For Joe Beck

Donald W. Mohr & Josh Peters

A Jazz duo that sounds like a trio record thanks to an innovative guitar design.

I was nineteen when I met Joe Beck. He was playing a concert at a small music school in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where I was preparing for my time at Berklee College of Music. My exposure to jazz was limited to the mainstream household names, including Miles Davis,

A Jazz duo that sounds like a trio record thanks to an innovative guitar design.

I was nineteen when I met Joe Beck. He was playing a concert at a small music school in Briarcliff Manor, New York, where I was preparing for my time at Berklee College of Music. My exposure to jazz was limited to the mainstream household names, including Miles Davis, and here’s Joe Beck, who was the guitarist on Circle In The Round, the first guitarist Miles Davis had ever recorded with. We’re in a room that was about twice the size of the your living room with maybe fifteen people in attendance, though I remember the weather being particularly bad, and here’s Joe Beck playing his Alto Guitar with the great Alto Flautist, Ali Ryerson and I had only been studying jazz seriously for a few months. Needless to say, it had a profound impact on me, and it’s why I made this album.

Joe was selling CDs and I bought two, both were from the Ali Ryerson Duo albums. I regret not buying his quartet album as well, but the duo albums had his Alto guitar and I was infatuated with the idea of playing bass and guitar simultaneous. Those records introduced me to the concept of pop covers done in a jazz setting, as I hadn’t yet heard Miles doing Time After Time, Charlie Hunter’s Natty Dread, or Brad Mehldau’s Largo. I got to know Joe, but unfortunately fell out of contact before his passing. He really wanted me to buy one of the last of his signature Cort Alto guitars at the time. Only 200 or so were made and I regret not finding the money for it at the time. They rarely turn up for sale so if you know a friend trying to sell one, please let me know.

In 2014, I got the Fender Baritone Telecaster played on this album with the intention to eventually implement the technical ideas from the Alto Guitar, such as the tuning with the two middle strings sounding an octave higher than a standard baritone guitar, and the stereo outputs. It took 3 years to put together the parts and find Paul at ubertar.com to make the pickups. I decided to add the hipshot B/G bender with drop d lever to the design as it was already a very different guitar to the Joe Beck Alto, which is tuned A to A instead of B to B and his was a hollow-body jazz guitar where #JoeTheGuitar is a solid body with multiple pickups. Also, Joe’s Alto guitar didn’t have a Hipshot B/G Bender but I found one at an incredible price. Unfortunately, the bridge I paid handsomely for. I couldn’t find anyone to do the wiring so I had to learn how to wire a guitar and spent 6 hours in April of 2017 wiring everything, finishing on Easter. I started recording a week later and after listening back, Josh and I decided to spend July 17, 2017 taking another shot and adding a few additional pieces I had written to this album. All of these tracks are continuous takes and the performances have not been edited. They were recorded to my trusty Tascam 688 that I do most of the other Get Off My Lawn Records releases with. You can see it on #FreeformFridays on YouTube.

A huge thank you to Millicent Hughes and Carissa Gragg both for making the operation of the tape machine happen and helping keep the project organized. I hope you enjoy this album as much as we enjoyed making it for you.

Sincerely,

Donald W. Mohr Founder, Get Off My Lawn Records

Read more…

Our Weekend with Paul Serrato

Paul Serrato & The Jazz Destroyers

New York legend Paul Serrato joined The Jazz Destroyers for an epic weekend of performances and archiving tapes.

in June of 2002, i graduated high school. I received the John Philip Sousa award. Paul was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I had come to know Paul through a neighbor, her name was Lee Dratfield. She was amazing. She was a singer and Paul had

New York legend Paul Serrato joined The Jazz Destroyers for an epic weekend of performances and archiving tapes.

in June of 2002, i graduated high school. I received the John Philip Sousa award. Paul was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I had come to know Paul through a neighbor, her name was Lee Dratfield. She was amazing. She was a singer and Paul had been her accompanist in the cabaret clubs of New York. I kept in touch with Paul over the years and in February of 2017, we were finally able to come together for a weekend of community, exchanges of ideas, and most importantly, music. Before Paul, I didn't know that music was even an option beyond that of a hobby. He was the first professional musician I had met. I had originally intended to record more of our weekend, but I didn't. I was able to capture two recording sessions, one live at Cafe Creme in Austin, TX for a live #FreeformFridays session with Thomas Baker on bass and Josh Peters on drums. We also digitized tapes from the early 1980s, when Paul was adapting "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis for the stage. The other session was a collection of Paul's pieces in the Get Off My Lawn Records studio with Benjamin Vogel on upright bass and myself on guitar. My wonderful wife Carissa recorded the sessions for us and Paul was kind enough to provide the archival tapes and photographs from his trip to Brazil, where he began to write Blues In Rio. I hope you enjoy this album as much as we enjoyed making it.

