Prepare to be Blown Away by Rodney Holmes

This Thursday, August 28th Flemington welcomes drummer Rodney Holmes to the steps of the Historic Courthouse on Main Street.    Rodney will appear with his band Lithium Tree and guest Glenn McClelland of Blood, Sweat and Tears and formerly Ween.

Rodney Holmes, who worked with Santana on the Supernatural Album has just returned from Brazil with jazz vocalist Al Jarreau and trumpeter Randy Brecker.  

So, what can we expect this Thursday?  

With Ken Dow on bass and Bill Titus on guitar, Holmes and his band Lithium Tree will create what he calls a “mix of genres with elements of dance music and progressive rock."
(excerpt via NJ.com)

Per ”Bruce Wittet , from Modern Drummer Magazine”

Drummer, composer, producer, RODNEY HOLMES is considered by many musicians as well as music fans to be one of the very best drummers in the world. Due to his humble attitude and modest demeanor, Rodney would never say this about himself. But after seeing and hearing him, it’s simply undeniable that he is in fact one of the best musicians on the planet.

Rodney has gone on to work with some of the most talented and respected musicians in both Rock and Jazz worlds. He has worked with Santana, Steve Lukather, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Rob Thomas, and many others. His work with Santana garnered Holmes a higher level of respect within the industry along with multiple Grammy Awards. Rodney played on the hit song “Smooth” from Santana’s “Supernatural” album. He’s also earned Grammys for his work on the Brecker Brothers ” “Out Of The Loop” album. Holmes’ jaw dropping solos have evoked standing ovations worldwide.

“Rodney Holmes isn’t all about chops. It’s also about scope. Simply put, Rodney Holmes blew people away. Reasons cited were his amazing technique, his intricate patterns, and his artsy sense of placement.”

“Funny thing about Rodney: Even when he’s unleashing the beast, he never appears as if he’s barely hanging on. He’s got firm grasp of the reins, still forging a groove that’s lush, steady, and comfortable.”

Wow, pretty cool for Flemington to have such a talent performing on the steps of the Historic Courthouse.

(VIA Rodneyholmes.com)

“Lithium Tree is a new band created by drummer, composer, producer, Rodney Holmes. Lithium Tree could fall into many different genres, but it’s mostly a hybrid of Electronica, Dance music, and what some would consider to be Progressive Rock. Sometimes it sounds like the coolest movie soundtrack you would ever want to hear, but Lithium Tree is a new band with many layers. Fat grooves, lush sounds, memorable songs and completely original.” – Anonymous friend !

People have asked me over and over what LITHIUM TREE is, and I’ve always struggled to answer that question. A very good friend of mine seemed to sum it up way better than I ever could in the description above, so I just copied what he wrote. Regardless of the description, we hope you take this musical journey with us. (via RodneyHolmes.com)

The current members of LITHIUM TREE are..

Jim Kost (Keyboards)
Bill Titus (Guitar)
Ken Dow (Bass)
Rodney Holmes (Drums, and occasional Vocals)

Let's not forget Glenn McClelland of Blood, Sweat and Tears and formerly the band Ween.

You may remember Ween's, Ocean Man from this 2003 Honda Civic Commercial and the 2004 Spongebob Movie.

Can't wait to see what these guys do this Thursday.

Whatever mix of genres they produce I think we can count on being blown away.

Rock on Flemington!

A Girl - A Trombone - A Band

Emily Asher's Garden Party is a versatile musical ensemble led by Asher's tenacious trombone and sweet vocals.  Called "red hot" and "very exciting" by the Wall Street Journal, this band of all-stars from New York City's vibrant early jazz scene performs coast to coast in the finest jazz clubs to the busiest swing dance halls. Drawing on the repertoire of Louis Armstrong's enchanting Hot Fives and Duke Ellington's sophisticated melodies to the funky and soulful music of New Orleans brass bands, and Hoagy Carmichael's masterpieces, Garden Party delights audiences of all ages and musical tastes. 

(via Emily Asher's Website)

I don't know about you but here in the BID office we are super excited about the Central Jersey Jazz Festival.  We've got a great line-up of artists including Emily Asher's Garden Party. 

 First, she had me at Girl and Trombone!

How cool is that?

Second, She's passionate about the old tunes.  Think Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.

