Blue Whale Tomorrow Night 10/17/12

Just a quick reminder: the Michael Mull Octet will be returning to the Blue Whale downtown tomorrow night! The first set of the night (at 9pm) will feature A Giraffe, whose debut recording shows of some mean playing and writing, and whose saxophonist Joe Santa Maria is back in LA after a stint in NYC; let's welcome him back! You can find details for the show on Facebook, or simply look below our good friend Brendan, who is displaying his note to Octet and Giraffe drummer Mike Lockwood:

9pm - A GIRAFFE

Joe Santa Maria - alto sax

Steve Blum - piano

Emilio Terranova - bass

Mike Lockwood - drums

10:30pm - MICHAEL MULL OCTET

Michael Mull, Frank Silva - woodwinds

Harrison Kirk, Will Wulfeck - trombone

Adam Ratner, Tim Fischer - guitar

Emilio Terranova - bass

Mike Lockwood - drums

Blue Whale

123 Astronaut E S Onizuka St. Suite 301

$10 cover, no minimum

21+ (under 21 can be accompanied by a guardian!)

Parking on 2nd Street, look for the yellow "P" sign

House Concert Videos and 10/17 Gig

I wanted to share some iPhone videos from the house concert in Highland Park on September 19th. It was an absolutely fun time, and had the casual but energetic atmosphere I was hoping for. I'm looking to put together another one in December, so keep your eyes here for the rest of 2012!

The Michael Mull Octet will be returning to the Blue Whale this month on Wednesday, October 17th! We are really excited to come back to the best jazz venue in LA, and will be sharing the night with A Giraffe, a fine quartet of musicians playing truly new music. Bassist Emilio Terranova and drummer Mike Lockwood from my Octet are a part of A Giraffe, along with Steve Blum on piano and Joe Santa Maria on alto sax (back in LA now, and we're glad to have him!).

Here is a new tune we tried out at the house concert, "Charlie Visits Plovdiv". It's an off-kilter, Bulgarian-influenced bounce that, in my favorite manner, smashes together several things that I love.

This is a shorter clip of tenorman Frank Silva getting outrageous on my arrangement of "Caught Up In You" by .38 Special. Catch more of Frank and the gang at the Blue Whale on October 17th, and check out the related videos on my youtube channel in the meantime.

Octet Returns

Lots of music going on this month, just like it should be! I wanted to drop a quick note about a house concert I organized that is coming up on Saturday, 9/22. There will be three diverse groups performing throughout the night (the third of which is my Octet), and in between sets it's just a big hang! I'm expecting a fun, casual vibe with some great music.

1604 North Avenue 56, Los Angeles 90042
Doors open 6pm
Bands will gratefully accept donations throughout the evening
Bring your own refreshments

6:30ish - ANTHROPIC ENSEMBLE
     This engaging Los Angeles-based quartet consists of guitar, clarinet, drum set and up-right bass. The identity of the ensemble is established by the individual, multi-faceted identities of each artist—Maxwell Gualtieri (Stupid Man Suit, Ladies & Gentlemen, A.K.A., King and the Cattail) on guitar, Andrew Conrad (BLockRad, Chord Four) on clarinet, Colin Woodford (Chord Four, Solo Percussion, Sogo Takeover) on drumset, and Emilio Terranova (A Giraffe, 3tet, Big Enough Band) on up-right bass. The compositions are held together by the tenacity of the close friends who realize them. Music played by this group is rich in artful improvisation and tactful negotiation of curiously irregular metric landscapes.

8:00ish - GENEVIEVE ARTADI
      genevieve artadi makes the same music you would if you were her. on september 22nd, at the house in highland park, she, andrea calderwood, sean fitzpatrick, aya toyoshima, and louis cole will show you what that sounds like!

