My Summer (Vacation?)

I was actually supposed to have this post ready at the beginning of October, so sorry for the delay. This has been an extremely busy summer and, by the looks of it, my busiest September to date. I'm aiming for once a week updates here at the blog through year's end. At any rate, here's what I've been up to from Memorial Day through Labor Day...

Highlights Include:

DJ-ing with Carl Craig: Well, it was more like me spinning jazz/R&B for 90 minutes in the middle of Carl's set while we talked life/music/family/music business stuff while drinking wine. My first time DJing for the masses and I had a great time. Would be fun to try it again...

Jazzin' On Jefferson with both Rare Standard and The Global Jazz Project: I've been fortunate enough to play at this Eastside event 3 or 4 times with different groups so I was glad to be back again this year doing my first doubleheader: Rare Standard on the main stage and the GJP at one of the 4 after parties. Good times!

Kris Johnson at the Ford House: I had the pleasure of working with the brilliant trumpeter/composer/2012 Kresge Fellow Kris Johnson for the first time this past July. We had fun backing the Ford House Youth Choir on a song he wrote with the kids for the performance at the beautiful estate in Grosse Pointe Shores (opening for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, no less). Kris is an awesome talent and I look forward to working with him again in the near future.

Recording and performing with the Don Was Detroit Jazz All Stars: Gonna try to keep a potentially long story short. I got the call to do a session at Studio A in Dearborn (1st time there, great room!) from Wendell Harrison. Some of the usual suspects plus guitarist John Arnold and Amp Fiddler. Oh, and we'll be performing at the Concert of Colors (I can already see that I'm gonna have to write a blog just for this...). I also wound up playing/recording with Dennis Coffey for this project. This wrapped up an amazing week for me (The Ford House shows were at the same time)!

Demetrius at Waterfalls and Michigan Jazz Fest: My close friend and amazing musician Demetrius "Krayon" Nabors had me play a few shows with him. The first was at a downtown Detroit venue called Club Waterfalls, mostly performing songs from his debut CD A Journey Within Pt 1. I then played the Michigan Jazz Fest at Schoolcraft College with the Demetrius Nabors Trio (along with my other Trio Nomadian bandmate, Nate Winn). We played pretty early in the day but I think we surprised the audience, most of whom were expecting a typical "student" band.

More gigs with Big Will and 360: Not unlike last year, I was lucky enough to sneak in a few gigs with Big Will & the 360 Degrees Band. I always have a great time with these cats because they do everything from standards to classic rock to 70's/'80's dance hits to songs that JUST came out! I learn a ton every time I play with them and bassist Michele Hobbs (and her predecessor Creston Lamar Burks) leave some huge shoes to fill but the band always makes me feel welcome.

DBP photo shoot at Motown Museum: I can can't believe I arrived too late to take the main picture with the Detroit Bass Players group again! And this year, one of the pictures was featured in Bass Player magazine as a not-quite centerfold. I still had a great time hanging all of my fellow bassists, young and not so young. Better luck next year!

bWx opens for Robert Glasper and Angie Stone: This was another of my favorite days of the summer! The B. Williams Experiment (with Derrick Benford, Saxappeal and Brandon Williams HIMSELF) with Gwenation on vocals made the most of our 15-20 minute set at Chene Park. We also had a blast talking to/hanging with/digging on Glasper and his crew. I had another gig to run to so I wasn't able to catch Angie's set, but it still was a night to remember...

Jazz Fest weekend at MCW: Unofficially closing out the summer season was a series of shows at MotorCity Wine during Labor Day weekend. I played with no less than 3 of the 4 bands featured there, including the Mighty FunHouse (minus bandleader Skeeto Valdez), the B. Williams Experiment and an unnamed group comprised mostly of Canadians (who shall also remain nameless) who performed for the Sunday brunch. I even managed to catch some acts at the Jazz Festival (including Pat Metheny's packed set!) and a show with Inohs Sivad at Arts Beats & Eats.

Well, That what pretty much my summer. How was yours?


Be Good,
DLW

Self Portrait

This is probably my favorite drawing I've ever done. And I'll probably never attempt anything like it again.



First, a little background...



Starting around the age of 11 or so, I wanted to be a comic book artist.

