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The Rippingtons Summer Tour is in full swing. We had the most awesome crowd at Glenora Wine Cellars in Dundee, NY. They sat through a SERIOUS rain storm, which amazingly stopped right as we started to play, and went absolutely nuts! Also, I want to say thanks to everyone who's picked up my CD. Your support allows me to do another one soon, and keep checking this site: in September I'll be putting up a free bonus track which didn't make the record..... --------------------------------------- |
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"The Pursuit Of Comfort" is now available! CDs and MP3s now available from CDBaby and Amazon and iTunes You can order CDs from me right now, for a limited time they're only $10 shipped anywhere in the world!
------------------------------------------------- Here's a very nice review of "The Pursuit Of Comfort" --------------------------------------- If you're interested in having me play on your music, check out the new Sessions page! ------------------------------------------------- There's a really nice review of "Modern Art" on www.smooth-jazz.de -------------------------------------------------------- |
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------------------------------------- Comments or questions? Drop me a line at:
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------------------------------------ Chris Standring's new album "Blue Bolero" is getting great reviews everywhere! Here's a fantastic one at smoothvibes.com. Update: Bossa Blue is #1 this week! Congratulations to Chris! ------------------------------------------------------- John from Overtones Cables sent me a couple of cables today and I have to say: they are awesome! Light, well made, flexible and great sounding. These are staying in my gig bag from now on! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday April 4th 2010 come down to the Oyster House on Moorpark at Whitsett in Studio City, for a great night of music with The Rico Act featuring: Yogi on Guitar Travis Carlton on Bass Jonathan Dresel on Drums performing authentic Party Jazz! Great hang, stiff drinks, great bartenders, no cover! Music starts at 10PM, come early for a good dinner..... ----------------------------- @Booker T: Congratulations! Best name for an album in MANY years! @Pink: You go girl; daring, musical, spectacular. Best in show! @Will.i.am: If yours is THE future, I'm moving to a deserted island! @Lady Gaga: can't believe I'm saying this, but that was really good! A little scary, but truly good! ---------------------------------------------------- Well, the year is over for the Rippingtons. What an amazing year it was! The fans were just awesome everywhere, Japan was too cool for words and Eric Marienthal joining us for the last 3 gigs was the icing on the cake! Looking forward to seeing you somewhere next year...... Amazing news: Modern Art got nominated for a Grammy for "Best Instrumental Pop Album"! And even better, the whole band gets to go to the Grammy's! -------------------------------------------------- Mindi Abair is writing for her new record, and she was kind enough to invite me for a writing session with Rodney Lee, Jamie Tate and Jay Gore. We had a great time, everybody had great ideas and we ended up with a couple of tunes that were quite good! Look for Mindi's new album sometime next year... ------------------------------------------- Well, somebody didn't like our show! Check out this review if you want a good laugh! This lady compares us to a "Perfect Strangers" episode! Why any reviewer would actually knock people for enjoying a show is beyond me..... ------------------------------------------------- Sunday November 8th 2009, come down to the Oyster House on Moorpark at Whitsett in Studio City, for a great night of music with The Rico Act featuring: Brad Rabuchin on Guitar & Ronnie Gutierrez on Percussion We'll be playing all kinds of stuff from Standards to Latin Jazz to Funk to Floyd to ??? Great hang, stiff drinks, great bartenders, no cover! Music starts at 10PM, come early for a good dinner..... ----------------------------------------------- The shows at the Cotton Club in Tokyo were just a blast. Yuko was definitely the hostess with the mostest and the fans were awesome! I must have walked 30 miles in 4 days exploring the city; Bill and I had a terrific Sushi lunch in the Shinbashi district and a delicious Ten Toji Don somewhere by Tokyo Station. I really hope we get to go back next year!
From left to right: Travis Carlton, Rico, Bill Heller, Jeff Kashiwa and Larry Carlton -------------------------------------------------------- 10-14-2009 What an amazing place Tokyo is. We got in yesterday afternoon and went to see Larry Carlton and Robben Ford at the Blue Note. Travis Carlton was playing bass and kicked some serious ass!
I walked around the neighborhood this morning;
like a lot of other american bands we're staying at the Hotel Okura,
which is close to the Roppongi district. I'm really looking forward to
playing tonight...
------------------------------------------------ Sunday September 27th 2009, come down to the Oyster House on Moorpark at Whitsett in Studio City, for a great night of music with The Rico Act featuring: Randy Landas on Bass Ronnie Gutierrez on Percussion and special guest Scheila Gonzalez on Sax We'll be playing all kinds of stuff from Standards to Latin Jazz to Funk to Floyd to ??? Great hang, stiff drinks, great bartenders, no cover! Music starts at 10PM, come early for a good dinner..... ------------------------------------ Looks like Dino Soldo is about to release his new record! It'll actually feature Leonard Cohen and a few other fine musicians, and I can't wait to hear it.... ------------------------------------------ What a great summer we've had so far with the Ripps! Great weather at all the festivals, awesome crowds, good people all around. After the gig in Monroe, MI, Russ and I were asked to sign this wonderful watercolor painting that someone had painted. I can't express how honored and blessed I feel. It's signed "Tidwell" and if anybody out there knows how to get a hold of him, please let me know so I can thank him again!