9:30ish - MICHAEL MULL OCTET 
     Coming back with a few new tunes. Visit http://www.youtube.com/user/michaelmullmusic/videos to watch the Octet at the Blue Whale. Michael Mull, Frank Silva - woodwinds; Harrison Kirk, Will Wulfeck - trombones; Tim Fischer, Adam Ratner - guitars; Emilio Terranova - bass; Mike Lockwood - drums and percussion

Brian Havey Trio @ Blue Whale on Wednesday

UPDATE 9/24/12: Brian's album is now available on bandcamp at: http://brianhavey.bandcamp.com/album/absence-of-appropriate-affect

Hi friends, just wanted to do a quick plug for my good friend Brian Havey, pianist and music-maker (quite a Yoshi's Cookie player as well). He is releasing his most recent album, the first with his trio, with a performance at (what should be) everyone's favorite live music spot in LA, the Blue Whale. It's taking place this Wednesday, September 12th at 9pm.

You might not have heard Brian before - but trust me, you want to. Hear something you might be in for on his soundcloud page. Brian and I have played together in some extremely varied settings over the last 7 years or so, and he was a part of a group I led in my CSU Northridge days that I consider to be one of the most influential workshops in my development as a player and composer. His playing has extended far, in many directions, since then.

I hope to see you at Brian's show on Wednesday night, and I'm looking forward to grabbing the new record. You can check the event details on Facebook and below.

Brian Havey Trio @ Blue Whale
Wednesday 9/12/12
9pm, two sets
21+ only

Brian Havey (piano)
with Emilio Terranova (bass) and Martin Diller (drums)

Orkestar MEZE September 14th

It's been a while since the last post, but this will be the triumphant return, primarily to announce another triumphant return: that of your friendly neighborhood peasant funk band, Orkestar MEZE. After a couple of months off, we are gearing up to re-explode Rusty's Surf Ranch in Santa Monica on Friday, September 14th! All your favorite peasant jams, plus some brand new surprises, so don't miss it!

Orkestar MEZE @ Rusty's Surf Ranch
256 Santa Monica Pier
10pm, all ages
$7 ($12 if under 21 without a guardian)

If you or a loved one (or a despised one, I'm not too picky) doesn't have MEZE's debut album "Peasant Funk" in the ol' collection, we are holding a "Back to the Farm September Sale" at orkestarmeze.com/store. This means free shipping worldwide and an amazing "I Peasant Funk" sticker included with every purchase! Hard to resist.

There will be tons of great music happening this month, including an Octet house concert (9-22), Mahadev at a yoga studio (9-15), and my musical buddy Brian Havey's trio at the Blue Whale (9-12). Keep this blog on rotation for more specifics soon!

Octet Videos pt 2

Here we have two more videos from the Michael Mull Octet's first show at the Blue Whale in Little Tokyo. This first one was the set opener, entitled "Fallujah". This tune was a staple of the Big Enough Band, a quintet I was involved in for several years. It was a treat to fill out and orchestrate it for the Octet. "Fallujah" features guitarist Adam Ratner at the helm of a freight train crescendo.




The below video was the set closer, "Sources". This was originally written for a 5-piece band at CalArts, and I expanded and re-arranged it for the Octet. One of the more complex tunes I've written in a lot of ways, it is based on 9-beat grooves and features a collective improvisation from myself on bass clarinet and Harrison Kirk on trombone. Taking us barreling to the end is Tim Fischer on his brand new guitar.



If you are liking the influx of videos recently, keep your eyes open; I had a fun Michael Mull Trio performance in Northridge on Friday evening, and we filmed a lot of that evening's music as well. It won't look or sound as wonderful as the above videos though, so thanks again to Alex Chaloff for the great Octet videos...enjoy!

Trio & Mahadev This Weekend

I've got two fun and entirely different gigs coming up this weekend, come hear some live music! If you're on the San Fernando Valley side of things, come to Barclays Coffee and Tea in Northridge (on Tampa between Nordhoff and Parthenia) to hear one of my primary brainchildren, the Michael Mull Trio. Not a fancy name, but pretty fancy tunes... We're playing a free show, a couple sets of originals by yours truly, and there are delicious drinks to boot. Flyer coming soon...