I'd been collecting for a few years at that point and had a passing interest in art (at the very least). Despite my love of Batman, I considered myself a Marvel Zombie. As soon as I determined I wasn't gonna get any (mutant) powers at puberty (at least, no useful ones), I decided the next best thing would be to create these images myself. I picked up books like The Official Marvel Comics Try Out Book and How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way to try to learn the basics. I studied industry pros and personal favorites like Marc Silvestri, John Byrne, Paul Smith, John Romita Jr, Jim Lee, Art Adams, Walt Simonson and many others.

To make a long and boring story short, my infatuation with music eventually superseded my love of comics and drawing. I never REALLY stopped drawing, though...


Fast forward to August of 2003. I'm on my 2nd tour (of duty) with the amazing baritone saxophonist Ronnie Cuber and on this jaunt, we're playing at the Brecon Jazz Festival  in Wales and then a residency at the historic Ronnie Scotts jazz club in London (a week that deserves it's own blog!). For whatever reason, I was dealing with some jet lag after the flight from NY/NJ (I can't recall if we flew in from JFK or Newark) and I couldn't sleep. I was sitting at the desk in my room and journaling (something I started doing when I began travelling abroad in 2002) and really took notice of the mirror in front of me. At that moment and on a whim, I decided to make my first attempt at a self-portrait. I got this far and figured I should quit while I was ahead because A) I was (finally) getting sleepy and B) I didn't want to mess up the rest of it!

I still draw for fun (and in ink) and I'll probably do a blog of my Bar Art in the near future. In the meantime, there's always this, my best and favorite drawing...


Be Good,
DLW

The Corktown Omelet

Welcome back to the blog and to the Signature Omelet Series! The inspiration behind this particular omelet was simple; corned beef hash is delicious! I'll keep this short and sweet...

                                                         3 eggs
                                                        1 russet potato
                                                        Onion, diced
                                                        Green bell pepper, diced
                                                        Olive Oil
                                                        Worcestershire sauce
                                                        Salt
                                                        Pepper
                                                        Unsalted butter
                                                        Gruyere cheese, grated
                                                        Corned beef

The plating isn't the best but I don't think I've made this one since St. Patty's Day. May have to break this one out as the temps start to drop...

Be Good
DLW

The Black Burt Bacharach

This is basically some background for my reluctant  nickname, The Black Burt Bacharach.

I remember reading an interview with bassist/composer/producer Marcus Miller when he was promoting his 1997 CD, Live & More. One of the high points of the record was his cover of People Make The World Go 'Round by Thom Bell and Linda Creed. In this article, Marcus refers to Thom Bell as "the Black Burt Bacharach", siting their shared use of odd time signatures, complex chord changes and catchy melodies all within a pop song. For whatever reason, that quote stuck in my mind.


Cut to about 13 years later. As I'm apt to do, I made my Facebook status the VERY tongue-in-cheek "Damon Warmack is the Black Burt Bacharach!". My buddy, the amazing drummer Skeeto Valdez, saw this, took it and ran with it. We were hosting a weekly jam session at Alvin's in Detroit at the time and he began and never ceased  calling me "Damon The Black Burt Bacharach Warmack" then.

So, Bell, Biv DeVoe. Now you know.


Be Good,
DLW

Top Ten(?)

Once again, this is from a blog I posted several years ago on MySpace another website. I'm posting this here in the hopes of revisiting this idea next year to see what's changed. at any rate, here we go...!

Hello all!

As cliche as it is, I've decided to post a list of the top ten albums/songs that make me happiest as of right this moment.

Note: these are in no particular order and they don't feature me (how narcissistic would THAT be?)

1) The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker- Prince: Even though my brother had Sign O The Times on wax when it came out, I didn't discover this gem until '95 or so when I read a list of what D'Angelo was listening to. When I finally heard it... whoa! Musically, it's like the antithesis of When Doves Cry; there are at least 3 bass parts. The lyrics are almost this stream-of-consciousness kinda thing; food orders, bubble baths, Joni Mitchell quotes... Wow.