Sincerely, Donald W. Mohr Founder, Get Off My Lawn Records

Read more…

Live at the Highball

Jomo and the Possum Posse

The band from Guy On A Buffalo made a live album and it's excellent.

I met Jomo And The Possum Posse when they hired me to help them set up a PA for a private party. I couldn’t stick around to run sound the whole gig, as I had to get on to my own, but I was so thoroughly impressed with the sound check performances that I suggested we do a live

The band from Guy On A Buffalo made a live album and it's excellent.

I met Jomo And The Possum Posse when they hired me to help them set up a PA for a private party. I couldn’t stick around to run sound the whole gig, as I had to get on to my own, but I was so thoroughly impressed with the sound check performances that I suggested we do a live album. At the time, I had never heard of “Guy On A Buffalo.” I had played several shows at The HIghball in Austin, TX with The Jazz Destroyers as it was a regular gig for us, so when Jomo suggested that we record there, I was more than happy to drag out my cameras and call in Brenda Hernandez to run an additional camera for me and snap some photos for the cover. I hadn’t recorded any of the shows with my guys at this venue, but I was pleased to find out that multitrack recording was available and Dylan Jones was kind enough to deal with the long transfer times to get us the files. So, we were able to get an album that sounds as good as the DVD looks. Jes Clifford and Tony Rincon both will keep me practicing for many years with their deep vocabularies and excellent performances on guitar. Chris Steakhouse’s drumming is of particular note as the time is rock solid and never overt. Brian Wolfe’s banter with Jomo throughout is understated and even funnier through each listen. He also happens to play a mean upright bass. Normally, I take care of the audio engineering details but Jomo Edwards wanted to handle the mix, and he did a tremendous job, making for a very headache-free mastering session. I want to extend a big thank you to everyone involved and all of the sweat poured into both the show and putting together this package for you to enjoy. Thank you for purchasing this and supporting musicians that really, truly deserve your support. Whether you’re already aware of these huge hits from YouTube, or if you’re just finding out about Jomo and the Possum Posse now, this album captures the essence of the live show, documenting a moment in time for us all to enjoy. I hope you enjoy this album as much as we enjoyed making it for you.

Sincerely,

Donald W. Mohr Founder, Get Off My Lawn Records

Read more…

Between the Worlds

Millicent Hughes

An eclectic blend of styles in a nostalgic vein of the great singer songwriters of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

To complete an album is an insurmountable task for many artists. It is truly a massive undertaking. An album is a snapshot in time, showcasing where the artist is at the moment, the collective sum of a lifetime’s experience. In this case, it's

An eclectic blend of styles in a nostalgic vein of the great singer songwriters of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

To complete an album is an insurmountable task for many artists. It is truly a massive undertaking. An album is a snapshot in time, showcasing where the artist is at the moment, the collective sum of a lifetime’s experience. In this case, it's the collective experience of a handful of people pouring their hearts and souls into capturing lightning in a bottle for your listening enjoyment. I've produced many albums over the years, and at this point in time, in this place, I can say quite certainly that as a producer, this is the closest I've come to a masterpiece, accounting for every single detail I know to account for, making sure that the result is the very best it can be for the sake of each song and your time. Between The Worlds is an appropriate title as we experience a broad range of musical influences spanning many genres. My intention was to produce every song as if it were the single, cutting no corners out of respect for you, the audience. No synthesizers were used in the making of this album, in an era where electronic has become the norm. This is a return to form with exceptional musicianship, paired with excellent songwriting, reminiscent of an era before everything could be fixed, tuned, and aligned. Hopefully this album inspires the next generation of musicians and music producers to continue to value these qualities in their work. I'd like to thank Millicent Hughes for not only the countless hours recording the ethereal background vocals, playing my 1934 Marshall and Wendell Piano, a beautiful 1974 Rhodes on loan to us by Charles Russell, with logistics help from Jared Marshall, as well at her glockenspiel. I'd also like to thank Josh Peters for playing excellent drums, and all of the horns on the album, along with arranging the parts. Additionally, many thanks are extended to Thomas Bethel for the audio consultation during mastering, and Carissa Mohr, my wonderful (and pregnant at the time with our first child) wife for assisting with the engineering during recording. Also, many thanks are extended to Thomas Baker for lending us his 6-String Music Man Bongo, and Fretless 5-string Stingray. Finally, I must extend gratitude to Stefan Del Bosque for providing Clarinet on the title track, and Steven Walker for providing the cover photography and layout. I hope you enjoy Between The Worlds as much as I, and the entire Get Off My Lawn Records Family, enjoyed making it for you.

