East Bay Soul 2.0 Released 02/28/2012!
The journey continues with East Bay Soul 2.0-
completely produced, arranged and co-written by Greg Adams
With a nod to the music Adams loves, and inked in his own style creates music that is relevant and fresh. Greg takes you on an incredible ride that is groove driven, weaving his horn melodies with soul drenched vocals into a collection of songs that are all at once dynamic and dreamy, cinematic and oh so to fall in love with.
This very special recording boasts the full strength of the rhythm and horn sections, performing in layers of percussive up-tempo instrumentals to lush romantic ballads sung by Darryl Walker. Walker possesses a true classic voice- an effortless delivery with complete commitment to the emotion of the song.
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With the generous help of our friends, family, and fans, East Bay Soul 2.0 is a reality!
To all our backers, we couldn't have done this without you! You are True Funk Funk Soldiers!
This is our first blog and we are just getting started. So we thought we'd share how we came up with the title East Bay Soul 2.0. Since it is the follow up to the East Bay Soul CD, we wanted to keep the name of the ensemble on the cover and let our fans know that a New CD was coming. Then we thought of our logo "the bridge" on our caps and tees, and if you don't have one yet, every True Funk Soldier knows you need one! So we got to thinking East Bay Soul 2?... then went back to the logo. Every brand has a logo, right? In web speaks 2.0 means a couple of things. Second generation or new, interactive, and a logo design for a new brand- a sign of things to come. Something that breaks away from an old model. And we did just that in how we are making this new CD with you! East Bay Soul is all of that... East Bay Soul is 2.0!
For the writing process to go forward... the first thing I did was get my piano tuned, It is a must when you are starting to collaborate and fleshing out the tunes. We put a little home movie on the sights and sounds page. I thought that would be amusing!
I know there must be some questions out there so I wanted to share some important dates with you. We will start recording tracks beginning mid October at Big Surprise Studio in Encino, CA. Plans for the East Bay Soul 2.0 CD Release Party are underway and the Show Pack VIP invitations have been emailed last week for those who pledged for that reward tier. November 1st the CD Release Party Date and Place will be revealed to all our backers and will go public November 5 for everyone!
We thought we would put something in your Christmas stocking! The East Bay Soul 2.0 backer pledge- Pre-released download of the first single drops in your email inbox December 24! ... And you will receive your Pre-Released autographed CD of East Bay Soul 2.0 with your personalized Thank you note two weeks before the scheduled release date coming February, 2012!
Okay... so here we go! We will be posting frequently to keep you informed and up to date during the recording process as promised!
Soulfully yours,
Greg and the East Bay Soul Family
WE DID IT!!
WE DID IT!! WE DID IT TOGETHER!
I PICKED UP THE MASTERS YESTERDAY!
WHOA... What a ride.. It has been an overwhelming experience and a sensational six months have passed since we started at Kickstarter
Went to the studio yesterday to pick up the mastered CD. I really think this my best work to date. I hope you do too. Can't wait for you to hear it. It won't be long from now. There are some great moments on this project and the band really plays their hearts out.
It is SO hard to explain the feeling I have right now about the music, the whole recording experience... producing East Bay Soul 2.0 from writing and arranging and building the songs with the band. We had so much FUN! Everyone on the team did what ever it took to make the best recording we could. 100% NO question about it!
This project is a labor of love for so many reasons and a real treat to give back to the fans of my music and East Bay Soul. I really wanted to bring a variety of emotion to the project, songs that challenged me, moved me, hoping that it will do the same for you.
I COULD NOT HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!!
"To Catch A Thief", the first single is doing great at radio already, and it's official launch date isn't 'til next Tuesday! The CD Release Party is just around the corner and we will be performing the new music for the very first time! Many of you will be there, coming from all over the country and some as far as Europe. For those who cannot make it, you will be there in spirit with us ... a Round Of Applause will go out to you from the stage!
All I can say now is... THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AND WE DID IT TOGETHER!
YOUR ARE ALL TRUE FUNK SOLDIERS! Love you all!
Producing “To Catch A Thief”
The basic tracks on this song were recorded on Nov 17, 2011. It was also Andrea and mine 32nd Wedding Anniversary! We have two videos to share as we build the track.