I love this band. I love it with all my heart. I love these guys and the music we make together. I love how songs written 100 years ago come alive like they were written yesterday and I love how new songs that I write are born into loving, fertile soil and can grow beyond what I had in my mind and wrote on the page.
...Emily Asher

“Emily and her friends have understood something deep about the delicate balance between honoring the originals and creating something new.” -Michael Steinman JAZZ LIVES   

Are you ready to Swing?

This band is FUN!

"Emily Asher certainly knows how to throw a party. And her brilliance isn’t a matter of laying in huge quantities of blue corn chips and IPA, nor is it because of those cookies she bakes. In fact, Emily comes to the party with little except her trombone, some sheet music, and her insistence that everyone have a good time and swing."

                                                                      -Michael Steinman

JAZZ LIVES

Hey Flemington, It is TIME to get your dancin' shoes outta the closet!

Let's show em how to swing!

September 12th
Central Jersey Jazz Festival
Flemington NJ 6pm
Four Hours = Four Great Bands

Enjoy additional video clips and read more about Emily Asher's Garden Party HERE.

Are you ready for The Wizard of Woo?

The Central Jersey Jazz Festival is coming to Main Street on September 12th and we've got a great line-up of performers to kick off the event in Flemington.

The lineup includes headliner, Bernie Worrell and his Orchestra.  Bernie's bio reads like a who's who in music and entertainment.  From Parliament Funkadelic, The Talking Heads, David Letterman, and even the classic TV series Car 54, Where are you?, Bernie's contribution to the world of music and entertainment is evident.  Bernie, a.k.a "The Wizard of Woo" wrote his first concerto at the age of eight and performed with the Washington Symphony Orchestra at ten.




Upon leaving the Conservatory, Worrell served for several years as Musical Director for Maxine Brown before joining the Parliament/Funkadelic crew. Worrell then proceeded to provide this freewheeling collective with a structural foundation which, while occasionally implied, was ever present.

At the same time, he explored and expanded his own musical ideas in every conceivable direction with a brazenness which was both revolutionary and evolutionary. From fanciful forays on clavinet which leaped without warning from guttural gulps to squiggly squeals to liquid Minimoog bass lines which herded listeners to the dance floor, it all represented new musical language. All the while, his rapid advancements of the synthesizer's potential were actually traceable to his classical foundation.

In 1997, Worrell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Parliament/Funkadelic (Talking Heads would follow five years later).

Lecture: Bernie Worrell (New York 2013) from Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

Watching Bernie's lecture at Red Bull Music Academy you'll get a real sense of this humble musical genius and lover of music.

After departing Parliament/Funkadelic, Worrell resurfaced with the revamped Talking Heads lineup for several albums, including The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, Speaking In Tongues and Jonathan Demme's dazzling concert film, Stop Making Sense. Worrell's ominous colorings, this time delivered via new digital keyboards such as the Prophet 5, were central to the recasting of group leader David Byrne's musical ideas through African rhythms. 

In the years since he left Talking Heads, Worrell has been a phenomenally prolific studio musician, serving as a primary change-agent in the many experimental works of producer Bill Laswell while contributing his singular flair to projects by the likes of Keith Richards, the Pretenders, Jack Bruce, Deee-Lite and Bootsy's New Rubber Band. At the same time, he has been among the most sampled musicians ever, with Digital Underground, De La Soul, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, DMX and countless others having acknowledged his timeless grooves by building their tunes around his signature riffs. 

"When the synthesizers came about, my having been brought up classically and knowing a full range of orchestra, tympanis and everything, I knew how it sounded and what it felt like. So, if I'm playing a horn arrangement on keyboard, or strings, it sounds like strings or horns, 'cause I know how to phrase it, how a string phrases, different attacks from the aperture for horns, trumpets, sax or trombones." - Bernie Worrell

The "Wizard of WOO" continues to wear many hats as effortlessly as he mixes musical forms, performing with both Mos Def's Black Jack Johnson band and Colonel Claypool's Bucket of Bernie Brains.

His newest collaboration is The Bernie Worrell Orchestra [link]. Their debut album launched in 2013 and the title track, "BWO is Landing" named the winner in the IMA (Independent Music Award) Funk/Fusion/Jam Song category.

Read more about Bernie Worrell on his website.

Let's give a big warm Flemington welcome to the Wizard of Woo September 12th!