Urbane Urban
Urbane Urban: Keeping with The Buddy Jack Band's longstanding goal of creating 'music that will take you on journeys and make you feel good about yourself, the world and everything around you' Urbane Urban seeks to prove that peace and harmony can be found in every crowded place no matter where you go around the globe.
As many cultures have known for centuries inner serenity and calm will come from discovering how to find open spaces within your mind; even when you are surrounded by noise and crowds.
Enjoy the musical diversity contained within from vital questions about your mind and our very beginnings to spectacular trips through exotic lands and outer space. Urbane Urban = suave, refined, genteel, elegant and sophisticated higher population density areas. Relax and enjoy.
Listen to the tracks:
Vunday Soon
This Bossa Nova rhythm based tribute to Bossa-Jazz with a big band flair eventually meanders into a haunting nomadic jazzy adlib journey through the mind of a music loving but mildly demented flute player who has total control over the music and where you are going. Ending with an Ocarina player who is determined on taking over finally forcing the flute player to briskly walk away leaving you with nothing but fireworks.
What's Inside
Haunting yet elegant this musical tome is brazen enough to proclaim "Ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do; no. Ain't nobody gonna tell me what's inside of my head"; these are the distressing lyrics buried somewhere deep in this song. Can you find them? The casual listener will never even know that there are lyrics to this song and yet they are really there. You must listen closely to the song just as you must listen closely to your mind when it speaks to you. There is a point here and the point to all of this is the point itself; listen to What’s Inside your mind.
Too Good
Something cool for a warm summer day...or warming and comforting on a freezing midwinter’s night when everything is just 'Too Good' to describe with words. This casual Jazzy jam is based on the simple premise that a rock rhythm can be slowed down and changed ever so slightly to create a very soothing and listenable experience for dinner music or conversation; yet still maintain the ability to keep your foot tapping. It’s not ‘elevator music’ but many have said “maybe it should be”.
Too Good was orchestrated for the sole purpose of setting a comfortable mood but soon turned out to be quite popular as a listenable composition that jams its way confidently to the very end. If you enjoy different and simple interpretations of an analogous theme jazzed up you'll definitely like this piece. And if you enjoy the incredibly vibrant and alluring sound of steel drums...the player that sits in for this song (Hugharta Jahmmin; silent ‘H’) is quite inventive and bold; though in my opinion the solo is much too short.
Wiggle Waggle
Cool smooth jazz is a favorite type of music for many; but unfortunately a lot becomes too complex in structure for all but the serious Jazz listener. Wiggle Waggle features a simple easy to hum tune that is introduced initially featuring a flute and jazz guitar duet; a combination that is traditionally very well-liked.
The soloing between the flute and guitar is subtle and melodic and the walking bass along with the haunting melody gives the whole song a 'Pink Panther' type of silkiness. The bassist really has a lot of fun with this one and says he could play this any time and never get tired of it. Many commented that the song 'is kind of spacey' so the video/slide show features NASA photos to remind everyone that jazz should be the first music to be a staple in outer space.
The Rule (Day 6)
The song begins on the morning of the 6th day as man is being created and immediately given dominion over all the lands and the animals that inhabited them, the seas and the fish that live there and the sky and the birds that fly so freely there. Everything is wonderful, happy and majestic. The seventh day was a day of rest; but on the 8th day and all of the days following, man and mankind began to get pretty busy scurrying about making changes to the original perfection, destroying the undestroyable and disassembling everything that was left until the natural world including the sky and beyond was reshaped into something it may have never been intended to be. The results were frequently cosmetically pleasing but more often than not they were less than impressive or safe. Life becomes a roller coaster ride and as one can see at the end of the composition mankind takes a hopeful break from the cacophony to listen to the rhythm of its collective heart beat before going at it once again. The perceptible turmoil continues to build to a devastating collision and an unfortunate conclusion. The siren screams out posing the question “is it too late to change direction”?
Rushan 2 Nguri
The size of our globe has always been the same but there were times in our history where much smaller areas were thought to compromise the entire world. Different civilizations were soon discovered and trade amongst those began to make the known world both grow and shrink. On a single day in time so long ago a journey, as it always has, began with one first hopeful step.
The trek from Rushan 2 Nguri was a long and arduous one crossing through many hostile and often unfriendly lands, traversing rough terrain, and trudging arid deserts. The excursion that day as always began in the flourishing land of Rushan where the finest of hand made goods and spices were meticulously secured to sturdy beasts for the arduous transport to the beautiful area of Nguri where crystal clear cool water and lush fruity vegetation abound and the people were quite beautiful and blessed with wealth beyond imagination. The end of the long and often perilous voyage brought happiness and relief to both the traders of Rushan and the merchants of Nguri.
Smoother Data
- Captured live in a small club barely large enough to fit fifty people with SRO The Buddy Jack Band jams on to a pin drop quiet packed house. The best part of a live jam in a great club is being able to see up close how the musicians focus on a central goal by watching and feeling each other constantly offering encouragement and by doing so create some of the most exciting and personal music you've ever experienced. A onetime event possibly never to be repeated the same exact way in anyone’s lifetime; and through the fortune of live recording you are able to be there and taste the music as if you were there on that monumental night.
Opus & Downus
Every classical musician creates at least one opus and hopefully many more in a lifetime. You see, Opus is a word used to describe a composition; so for all intents and purposes any and every composition is an opus. I prefer to think of an opus as a collection of musical variants often referred to by structure as theme and variations; where a composer takes a few simple notes and has them played over and over again and again throughout a composition but by different instruments, with different rhythms, at different speeds and often in a different order.
Because it is important in the life of a classical composer to produce at least one work titled 'Opus' and because life has its Ups and Downs this creation is called Opus and Downus; to mimic life. It is artfully crafted to start on an open airy and positive note (a wonderful warm yet crispy spring day) and after some dramatic changes including a trip to India; it will end that very same peaceful way repeating the calming introduction music after an unexpected storm; hopefully reminding the listener that this has indeed been a pleasant outing.