I wrote "To Catch A Thief" with keyboardist Nick Milo, many of you know Nick, as my band mate in Tower of Power, he is now the musical director for Joe Cooker.
The first video is where I'm playing back the demo that Nick Milo, and I did to show the rhythm section the song. I handed out the music and we listen back. The band never heard the song before. You'll see the song start to come to life.
In the second video we are interacting in the booth, as we go through the parts and work on getting the feeling I'm looking for.
The recording booth has very low light, so the video often is quite dark.
In the booth with me is engineer Carmen Grillo, James Wirrick on guitar, Joey Navarro at the keys, Dwayne "Smitty" Smith on bass and Herman Matthews, drums.
Okay.. back to the studio!
CALL AND REQUEST " TO CATCH A THIEF "
"To Catch A Thief" is the first single and we are going to radio this month, so look for it on a jazz station near you or streaming on your favorite station worldwide!
Looking In The Rear View Mirror
Wow! Three months recording and the time just flew by. Friday 1/6/2012 was a crazy day, it was the last full day of recording with lead vocals by Darryl, and we also did backgrounds vocal and a shout, you'll see what I mean by "shout" when you hear the song. In the studio for the BV's was Joey, Herman, Johnny and James... oh and Johnny even put a timbale solo on the song "The Getaway".
The day started with Darryl putting last minute fixes on "The Love Of My Life", then singing "I'm Comin' Home", "The Devil In You" and "Back To Oakland". We started at 1 o'clock and the rest of the guys started to arrive around 3PM. We did the background vocals on "What's Goin' On" next. Then a shout out on "Back To Oakland" with all of us in the studio. Then Johnny played a killer timbale solo. It was a long day, we went to 7. But the whole day was a joy and everyone was in such a great mood. Even had the chance to play back some of the tracks the guys had not heard since we tracked them. Now they had horns, strings and vocals. Ear to ear smiles all around the room.
I was talking to James last week about getting all of the little details of wrapping up production on this project and for the first time I realized that the day of delivery was getting closer. He said, "Kind of like headlights in your rear-view mirror approaching fast, huh?" He was right on that one.
Monday I go into the studio for my last two trumpet melodies and double check if we are missing any solo work or overdubs of any kind and that's it, baby! Next week we start mixing. Then to the mastering lab.
We haven't gotten to posting video as promised in my last blog... been so busy with recording and wearing my producer hat. We have everything cataloged and will start posting videos tomorrow and more photos.
Soulfully yours,
Greg
Here is the Track Listing
| 1. The Getaway |
| 2. The Love Of My Life |
| 3. To Catch A Thief |
| 4. Back To Oakland |
| 5. Brassalicious |
| 6. Once And For All |
| 7. What's Goin' On |
| 8. The Devil You Know |
| 9. Carry On |
| 10. I'm Comin' Home |
And The Beat Goes On!
It's been a while since the last blog update... So I'll try to get you up to speed as to where we are at... We've been hard at work figuring out all of the logistics that will go into this album. It has been a hectic and exciting last 5 weeks recording. The basic rhythm tracks are done. The GROOVES are amazing! Herman Matthews on drums brought his deep pockets and Dwayne Smitty Smith taught me how to play bass... going low as you can go on that baby. Joey Navarro on keys, brings some of his tastiest work to this project and evokes Joe Sample that is a dream to listen to! James Wirrick on guitar is steady as always. We will bring Johnny Sandoval in to record his magic on Latin percussion in the next two weeks.
Okay now the horns...
We were in the studio last week recording three 7 hr days. I'd been writing almost non stop in preparation to have all the arrangements done and practically killed JB with the music prep. I'd gone through lead, erasers and score paper like nobody's business. Yes, I still write by hand and writing in my head before I put pencil to paper. Joking some have said "You know there is an app for that".... but that would just take more time and not be as much fun for me... Call me old school!!
The Horn Sessions...
