Fareed Haque
And So The Next Phase Begins
And so the next phase begins. Out of Nowhere is OUT and doin’ fine! Please check it out, and buy a copy. We are on the jazz charts and climbing! Click here to buy Out of Nowhere on iTunes! In a few months you’ll see my DELMARK debut: “Trance Hypothesis” from the Flat Earth Ensemble featuring Essam Rafea, Nirmalya Roy, Indrajit Banerjee, Shiva Ghoshal, Willerm Delisfort, Greg Fundis, Alex Austin, Clarice Cast, Matthew Tembo and Tony Monaco. I am proud of this one. SOME NEWS: – Check out the feature on Jambands.com -New feature coming out this winter in JAZZIZ, written by Bill Milkowski. –Premier Guitar will print 10 lessons let me know what topics you want to hear about. I’m thinking: – What not to wear when playing guitar: Asturias in a thong. Or how about my specialty – EXTREME String tension: How to break a string ON CUE!”AND – The Balanced Guitar: My OVATION floats perfectly across my pool, but only in a soft headwind! My favorite: Organic String Ease: Victoria’s Chili Sauce vs. Tabasco; slide up and down that fret board with SPICY HOT LICKS. Lastly, and much more seriously. This Spring will also see the release of the new interactive DVD, ‘In the Jam,’ with Tony Monaco, Steve Smith and me. Ten original tunes featuring The Essential Organ/Guitar/Drums grooves of the 50s and 60s. Featuring multiple camera angles, YOU choose the shots. Its like Jazz Porn – but with our clothes on, mostly. On December 12th – MathGames will perform a live webcast for audiotree.com Check it out. Live visuals too! Good Stuff is happening. Writing new music and just got done with a 10-day, 12-show tour with my duo partner in classical guitar crime, Paul Moeller. Check out Pauls music by visiting: http://www.moellermusic.com/bio.html. We had a great time rehearsing, connecting and meditating on some great music. I am working on some very cool new transcriptions as well. RAVEL here we come! We played LIVE on WFMT as well, and the session was recorded. In addition, we have recorded and filmed a nice live concert at NIU that will be posting clips from soon. January 1011, 2014 will see the CD release celebration of Out of Nowhere for two nights at our favorite Chicago joint, The Green Mill. Myself, Alex, Greg and Willerm Delisfort will hit it again! In the meantime, thanks Madison, WI for being such a GREAT music town! The Alchemy Cafe was packed. With my folks in and out of the hospital, and my crazeee-not-much-music related schedule lately, I decided to leave all the toys at home. Just Stromberg, Polytone, a cable and me. Alex Austin and young drummer Kelton Norris hit it hard. Just Jazz, but new and old all at the same time. I was pleased to see folks hang hard, and even throw a bunch of extra $$$ at us. Encores and all that. Maybe jazz isn’t dead after all. After a flight back from FLA I headed straight up to The Brink Lounge to jam with Tony Monaco, Fundis and alternate sets with The Jimmy’s – how cool is that! Real New Orleans Soul, in the heart of WI. Cheese and All. YES – Jimmy makes CHEESE. I could not stop myself in the dressing room. Ate it ALL. Anyway, we hit to a packed crowd, dancing clapping along and all that. A Blast! Next stop: new records from vocalists April Aliosio and Lily Rose Violet (I’m producing and playing). Plus, I am finally getting around to the NEW SOLO guitar project – thanks to Sam Guidry’s excellent electric/acoustic Classical guitar. DECEMBER is my month to slow down, and get ready for a wild year. Time to prepare, practice, write, record and generally vibe on it all, something I rarely get a chance to do. Gotta breathe. Peace to you all and peace in the New Year!