Album Review: Michael Jacobs

A few days ago, I posted a article about the Nammy awards. In that article I briefly mentioned a new Native American artist, Michael Jacobs that I discovered after listening to all of the nominated artists for the Nammys. Well, I subsequently downloaded several of Michael Jacobs songs from iTunes and I've been listening to them for the last couple of days. I have to say that I am really hooked on his music.

He has a sort of Don Henley-isk feel to his singing and music, and his songs have a real spirituality to them. I would highly recommend his music if you like this sort of folksy, rock genre.

There are several tracks with Native American Flute on them, but since I didn't purchase the CD I don't have the liner notes, so I don't know who played the flute for these tracks. I am not sure if Michael is a flute player or not.

Here's a few of my favorite tracks:

• Tsiquaya - excellent flute track
  
  
• Stronger - An awesome love ballad. You have to listen for yourself to determine who the story is about.

• The Sacred Way - A great song about living your live in a sacred way

• Inside of you - A catchy tune with acoustic guitar and flute. About growing up.
  
  
• Heal the land - Michael sounds most like Don Henley on this song. The song is about the title.

• Sky Woman - a nice ballad about the myth of Sky Woman

Wanna jam together, remotely in real time?

I know that there are some of you out there with computer technical skills, so here's the challenge: I discovered a new online service called eJamming (http://www.ejamming.com/) which allow two or more people to get online and jam/record together. Sounds pretty cool, if you have a high-speed internet connection and a quality soundcard/microphone on your PC.

If you're interested in checking this out, either add a comment below or send me an email. I'll try to hook up anyone who's interested. If you know of another / better idea for this (we could try Skype), add a comment to this post. It would be fun to connect folks together between flute circles.

Kevin Locke Interview to Download

I downloaded and listened to a interesting interview with Kevin Locke on my MP3 player during my flight back from the east coast yesterday. Kevin was interviewed for a program called the Jefferson Hour on public radio in which an actor plays the role of Thomas Jefferson. There is no flute content on this interview, but Kevin tells many interesting stories about the Lakota tradition and the interaction of Lewis and Clark Expedition (this was the historical aspect of the program as it involved the personality of Thomas Jefferson).

Kevin tells the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, and shares many wonderful explanations of the Lakota language and explanation of Lakota words. In the banter with 'Thomas Jefferson', Kevin discusses religion, the existence of God/Great Spirit and the Lakota culture at the beginning of the 1800's.

This show is produced by Makoche Recording Company which produces records for artists such as Bryan Akipa, Keith Bear, Joseph Fire Crow, Sissy Goodhouse, Annie Humphrey, Kevin Locke, Gary Stroutsos, Lakota Thunder and Andrew Vasquez.

Here's a link to the website and MP3 download:

http://www.jeffersonhour.org/

http://www.jeffersonhour.org/page/shows/

Scott August: Recording your own music

Kudos to Scott August for a recent post about recording your own music.

Here's the link: http://www.cedarmesa.com/blogfiles/recordingyournaf.html

In the article, Scott talks about all of the technology including microphones, audio interfaces and software. He then outlines several options and price levels for buying equipment. If you've been thinking about investing in a home recording studio, you need to read this article first.

I attended a recording workshop which Scott presented several years ago presented by the NCFC, he's a consumate recording artist and it's reflected in the quality of his recording. (By the way if you would be interested in having the NCFC sponsor Scott for another similar workshop, drop me a line... we're planning the 2007 calendar). He does all of his production in his house, on his Apple computer. He records all of his flute recordings in a 4'x4' closet in his office/studio (spare bedroom...). Scott should be an inspiration to everyone who wants to do your own stuff, in your own studio, beginning to end. I am not aware of anyone else out there in this market niche producing the quality of recordings which Scott produces as a one-man shop.

I won't say that Scott records on the cheap, because his day job is composing and recording soundtracks and music for Hollywood movies, commercials, etc., so he has a pretty high end setup. Scott is also a very detail-oriented guy, so I know that he dedicates a lot of time to composition and mixing of his music, getting just the right feel, mood and sound for his compositions.