I posted the following on my Twitter account yesterday, and I reproduced it on Facebook. I figured I'd include it here as well, for people who prefer this service to the others.

Michael Jackson is the reason I play music. I fell in love with his music back in 1983 when Thriller was the biggest album on the planet. I am deeply saddened by his passing.

Here's what I posted:
"I'm in in tears because my greatest childhood hero has passed away. I wish I didn't have to play tonight. Rest In Peace Michael Jackson.

For those too young to know, Michael was one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century.

It's unfortunate that his personal demons took over his life later in his career, but it doesn't erase his brilliance.

I would not be a musician today if it wasn't for the joy I received listening to Thriller and Off The Wall when I was just 8 years old.

If you think that Thriller & Off The Wall are anything less than brilliant, YOU HAVE HORRIBLE TASTE IN MUSIC.

If you aren't in awe of the amazing quality of Jackson 5 records, YOU'RE A FOOL.

Rest In Peace, MJ. Now and forever the King of Pop."

Michael Jackson is rhythm. MJ is dance. MJ is melody. MJ is music itself.

Michael Jackson is JOY.

No matter what you think of his career and controveries post-Thriller, no one can deny his brilliance. MJ you will be missed.
-Bryan Vargas
Fri June 26, 2009

There's a article in today's NY Times about the Knitting Factory.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/arts/music/10knit.html?ref=arts

This is a club that has a very special meaning to me. It's the place where I came of age in many ways.

When I started NYU WAYYYYY back in 1993, the Knitting Factory was still in it's original location on Houston St. It was THE place for cutting edge music, esp. experimental jazz - which was my poison of choice as a young man. I remember trying in vain to go see John Zorn's Naked City's farewell show. I remember many nights of seeing unknown avant garde saxophonists squawking away.

In 1994, it all changed. The Knit moved to Tribeca - a neighborhood that was new to me. The moved into a HUGE multi-level space with 3 separate rooms (later expanding to 4). All dedicated to exp. music in it's various forms. I was in pure heaven. It was a musician's Disney World to me, and I lived just a 10 minute walk from the place.

I would often be at the Knit 3-5 times a week. I couldn't even begin to name all of the musicians I saw there - Bill Frisell, Don Byron, Tony Allen, The Master Musicians of Joujouka, Vernon Reid, DJ Logic, Melvin Gibbs, Sex Mob, Paul Motion, Eddie Palmieri, Pharoah Sanders, Biz Markie, Steve Coleman, Mino Cinelu, Steve Turre, John Zorn's Masada, Screaming Headless Torsos, Sonic Youth, Henry Threadgill, Charles Gayle, M'shell Ndegeocello, Medeski, Martin & Wood, The Roots - the list goes on and on and on. The Knit was something I believed in. I helped me believe that you could approach music as art, regardless of genre and succeed.

I grew up there. I would go on dates there. I would make out with girls on the couch in the Tap Bar. I would network with musicians there. I would bump into old friends. I would meet random celebrities and famous musicians. It was truly my place to be.

When I began my professional career, post college, I sent my three song cassette demo (God can you believe that? CASSETTE!!) to as many clubs as I could. I managed to get the booker at the Knit to listen in he gave me a night in their smallest room. This was the beginning of a great relationship for us. I played there COUNTLESS times for years. We played ALL FOUR rooms including the big one (FOUR TIMES!!) and we were even asked to play for the owner's birthday party one year. This club helped us establish our early "fame" and gave us respect. After all, if you played the Knitting Factory, you HAD to be good. We even played their famously bloated jazz festival. I still have the T shirt with my name on it. It was everything I had wanted in my youth and more.

Then in 2001 everything changed. The club is just a few blocks from Ground Zero. After 9-11, the club was shut down for a few months. We played our 1st gig there post 9-11 in Dec 2001. There were 3 people in the audience.

The club's owner Michael Dorf was soon ousted by the Board of Directors. They had lost a ton of money on bad deals made during the dot com boom, and post 9-11 they were not planning on losing anymore. The club changed its booking policies and became more of a generic NY rock club. There was no more avant garde jazz, the crowds were often suburban teenagers looking to catch their favorite metal band. The place had changed forever - for the worse.

I would still catch the occasional show there. Usually to see a friend play. Also my friend Brice would do a yearly Jazz Fest one night a year. That was always amazing. But the place would always make me feel depressed. It was a shell of it's former self. Like seeing the house you grew up in run down and neglected. It never felt pleasant.

I had heard they were considering moving. According to this NY Times article they are relocating to Williamsburg - my oh my how original... It's clear that the place I loved is forever gone. Thinking about it makes me sad as I ponder the end of my youth. The Knit represented hope for me, and it's hard for me to accept that it's long gone.

But to not end on a depressing note, the Knit did enable me to establish my career and I'll forever be in debt to their staff for taking a chance on me. Our home base shifted over the years, first to SOBs and now it's more about Joe's Pub - and our REAL home Camaradas, el Barrio. It's different for me, but nothing stays the same after all. I'll probably hit the Knit's Tribeca space at least once more before they move. You're all welcome to join me for a quick drink in the Tap Bar. After all, lighting rarely strikes twice, but you never know when magic can happen again.

I write this post with a heavy heart. One of the great maestros of Afro Cuban music has passed on. Rest In Peace Israel "Cachao" Lopez.

We all knew he was very old. 89 in fact. But somehow he seemed immortal, larger than life. It seemed like this day would never come. So reading the news came as a real shock to my system.

