I joined CTW in December of 2009. The band focuses on jazz/funk originals, many of which are penned by our guitarist, Rob Lyons. Other songs are written by vibist Todd Bryson, and a few are Colin Gleason originals! Plus we do a few tasty covers of Eddie Harris (of course!) and a few other soul-jazz greats.
Archive for the ‘Band Bios’ Category
Compared To What
Posted in Band Bios, Gear Notes on April 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Band Bio: Powers That Be
Posted in Band Bios, tagged Powers That Be on January 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
UPDATE: Looks like our first day in the studo will be Saturday, March 14th!! We’ll be tackling some of our originals, including: Honey; Stepping Out; Just A Little Piece; Rise ‘N Shine; and Now or Never. It’s gonna be a blast, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the various cuts as we leak them strategically (eww… )
The Powers That Be are a funk/blues/jam band playing originals and coming straight outta El Cerrito! We are in the process of hitting the studio, so a full-length CD is in the works for ’09.
Band Bio: Spiral
Posted in Band Bios, tagged Spiral on January 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Spiral is a band I’ve had the pleasure of working with since it’s inception last Winter (20o7). We rehearse in Cupertino at out bass player’s house, Dave Bakker. Greg Sandoval bangs the drums from Mountain View, Dave Casini brings the vibes from Hayward, and together we rock it fusion-style to classics from Miles Davis, Michael Brecker, Kenny Garrett, Tom Scott, even some Steely Dan and some Steve Miller Band!
Group: The Next Phase
Posted in Colin's Band, tagged Colin's Band on November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Next Phase… I’ve since done some tweaking of the standard quartet orchestration (Sax-Chords-Bass-Drums). At first I added a second Chordal instrument. Playing once, at the end of September ’08 at the Ivy Room in Albany, with vibes and guitar. A week later, I used guitar and keys at Linden Street. Then I got an [...]
CG4: Fall ’08: Silk Road Lounge
Posted in Colin's Band, tagged Colin's Band, Vamps on November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Phase 5 was a month and a half affair at the Silk Road Lounge. The gig showed some promise, but it also had some funky backroom stuff going on, so it played itself out fairly quick. But in the meantime, I went through a huge phase of bringing in as many different players, in as [...]
CG+: Summer ’08: Linden Brewery
Posted in Colin's Band, tagged Colin's Band, Vamps on November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Phase 4 introduced us all to the Linden Brewery. Adam and Carey are two dudes with a dream… bring beer back to Oaktown! Brewing was THE biggest economy of Oakland in the 1800′s. Turns out the 49′ers loved to drink, go figure! After prohibition, the East Bay took some time off. Linden Brewery, located in [...]
CG3: Spring, Summer ’08: Zza’s Winebar
Posted in Colin's Band, tagged Colin's Band, Standards on November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The big question of this process turned up during Phase 3. A friend of mine works at a local Italian restaurant (Zza’s) and it’s connected winebar. They were starting up a weekly Thursday musicnight. It was most definitely NOT the right venue for my funk-jazz vamp quartet. But I missed the straight-ahead fix that I [...]
CG4: Winter ’07: Cafe Van Kleef
Posted in Colin's Band, tagged Colin's Band, Vamps on November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Phase 2 was Cafe Van Kleef. I had played 200 shows there with a band called Sonic Camouflage, a straight-ahead jazz outfit with the “Kind of Blue” orchestration. We were the first band to play at Van Kleef’s, and were the house band on Wednesdays and Fridays for years. After 3 years and 9 months, [...]
CG3: Summer, Fall ’07: Coffee With A Beat
Posted in Colin's Band, tagged Colin's Band, Standards, Vamps on November 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Colin Gleason Group has been around for about a year now. I guess it depends on when the stopwatch started. It has been a great first year: it has renewed my energy, my faith in myself, and my faith in music. The band has gone through many phases, roughly coinciding with various residencies at [...]
