sometime! I'm off from both of my teaching gigs at MI (Musicians Institute) and UC Irvine until the end of the month. That means more free time to do things like practice, write, update my website and most importantly bodyboard. In fact, Joe Bagg and I are heading to the beach in a few minutes! Hope the waves are bitchin'. :) In other news, (wow, I sound like Peter Jennings) I wrote a new tune last week entitled "Sea". Hopefully, you'll be able to hear it ont he site in the near future. Last months gigs with Kate McGarry and MOSS (Kate, Theo Bleckman, Lauren Kinhan, and Peter Eldridge) were super fun. What fantastic vocalists! Plans are in the works for Shoe-less Joe (the bass-less trio featuring my good friends Matt Otto and Jamie Rosenn) to record (finally!) I'll keep y'all posted. Here's a picture of us after rehearsal. Imagine what you'll look like after you've been "Shoe-lessed". Take care out ther and remember...in the words of my father, "really dig".