BBC - Film Network - Films - Conversation Piece--So great!!

via bbc.co.uk

A unique musical-of-sorts in which a domestic argument is lip-synched to the sounds of a jazz cornet

Posted via email from AtmosMusic

BBC - Film Network - Films - Conversation Piece--So great!!

via bbc.co.uk

A unique musical-of-sorts in which a domestic argument is lip-synched to the sounds of a jazz corne

Posted via email from AtmosMusic

Rob Michael & Todd Johnson Jazz Stream: Wave (AC Jobim)

via ustream.tv

Here's a clip of Todd Johnson and I hanging in my studio a month or so ago just calling tunes and letting it flow. Jobim's 'Wave' was our improvisational vehicle of choice at this moment.

Dig it!

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Rob Michael & Todd Johnson let it flow on the Ustream

Bassist Todd Johnson joined me last Thursday on my Ustream Show. He's a master musician and a super sweet guy that I'm happy to count as a friend.

Here we are having a musical conversation on Luis Bonfa's Manhã de Carnaval.

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Rob Michael & Steve Uccello: Travels (Pat Metheny)

Here is another excerpt from my Ustream show from last Friday that featured bassist Steve Uccello.

This is 1980's-era Pat Metheny tune that touches on the more country/ folk side of things. It's Hope you like it.

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Rob Michael & Steve Uccello explore the Jazz Classic "Autumn Leaves"

Often viewed as a "Jazz 101" kind of tune, Autumn Leaves has to be one of the most commonly played and recorded standards of the idiom. In terms of playing an entire set, this meeting was the first time Steve Uccello and I had played together and that is the perfect time to cherry-pick from the Standards repertoire.

Based on the Cycle of 5th's, this tune is a remarkable vehicle for improvisation.

Dig it!!

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Excerpt from Live duo show featuring SteveUccello and I - Pionsenka Dla Stasia (Song For Stasia).

Though I typically play these shows solo, yesterday, I had the good fortune to have Monterey-based bassist, Steve Uccello come to the studio to join me during my first Ustream concert of the year. Steve and I met via Twitter last year and together organized a wonderful house concert. It was super cool to play again.

Look for more of these excerpts in the coming days.

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Rob Michael and Jason Parker hanging with tomorrow's Jazzers.

My friend Jason Parker and I played a fun duo gig this past Friday at Addison Elementary School in Palo Alto. Jason is one of my valued connections that I've had the good fortune of making via twitter and his excellent blog. Having had many great online discussions, we decided to meet and play this gig together.

Jason went to school in this neighborhood as a youngster where he was turned-on to jazz and the trumpet by none other than Dizzy Gillespie some 35 years prior.

We, hopefully, brought that experience full-circle by playing some tunes and taking questions from the students. I was super-impressed with the attention that these kids gave to the music and the intelligence they displayed via their questions and observations. Kudos!!

Here is some of the music that we played just 10 minutes after meeting one another.

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Christmas Collaboration on YouTube

This really great Christmas surprise comes courtesy of my friend Rahsheen.

He took the initiative and added some more holiday mojo to my solo guitar version of White Christmas.

Dig it. 

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Season's Greetings from Rob Michael, Solo Jazz Guitar: White Christmas

via youtube.com

My way of giving thanks for all the wonderful support I've received this year. I truly appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!

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Why in the world would I give my music away for FREE?

A couple of weeks ago I conducted an experiment with the Atmos Trio bandcamp site.

It was toward the beginning of the holiday season and I was in a giving mood, so I priced all of Atmos Trio's albums (which include sheet music along with music files.) at a "Pay what You Want (even nothing)" price. I'm accustomed and happy to giving music away for free. I've always offered individual song downloads for free and had a low minimum price set for albums. But I offered everything for free to anyone who was interested. 

Over the course of the 3 Day Special, many more people than normal downloaded the 2 albums "Atmos Trio" and "Atmos Plays Waters." They helped spread the word about the opportunity for "Free Atmos Trio tunes" on Twitter and Facebook. It was nice to get such a favorable response from people who seemed genuinely appreciative of the music.

But something else rather interesting occurred as well: More than 50% of those that downloaded opted to pay for the music. Some paid far more than any price I would consider setting. Was this merely the result of a period of actively promoting the music? Maybe. Should I price my music at the  "Pay what You Want (even nothing)" price all the time? Maybe. 

Why in the world would I give my music away for FREE? I would much prefer people hear the music and form some opinion on it rather than have it be locked away behind a price tag somewhere.

That's why.

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My sessions with The Joe Henderson Memorial Big Band

I played with The Joe Henderson Memorial Big Band led by Warren Gale Jr. until until mid 2009 when, due to CA state budget cuts, the group had to be disbanded. This was a stellar group of musicians, many of whom played with Joe over the course of his long career.

These tunes were recorded in a 2007 session.

