Wednesday, August 18, 2010

letter to NY times

I read this article today with interest

I felt compelled to write a letter about it after reading many of the readers comments hoping that " the copyright issue could be put aside so that people could hear the music " . I also hoped reading that someday Australian people will develop a similar attitude to our own jazz history . There must be hours of unheard recordings of deceased Australian musicians like Roger Frampton , Frank Smith , Joe Lane etc that are an invaluable part of our culture .

Here's the letter :


"
I am a 41 year old jazz musician , record label owner and composer .
I sensed a general tone among the comments left by your readers best
surmised by this comment :
"I am so pleased to read my fellow music lovers comments. In
particular regarding the legal issues which should not hamper the
process of these rare recordings reaching the ears of the public."
In the age of youtube , google etc , streaming mp3 sites like
rhapsody I have sadly watched copyright owners rights to compensation
from royalties "watered down" .
Perhaps the proceeds from the distribution of these historic
recordings can be used to set up an amendment to laws to better
protect the rights of musicians ( and filmakers etc ) still fortunate
to be alive today .
I believe it is what Goodman, Basie , Hawkins et al would have wanted .
Yours Sincerely
Sean Wayland "

Saturday, August 14, 2010

robert mwamba


I get to perform a variety of music here in New York city with a whole range of folks from all over the world . Robert Mwamba is a guitarist from Zambia , Africa who lives in NYC . This video is of us performing one of his original compositions at the sugar bar on 72nd st owned by Ashford and Simpson .
The guitar solo starts 3 minutes in . Robert is so generous I even got to do 2 solos on this one !!!!
At the last gig with Robert his regular bass player Lonnie Plaxico remarked that " we would let an Australian play piano with us but we wouldn't let an Australian play a "groove" instrument like bass or drums in the rhythm section " . To my surprise he was unavailable for this gig and I got my shot at it .
When the sound person took a line out of my amplifier it stopped working . Fortunately radio shack next door was open and had a 2 channel - 1 Channel plug . I managed to get close to my usual "sound" using the house bass amplifier .
My wife lost her job this week so we really need the money that this gig pays ... I will have to do about 5 to 10 of these gigs to pay for my broken amplifier . Luckily the music is reward enough in this situation .

Monday, August 2, 2010

fried chicken chaser august 2010

Completefriedchicken2010 by seanwayland


if you click on the "complete.." link you can listen . soundcloud seems to be having a moment at the moment