Michael Mull Trio (hear us here and here and hear)
Michael Mull - alto/soprano sax, bass clarinet
Ben Shepherd - bass
Cameron Hicks - drums

@ Barclays Coffee and Tea
8976 Tampa Ave, Northridge 91324
FREE show, donations welcome/CDs for sale
7-9pm, two sets


If you're on the Hollywood/LA side of things, check out the world/fusion/Indo/Balkan adventure known as Mahadev at the Dancing Shiva yoga studio. They're having a big "India Night" and Mahadev's music is being featured around 6pm in the greater event schedule to kick things off. Sounds like a party...info on the flyer below, and below that too, in case it's too small to read! You can listen to/stream/buy Mahadev's album here.

@Dancing Shiva
7466 Beverly Blvd, LA 90036
6pm for Mahadev, don't be late!
Free, donations appreciated/CDs for sale

Octet Videos pt 1

The first performance of my new octet was part of a wonderful night at the Blue Whale. The room was packed to the gills (pun slyly intended) for Blockrad, who played an extraordinary set of subtle musical creations. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, and had a great casual feel that is sometimes lacking when the music starts to get "fancy". After a mad rush to set up and get the recording gear going, my octet braved the new music for all to hear. There were some great moments, and thanks to videographer/recording engineer Alex Chaloff, we got it on tape. Here are videos of what I feel were the strongest performances of the night.

The first is an original, "The People Who Raised Us", composed specifically for this group. It was actually the first piece I completed when forming the octet. Will Wulfeck is featured on trombone, getting just the right amount of outrageous with Emilio and Mike on bass and drums respectively. I recommend viewing these full-screen and with headphones; Alex did a fine job all around and it's worth seeing/hearing fully!



The next is an arrangement of "Caught Up In You" by the rock band .38 Special. I had been hearing this song my whole life and just heard something else in it one day. The band really blends here and Frank Silva takes a gorgeous solo.



Looking forward to making more music with these fellas. Stay tuned here for more videos from the performance and more gigs! I have a trio gig coming up in a couple weeks too, info to follow!

Octet + Blockrad @ Blue Whale 6/19/12

Haven't been staying up on the old blog recently, but I'm jumping back in with a very exciting show coming up on Tuesday, June 19th at the Blue Whale. This will be the debut performance of my octet, and we have all been putting in a lot of work to get this music sounding great. We are joined by the Blockrad trio, and I am super excited to hear what they have for us to hear! The show will be recorded and filmed, so come be a part of the action and the permanence, and be able to say "I was there!" Details about the show can be found on facebook, or take a look below. Also, check out the writeup for LA Weekly.

9pm - Blockrad
Steven Blum - Piano/keyboards
Mike Lockwood - Drums/percussion
Andrew Conrad - Tenor sax/clarinet

10:30 ish pm - Michael Mull Octet
Michael Mull - Alto sax/soprano sax/clarinet/bass clarinet
Frank Silva - Tenor sax/soprano sax
Harrison Kirk - Trombone/bass trombone
Will Wulfeck - Trombone
Tim Fischer - Guitar
Adam Ratner - Guitar
Emilio Terranova - Bass
Mike Lockwood - Drums

Blue Whale
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka Street, Suite 301
Los Angeles 90012
$10, no minimum
21+ only (unless accompanied by a guardian)
Parking in structure off of 2nd street (look for yellow "P" sign). Bring your ticket upstairs to the Blue Whale and give it to the door attendant. It will either be free or $5 (heard they may be charging now).

Mahadev + Rafe Pearlman 5/12

Mahadev has a gig next Saturday with an amazingly talented and interesting vocalist, Rafe Pearlman. We've been collaborating with him since he sat in with us on our CD release, and we've got a few gigs lined up with him this month, starting with the Fretted Frog. Check out the flyer below!