Sincerely,

Donald W. Mohr Founder, Get Off My Lawn Records

Read more…
0:00/???
  1. 1
    0:00/4:40
  2. 2
    0:00/3:46
  3. 3
    0:00/4:53
  4. 4
    0:00/3:18
  5. 5
    0:00/5:15
  6. 6
    0:00/5:25
  7. 7
    0:00/3:44
  8. 8
    0:00/3:48
  9. 9
    0:00/6:34

Identity Crisis

Sounds in Between

Identity Crisis is the debut album of Sounds In Between, which is an ensemble fusing Turkish Folk Music and Jazz.

Having made records for over 15 years at this point, i'm not sure I've come across such a strong opening as Toprak, which sets the mood for the entire project, a bland of Jazz, Turkish Folk, and Blues in a way I've never heard before.

Identity Crisis is the debut album of Sounds In Between, which is an ensemble fusing Turkish Folk Music and Jazz.

Having made records for over 15 years at this point, i'm not sure I've come across such a strong opening as Toprak, which sets the mood for the entire project, a bland of Jazz, Turkish Folk, and Blues in a way I've never heard before. No album would be complete without a contemplative ballad and February is special. Josh Peters' singing was unexpected, but fits in only the way Josh could make it. Once the groove kicks in, this is just a wonderful journey through a moment in time. Vesvese brings more influence from Turkey with a great groove in 7/8 where Ted's drumming is outstanding and Engin's solo are particular standouts. Ever Tried Ever Failed was recorded about a month later with Josh on both Oud and Drums. The Oud break on this track is particularly memorable. 7 Is the New 4 is my personal favorite of the album with stellar playing all around. The Duel features Serthat playing the Baglama which is truly a delight. Black Saba is reminiscent of the great hard rock of the 1970s with a unique style only this group could great. Heartache and Snow are duos with a fretless nylon guitar played by Engin and Josh playing the Oud.

I hope you enjoy listening to this album as much as I enjoyed getting to make it.

Donald W. Mohr Get Off My Lawn Records

Read more…
0:00/???
  1. 1
    0:00/3:19
  2. 2
    0:00/3:42
  3. 3
    0:00/4:41
  4. 4
    0:00/4:18
  5. 5
    0:00/4:15
  6. 6
    0:00/3:57
  7. 7
    0:00/5:30
  8. 8
    0:00/3:08
  9. 9
    Snow 2:26
    0:00/2:26

Best of #Freeformfridays 2016

The Jazz Destroyers

Recorded over 7 sessions throughout 2016, #FreeformFridays is a weekly video series of unedited, fully improvised music found at www.youtube.com/thejazzdestroyersofficial. This is the best of 2016 compiled into a single album. Enjoy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. #FreeformFridays are fully improvised works usually about 5-7 minutes

Recorded over 7 sessions throughout 2016, #FreeformFridays is a weekly video series of unedited, fully improvised music found at www.youtube.com/thejazzdestroyersofficial. This is the best of 2016 compiled into a single album. Enjoy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. #FreeformFridays are fully improvised works usually about 5-7 minutes long where we sit down and make it up on the spot. There are no charts, there are no lyrics, nothing is pre-planned. We've had several guest appearances including #HarpByAndrea creator, Andrea Fronk, Sam Dixon, Joshua Thomson, MC Overlord, Alex Salinas and everyone from Full Fathom.

Read more…
0:00/???
  1. 1
    0:00/4:15
  2. 2
    0:00/4:01
  3. 3
    0:00/5:05
  4. 4
    0:00/6:04
  5. 5
    0:00/3:30
  6. 6
    0:00/7:50
  7. 7
    0:00/4:44
  8. 8
    0:00/8:29
  9. 9
    0:00/6:56
  10. 10
    0:00/7:25
  11. 11
    0:00/4:50
  12. 12
    0:00/8:18
  13. 13
    0:00/4:29

Live

The Jazz Destroyers

Destroying everything you think you know about Jazz.

Hi,

I'm Don. I started Get Off My Lawn Records. This was a live show at The Brass House in Austin, TX in December of 2015. These are the original pieces I've written for the ensemble. I appreciating you taking this much time to check out what we're up. to. Thank you.

Read more…