Trumpets: Warren Gale, John Christensen, Dave Fava 

Trombones: Jules Rowles, Chuck Bennett

Saxes: Mel Martin, Pete Yellin, Tim Divine, Jean Fineberg, Dave Tidball, Jim Rothermel, Amelia Timbang Catalano 

Rhythm Section: Rob Michael: Guitar, Dave Udolf & Benny Watson: Piano, Paul Smith: Bass, Bob Belanski: Drums

<a href=" Zolton  by  AtmosTrio ">Zolton</a>  by  <a href=" Latest tracks by AtmosTrio ">AtmosTrio</a>

Black  by  AtmosTrio

Short Story  by  AtmosTrio

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Atmos Trio 3-Day Holiday Music Special

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Happy Holidays We have new online store: the Atmos Trio Bandcamp site. Here you can listen to tunes for FREE, embed players on your web sites and/or purchase downloads. We so appreciate the support that we've received all year that we're offering a special gift for you. Next week, starting December 7th through the 9th, both of our albums "Atmos Trio" and "Atmos Plays Waters" are available to you for a "Pay What You Want (even nothing)" price.  If you would like the music for yourself or for a gift for someone else, you may have them FREE or you can pay a price of your choosing. The albums include High-Quality (DRM-free) Digital downloads AND sheet music for select tunes. Enjoy! If these newsletter aren't enough Atmos Trio contact for you, please connect with us on Twitter or Facebook. You'll surely get your fix there. That's about it for now. See you on the "other side." Rob

AtmosMusic.com  Facebook Fan Page YouTube  @AtmosTrio on Twitter   Atmos Trio Blog http://fburls.com/61-RLZ6rDH4 Update your information

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Upcoming Shows/Events:
Date:	Location:	Venue:	Ticket Price:
12/10/2009	American Canyon, CA	Ustream Concert (map)	No Cover (buy)	Details >>
Full show/event calendar >>

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Pay What You Want (even nothing...) for "Atmos Plays Waters" for the next 24 hours.

Enjoy the latest album by the Atmos Trio "Atmos Plays Waters." This album features the amazing compositions of Drew Waters and includes sheet music for two of the tunes.

You are invited to download the entire recording, FREE of charge, or you can exercise your option to pay ANY price you like.

Happy Holidays!!

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The Musician's Tales: Stories from the Trenches #cheesegigthrowdown

I was exchanging some gig stories this morning and the trend continues.

This widget is following the Twitter hashtag #cheesegigthrowdown

<script src="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js"></script> <script> new TWTR.Widget({ version: 2, type: 'search', search: '#cheesegigthrowdown', interval: 6000, title: 'Musician stories from the trenches', subject: ' #cheesegigthrowdown', width: 'auto', height: 300, theme: { shell: { background: '#8c8e8f', color: '#ffffff' }, tweets: { background: '#ffffff', color: '#444444', links: '#0811c2' } }, features: { scrollbar: false, loop: true, live: true, hashtags: true, timestamp: true, avatars: true, behavior: 'default' } }).render().start(); </script>

Posted via web from atmosmusic's posterous

Rob testifying the "Spam Blues" on Ustream

via ustream.tv

Every Thursday, I play a solo jazz guitar show right out of my home studio. From my perspective, it's The Hippest Thing Ever!

On this particular Thursday, I was being pummeled by spammers and well--it gave me the blues.

Posted via web from atmosmusic's posterous

This week's "Forgotten" Atmos Trio tune: Bill Frisell's "Is It Sweet?"

From a July 2004 session, "Is It Sweet" is a classic Bill Frisell piece that features a really cool "drunken" feel in the groove and some folky- country-blues tones.

Again, I'm offering a tune we played out of the love of playing. There are no edits or overdubs here.

Is It Sweet? I think so...

  <span><a href=" Is It Sweet  by  AtmosTrio ">Is It Sweet</a>  by  <a href=" Latest tracks by AtmosTrio ">AtmosTrio</a></span>   <a href=" Is It Sweet  by  AtmosTrio ">Is It Sweet</a>  by  <a href=" Latest tracks by AtmosTrio ">AtmosTrio</a>

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Another "Forgotten" Atmos Trio track: Stephanie's Soliloquey (2004)

This offering is the sixth in an on-going series of "Forgotten Music"
that has been rediscovered after years of languishing on a hard drive.
this music was never intended for release, but after sitting all this
time, has been considered worthy, at least, to share. it may be that a
"Forgotten Album" will emerge.
Recorded in July 2004. Atmos Trio  wasn't
even recording an album--just sight-reading some charts. This is
another beautiful Peter Sprague  tune we
used to play during our Monday morning jam sessions.
This song is something of a rarity in that it does not feature solos
but instead, features the composition itself as the main character in
this particular music tale.
Features Rob Michael  on
guitars, Joe Shotwell on bass and Jeff Obee on bass.

Stephanie's Soliloquey  by  AtmosTrio

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Atmos Trio Monday morning sessions: Miles Davis' Solar

The Atmos Trio first started out as an excuse to play in a very conversational way. We were (and still are) seeking a musical discussion that required no words. We were out to explore group improvisation but hopefully present it in such a way that it almost sounded composed.

For a time, our method of operation was to converge on my studio each Monday morning, throw up some mics, hit RECORD and just play. Here is a result of one of those session from July 2004.

Never intended for release, this recording of Solar really was a happy accident which was captured to disk. We played it and moved-on. Only during a later review of the session did we realize the level of musical interactivity that had apparently occurred earlier that day.

Here is your invitation to eavesdrop on our conversation.

Solar  by  AtmosTrio

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Solo Jazz Guitar take on "Don't Know Why"

Continuing my efforts to liberate hard drive space is unearthing several forgotten little musical treasures. 

My offering for today is this solo guitar version the tune Nora Jones made such a huge hit several years ago. Like everything I've shared via Soundcloud, this track was never intended for release, just something I rediscovered and thought may provide someone with temporary respite from the pressures of a Monday.

Please enjoy with my compliments and pass it along if you think someone else might dig it.

Don't Know Why  by  AtmosTrio

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