------------------------------ Toshio Horiba from Xotic was kind enough to let me borrow one of their "Robotalk 2" envelope follower pedals. Gotta say: it's pretty great! Dual independent channels, very tweakable, great sound! He also showed me their new XJ1T-5 bass which was excellent. Don't be surprised if you see me playing one at a Rippingtons show near you soon ! -------------------------------------------- Patrick van de Wiele wrote a nice review of "Steady Fready's Ready" on KeysandChords.com ------------------------------------------ On the road with Leonard Cohen, Dino Soldo has been working on a new album. He was kind of enough to have me play bass on a few tunes and the stuff sounds great! He's such a talented composer and musician. ------------------------------------------
August 15th 2009, come down to the Oyster House on Moorpark at Whitsett in Studio City, for a great night of music with The Rico Act featuring: Randy Landas on Bass Ronnie Gutierrez on Percussion and special guest Jeff Kashiwa on Sax We'll be playing all kinds of stuff from Standards to Latin Jazz to Funk to Floyd to ??? Looks like Venesa will grace us with a song too! Great hang, stiff drinks, great bartenders, no cover! Music starts at 10PM, come early for a good dinner..... ------------------------------------------ The Sax Pack (Jeff Kashiwa, Kim Waters and Steve Cole) invited me to join them on a gig in Dundee, NY July 19th. I'm really looking forward to jamming with these guys! ------------------------------------- Sunday June 14th 2009, 9:30PM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
No Cover!
featuring: ------------------------------------------------------
Modern Art has been released! It features Jeff Kashiwa, Rick Braun, Greg Karukas and Bill Heller on accordion. ---------------------------------------- Monday April 27th 2009, come down to the Oyster House on Moorpark at Whitsett in Studio City, for a great night of music with The Rico Act featuring: Jerry Watts on Bass Ronnie Gutierrez on Drums Great hang, stiff drinks, great bartenders, no cover! Music starts at 10PM, come early for a good dinner..... ------------------------------------------------------- If you like Steely Dan, come on down to Genghis Cohen on Fairfax Monday the 16th at 10PM to see the Norwegian Fords. Great tunes, Sergio Gonzalez on drums, what else do you need! ------------------------------------------ February 9th 2009, come down to the Oyster House on Moorpark at Whitsett in Studio City, for a great night of music with The Rico Act featuring: Stan Sargeant on Bass Ronnie Gutierrez on Drums Great hang, stiff drinks, great bartenders, no cover! Music starts at 10PM, come early for a good dinner..... ------------------------------------------------------ Fred Horn's record is done! It features Chris Standring, Adolfo Acosta from Tower of Power, Marc van Wageningen and a slew of other cats. The first single should be going to Smooth Jazz radio soon.... ---------------------------------------------- 12-29-2008 R.I.P. Freddie Hubbard --------------------------------------------------- Happy New Year everybody! Looks like next year will be a good one. Watch out for the new Ripps record dropping March 10th, and a new Scott Grimes album sometime at the end of 2009! ----------------------------------------------- I'm honored to say I have joined the Rippingtons. There have been some great bass players in this band before me (Kim Stone, Steve Bailey, Jimmy Johnson) and I look forward to trying to fill these big shoes! We did a new record this summer to be released March 10th 2009 and we leave for the East Coast on October 29th. Hope to see you at one of the gigs! -------------------------------------------- Jazzreview.com did a great review of the Soul Express gig we did in Las Vegas at the Santa Fe Station. --------------------------------------------------
12-26-2007 - I put up some new pix! ------------------------------------- All About Jazz did a great review of Chris Standring's "Love & Paragraphs" album. "Love & Paragraphs", the last single, stayed at #2 for 7 weeks on the Smooth Jazz Charts! He was kind enough to let me play bass on it.
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----------------------------------------- Dave Karasony and I did a cool Outback Steakhouse jingle currently on the air. I you hear a totally a groovy disco tune singing about a "Bloomin' Birthday", that's us! ------------------------------------- Monday April 7th, 2008 10PM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
No Cover!
featuring: -------------------------------------
Frank Petrilli asked
me to play bass in a new band called
Frank & Friends
----------------------------------------- Monday February 25th, 2008 10PM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
No Cover!
featuring: ------------------------------------- Monday January 21st, 2008 10PM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
No Cover!
featuring: --------------------------------------- Saturday December 22nd, 2007 10PM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
No Cover!
featuring:
------------------------ Monday October 22nd, 2007 10PM-1AM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
------------------- Sunday September 16th, 2007 8PM and 10PM
12514 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 818-980-8158
No Cover!
featuring: (Ana Robles, Franz Rufus Hasselblad are rumored to be sitting in!!) --------------------------------------------- Monday September 10th, 2007 10PM-1AM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
featuring: -------------------------------------------------------- Tonight - September 4th, 2007 10PM! @ the Temple Bar in Santa Monica The Satellite Orchestra with Eric Valentine, Rodney Lee, Rico Belled (and a couple of computers!) ------------------------------------- Monday July 30th, 2007 10PM-1AM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
featuring: ------------------------------------------------------ Monday June 18th, 2007 10PM-1AM The Oyster House
12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, CA 91604 818-761-8686
featuring: ------------------------------------- Thursday April 5th, 2007
Rodney Lee on Keys, Jonathan Dresel on Drums, Scheila Gonzalez on Sax, and a few very special guests! ------------------------------------- Wednesday November 29th, 2006
Rodney Lee on Keys, Jonathan Dresel on Drums, Toshi Yanagi on Guitar, Mike Faue on Percussion and special guests!
------------------------------------- October brings us the annual Jazztrax festival on Catalina Island. The line-up is quite amazing this year! I'll be doing the "All Star tribute to the music of Paul Hardcastle and the Jazzmasters" with Chris Standring, Shilts and Gregg Karukas on October 8th and 15th. ------------------------------------- Thursday September 7th, I'm playing with a great band at Cafe Cordiale. Dino Soldo is in charge, Will Kennedy's on Drums and the amazing Mitchel Forman on Keys! We do shows at 9:30PM and 11PM and as always there will be no cover. -------------------------------------
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