2) All 'N All, I Am and Faces- Earth Wind & Fire: Ah. The late-70's triumverate of EWF albums. All 'N All was recorded after the group had lost producer/songwriter/arranger Charles Stepney to a heart attack the year before. Maurice White took a vacation in Brazil and came back with he inspiration for this project, the result being the best tip-to-tail EWF album. I Am was the first EWF project that was written without the rest of the band's input. Maurice, David Foster and Allee Willis composed the bulk of this record with great results, but you can see the reins tightening (no in-house band songs, Phillip Bailey leads only one of the 9 songs on the album...). Faces wasn't a huge commercial success for the band (a double-album that "only" went gold when it came out) but it has the distinction of being the last "true" EWF album in content, concept and creation. It was the last EWF project that featured cats like Larry Dunn and Al McKay (who left the band shortly after the making of this album) writing material for the band.

3) Pages- S/T: I probably lost 99% of the people reading this blog with this title. The two guys that founded this band, Steve George and Richard Page, wrote songs and sang background for the likes of Al Jarreau, Kenny Loggins, Tom Scott, Donna Summer, Chaka Khan and more. And after THIS group disbanded, they went on to create Mr. Mister (of Kyrie and Broken Wings fame) .

4) The Way Up- The Pat Metheny Group: The Magnum Opus in the PMG book, a band with a 25 year history of 10 minute compositions. Word is, this song/album was a reaction to music becoming shorter, smaller and dumbed-down.

5) Amandla- Miles Davis: While I admit that nothing on this CD is as compositionally strong as Tutu and Portia from the previous record, I think that Amandla makes a more cohesive statement as a whole.

6) Fantasy-EWF: This is perhaps my favorite song ever. It's the song responsible for me playing music in general and bass guitar in particular.

7) Thiller- Michael Jackson: Now, I actually like Off The Wall more than this album, but the moments that work on here, REALLY work. Everyone knows all of the hits from this record; the beautiful intro and outro to Human Nature ("Looking Out..." Has anyone else noticed that Michael pronounces the "t" in "Out" like a "d"? He does this everytime he sings that word. I dare you to go and check for yourself), the groove on Billie Jean and so on. I like some of the smaller moments; His background vocals on Baby Be Mine, the little vocal tics he does in the middle of the 3rd verse of Thriller (3:12), etc... But the coup de grace for me is every element of the the album's last song, Lady In My Life.

8) Star Of A Story- Heatwave: Out of the many, many (MANY) great songs that England's Rod Temperton has written (Always And Forever, Boogie Nights, Rock With You, Baby Come To Me, Thriller...), this one may very well be my favorite. From the first orchestra-and-sythesizer low note, to the Fender Rhodes ostinato, to the unique drum part, to the lyrics that are romantic without being trite (they only refer to the subject of the song as "Angel", which is a telling trait), to the almost-fugal counterpoint of the chorus vocals. AND there are just enough harmonic twists to keep things interesting.

9) Mistura Fina- John Patitucci: This album is a slow burn. I liked it when it came out, but it's grown to become one of my favorite Patitucci projects. This particular CD is rooted in the expansive musical culture of Brazil.

10) This Is It- Kenny Loggins: One of several fruitfull collaborations between Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, I enjoy This Is It the most because of it's subject matter. At a glance, it almost seems like a typical relationship song but it's actually a message to Kenny's dad. The senior Loggins was going through a major surgery and was having doubts about whether or not he was gonna make it out okay. This Is It was Kenny's way of telling his dad that you have some say in these moments in your life and you have to go out and fight for them. 



Details as I find the time to post them....



Be Good,
DLW

Bar Art

Due to the nature of my line of work (musician, for the uninitiated), I spend a fair amount of time in bars. There can also be a lot of downtime between sets and, because I already have a pen in my hands (making lists, writing charts, etc...), I often find myself drawing on napkins in said bars. Here are some of those drawings...

I may do a few more postings as I draw and compile them...

Be Good,
DLW

The Bacharach Omelet

This was the first original omelet that I conceived and seriously worked on. There have been so many versions in the trial-and-error stage, I'm no longer sure of what the initial inspiration for the Bacharach was. This is where I'm currently at with the ingredients and I honestly doubt anything will change much. 

3 Eggs

Ham, diced

Green bell pepper

Shallot

Garlic cloves

Basil leaves

White wine

1 Lemon

Unsalted butter

Asiago cheese, grated

Salt

Pepper

There it is. Special thanks to David A-P of Motor City Wine for coming up with the name...