What a pleasure to bring Lee Thornburg, EBS alum on trombone on four songs. As an arranger it just rounds out everything. Sean Billings on lead trumpet, and man when he ripped that double high D on Brassalicious ( Yep, that's one of the titles) You could hear it on the streets.. no kidding! With two of the best in the business on saxes, Michael Paulo on tenor, alto and flute and Johnnie Bamont (JB) on tenor, bari and flute you got yourself the "A" team. Enginner Al Schmitt has said JB's Bari tone is the best he has ever recorded. And Darryl Walker, did you know not only does he sing like liquid amber, he plays top notch sax too. We have him on Brassalicious. Six piece horn section. Now that's what I'm talking about!
Joining us in the studio were two of our Executive Producers, Mary Estonactoc and Eric Lane. And backer and songwriter George Grund came in from Arizona to see the horns recorded on his song.
Be sure to check out the photo gallery we added some great shots from the last Rhythm session and the Horn sessions!
We will be posting new video in the next couple of days and more NEWS!
Thanks for your patience and investment in this project.
I am so proud of what is unfolding!
Soulfully yours,
Greg
Sneak Peek In The Recording Booth
In The Studio - Thursday, November 17, 2010
Here is a sneak peak from last week's recording session of one of the songs we recorded. You'll see a glimpse of the process as we talk through the song after listening to the demo. It is still untitled so I refer to the track as M-8. It is an instrumental that Nick Milo and I wrote. I hope you enjoy the interaction between us. Maybe you'll be able to pick out the song later on.
Recording Goes On!
Tommorrow we finish the last day of recording the basic tracks with Herman, James, Joey and Smitty and take a break from recording as we go into the Thanksgiving holiday. We'll have all 10 songs recorded, but that doesn't mean any down time for me. My work will begin on arranging the horns and be ready for the horn section sessions starting on December 6. The timetime table speeds up now after we record the horns. I will start with keyboard, guitar and percussion overdubs as we build the tracks. Next up lead vocals with Darryl and your's truly with trumpet and flugelhorn melodies and solo's... Oh Boy!
New photos in the gallery! Click the True Funk Photos Tab above
East Bay Soul 2.0 CD Cover Reveal
We are in the thick of it! Recording started on schedule and we got 6 songs last week!
We are cataloging all of the behind the scenes from the writing sessions, the rehearsals and of course the recording sessions and conversations in the recording booth. For protection of the material there is only some much we can leak out right now. But you will be right there with us when we launch those.
The song titles are currently being registering with ASCAP and BMI and we'll talk about the inspiration behind them a little later. We can tell you right now that there are 5 instrumental and 5 vocals songs on the CD. I feel really strong about the SONGS!
It is going to be a busy busy time over the course of the next four weeks, so we hope that you bookmark the blog and visit the EBS 2.0 blog often!
The CD packaging is coming together with great photos and today we reveal the East Bay Soul 2.0 Cover.
You are True Funk Soldiers!
Soulfuly yours,
Greg and the East Bay Soul Family
Rhythm Section Basic Tracking Dates
We've just finished the first two days of the Rhythm Section basic tracking dates and I am very excited by the direction we are going. The performances are so strong and the material, from the funk to the ballads, is some of the best yet. We have 6 songs in the can and will resume on the 17th and 21st to get 4 more for a total of 10. Can't wait to do the horns!
We have some new studio photos in the photo gallery . Click on the True Funk Tab above from the menu above.
Herman Matthews Drum Kit
Horn Section Sessions Scheduled
The East Bay Soul Horn Section will go in the studio December 6, 7, 8.
Joinig the EBS Horn Section will be alumnist Lee Thornburg on our session date on December 8. We will be doing the section work as well the solos over these three days, and to give the horn players, especially we trumpet players a break to bring some blood back to our chops, we'll have plans to schedule James and Joey to come in for their O/Ds and solos to make the most of our time in the studio.
We are pleased to have two of our EBS 2.0 Backers who pledged at the Executive Producer Level joining us in the studio for the horn section recording dates!
I'll get the first 6 basic tracks we just cut from Carmen on Monday and get started on the horn arrangements. I have lready started writing in my head and anxoius to get the charts written... Yes, I am having fun!!
Recording Begins
Greg gives an audio update before recording begins and double checks the music the night before heading into the studio.
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