Hey Everyone!
Happy New Year! It’s been so long since I’ve written (I plead: Baby) that I thought an update from the House of Cha Cha was in order. Here goes…
FILM COMPOSING:
In September I finished composing, performing, and mixing the score for the feature film Someone Else, written and directed by Nelson Kim. It’s a psychological drama about two cousins. One moves to NYC to be more like the other and craziness ensues, including a Mulholland Drive-esque twist and a lead actress who plays two roles to great effect. Someone Else will be premiering at a major film festival in the spring, but I can’t reveal which one until the official announcement.
Mudville, my longtime partnership with Marilyn Carino, has composed a new track for the movie’s end credits, aptly titled “Someone Else.” It’s our first new music in quite a while, and I’ll let you know when the track becomes available on iTunes, etc. The film also includes “Joy” and “Duke” from our last record, Iris Nova.
Also, back in 2012, I scored, recorded, and mixed 7x6x2, a short film written by the great graphic novelist Paul Pope and directed by Paul and Sridhar Reddy. It’s a really cool little space western and was finally released online in early 2014 by the digital arm of Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Films. Watch the entire film here.
PRODUCING AND MIXING:
I was fortunate to be a co-producer on Emilio Solla‘s fantastic new Grammy-nominated record Second Half, a blend of tango, jazz and contemporary classical composed by pianist Solla and performed by his amazing nine-piece band. Watch the record’s promo video here.
After ranking high in the DownBeat Critics’ Poll “Rising Star Producer” category for the third year in a row (because of the 30+ SmallsLive records I’ve produced and mixed), DownBeat asked me to write an article on recording live jazz for the February 2015 issue, which is on newsstands now. Read the story here.
In November I produced Tim Ries‘ Quintet with Nicholas Payton for SmallLive and after I mix it, it will be released spring/summer 2015. Other artists I’ve produced and/or mixed for SmallsLive in the past couple of years include: Johnny O’Neal; Scott Hamilton; Peter Bernstein (solo guitar); David Berkman with Tom Harrell; Frank Lacy; Rodney Green; Will Vinson; Harold Mabern; Alex Sipiagin; and Joe Magnarelli with the late and sorely missed Mulgrew Miller and Dwayne Burno.
Also in November, I produced, recorded, and mixed NYC Unforeseen for the excellent Dutch pianist and composer Bob Wijnen. It features a murderer’s-row rhythm section: Peter Bernstein, Dezron Douglas and Billy Drummond, and will be out in April 2015.
Coming out this month is Neighborhood, Walking Distance’s debut that I mixed for Ropeadope. It’s a great chordless jazz record, with a rock ’n roll attitude and quite a few surprises. Pre-order it here.
I’ve also started doing mix consultations as well, so even if you don’t have the budget for me to produce and/or mix at this time, feel free to give me a call about this service.
And of course, even with all my composing, producing, and mixing work I still continue to play the bass. Check out Amy Kohn‘s beautiful new Plexi Lusso for an example of my recent playing. And although this has been a jazz-heavy few years, please keep in mind that I love, and work on, all kinds of music, and welcome new opportunities to collaborate.
I look forward to hearing all about what you are working on in 2015!
Best wishes,
ben