I first heard Cachao at age 17 while watching the Tonight show. His "comeback" CDs Master Sessions had just come out and his band was doing a simple promotional appearance, introduced by actor Andy Garcia. The band made a huge impression on me, and I bought the CD soon thereafter.

Cachao was not only an inventor of the mambo, but he was easily the greatest bass player EVER in Afro Cuban music. Take any track he ever recorded and just zero in on him. You’ll hear subtle variations that would make Bach green with envy. His "descarga" albums of the 70s (esp. the 2nd one "Dos") are a huge influence on my personal musical conception. Please check out some of his music today. You won’t regret it. Rest In Peace Cachao, como su ritmo, no hay dos.
-Bryan

The great Puerto Rican artist Rafael Tufiño died yesterday. Tufiño was literally a national treasure for Puerto Rico, and his loss will be felt greatly in the arts world. His world rivaled that of any great artist of the 20th Century, and music was a favorite subject of his. The works I’ve included below are not necessarily my favorites, but simply the best ones I could find online. There’s a great website with more of his work at
http://www.galeriaexodo.com/rafael-tufino/rafael-tufino.htm.
Please check it out if you can, you won’t regret it.
-Bryan

May the spirit of maestro Tata Guines rest in peace as he joins the great rumba in the sky.

Check out this great clip of him passing on some knowledge. It's a great reminder that without Tata Guines, Mongo, Patato, Chano Pozo, and a host of others, we would not be here today.
-Bryan

Rest in Peace Carlos "Patato" Valdez.
We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.
I'm going to listen to Patato Y Totico today and imagine the rumba going down right now in heaven.
-Bryan

So many greats are passing at what seems to be an alarming rate... it really makes you wonder.

I just read on the Soul Sides blog that Bobby Byrd passed away. Who is Bobby Byrd? Man, you ALL know who he is. Just picture in your head: GET UP! Get on up. GET UP! Get on up. Yep, JB's right hand man was named Bobby Byrd. He is one of the MOST important musicians in the history of funk and soul music hands down. Up there with Brother Ray Charles, Fred Wesley and James Brown himself. Without Bobby Byrd, the sound of the JBs would have been radically different.

I can't believe we lost another one of the greats. This is really getting difficult for me to keep writing these. These words seem so paltry compared to the loss of these men, and what their music means to me.

Well the best way to pay tribute to these giants is to check out their music. So please put on soem James Brown today. Or try and download Bobby Byrd's biggest solo hit "I Know You Got Soul." That's a required track in an serious music fan's collection.

Man Pavarotti, Zawinul, Max Roach, Mario Rivera & now Bobby Byrd? Message to God - leave some cats down here! We need music too!

Check out some of these You Tube Clips and make sure the world NEVER forgets the name Bobby Byrd.
-B

JB's in Paris


Here's a clip of him doing Sam & Dave's "Soul Man."

There are certain artists that for some reason or another it seems like they've been around forever. By that same token, it almost feels like they'll always be around. So when one of these iconic greats passes, it almost feels unreal. That's the feeling I've got right now, I just read that Joe Zawinul passed away.

Zawinul was most famous for his work with the pioneering jazz-world fusion band Weather Report. But before that he was well known for his work with Miles Davis and Alto Sax legend Cannonball Adderrly. I first became a fan back in high school as I devoured jazz fusion records like Miles' Bitches Brew & Weather Report's Heavy Weather. Pharoah's Dance, A Remark You Made, Mercy Mercy Mercy – just three of his classic compositions.

He was a huge influence on my personal musical development. Our song "Despoja Te" was partially inspired by a famous record he made with Miles Davis called "In A Silent Way." I was listening to it non-stop around the time I wrote it, and I specifically asked Matt (our drummer) to make it sound like In A Silent Way in clave.

Zawinul had this way of disappearing from the scene for a year or two, and then coming back with a new album and tour from out of nowhere. I guess a part of me is hoping for one of those comebacks to happen again. It's really hard for me to believe that Zawinul is gone. I hadn't even heard that he was sick, but evidently he'd been battling cancer for some time now.

Please check out In a Silent Way, or Heavy Weather or any of his records. You won't regret it. So many greats have left us in a short time. Let's make sure their music lives on. Mercy mercy mercy indeed.
-Bryan

We have lost yet another of the greats. Max Roach, one of the all time finest jazz drummers, passed away today.

Max Roach was a true innovator of bebop drumming. Along with his contemporaries like Roy Haynes and Kenny Clarke, he basically wrote the book on modern jazz drumming. All stick drummers owe him a great debt, whether they know it or not.

Roach was also instrumental in bringing the Civil Rights Movement into the jazz world. His landmark album "We Insist! Freedom Now –Suite" was one of the first to address these issues from a musical standpoint. The record features vocals from his then wife Abbey Lincoln, and is truly a great work of art. Please check out this CD or any other of Max Roach's immense body of work.

Way back when I was 18 I had the privilege of attending a tribute concert to Max Roach at the New School. Various bands performed both student & professional, and all played quality music.

At the end of the concert Max Roach came out with just a stool and a high hat. He proceeded to play an improvised unaccompanied solo that blew my mind. On just one high hat cymbal. Wow. Experiences like that one are what opened my mind to the potential of how expressive percussion alone could really be. Roach of course also ventured into other types of percussion as well. Check out any of the recordings of his all-drummer group M'Boom.

I am still reeling from the loss of Mario Rivera last week. All I can think about is how quickly the masters seem to leaving us. I can only hope that those of us who follow can do their legacy justice. Mario Rivera & Max Roach, man that must be one killin' session right now up in heaven.