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“F**k Yo Feelings” is a sharp-tongued urban blend of jazz, hip-hop and soul. On the other side of my musical sphere is Blue Note artist Robert Glasper. Bill Frisell, Matt Chamberlain and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) add their magic to Danny’s wonderful songs and banjo playing. This album was nominated for a Grammy, and you all need to hear it. Danny takes the 5-string to a new funky, laid-back place and makes it sound entirely at home. As much as I value tradition and studying the masters, I have a soft spot for acoustic string players living way outside the instrument’s comfort zone. Rumor has it that Miles wrote the tunes in the cab on the way to the recording session.Ĭurrently Loving: Danny Barnes, “Man On Fire”/Robert Glasper, “F**k Yo Feelings” – From the Bad Livers to Barnyard Electronica, what you get with Danny is the feeling that he made the record or cassette just for you. This modal approach to composition in a jazz setting resonated with me the first time I heard it and still does today. I eventually did come to appreciate Bill Monroe, and now I love bluegrass, but it took some time. While most budding mandolin players listened to Bill Monroe and were learning “Soldier’s Joy,” I was listening to “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader” and “Blue In Green,” trying to learn Charlie Parker heads on my mandolin.
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I was first drawn to it because of its laid-back nature compared to other jazz I had heard. I think I was about 20 years old the first time I heard it.
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Miles Davis, “Kind Of Blue” – This album was my gateway into the world of jazz. I am forever grateful that David invented Dawg Music and that Unzan first lent me his mandolin and then gave me a cassette dub.ģ. Over the years, I have met David and even shared the stage with him on a few occasions. This album and the follow-up, “Hot Dawg,” greatly influenced the mandolin player I am today. This music had elements of bluegrass, jazz, string quartet, jazz, Latin and even a little James Brown, driven by not one but two mandolins. It was, and it completely opened my eyes to the possibilities of the mandolin. A friend of mine gave me a cassette copy of the David Grisman Quintet’s first album, and said something to the effect of, “If you are going to play mandolin, you need to hear this, it’s the latest thing.” He was right. David Grisman Quintet, “DGQ” – I was 19 years old and had just picked up my first mandolin. I recognized that it was complicated music at the time, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I could appreciate how amazing that music truly was.Ģ. This music had tonal and rhythmic complexity, crazy electric guitar, and shocking lyrics delivered with a sense of humor that really spoke to nerds and weirdos everywhere, even in Traverse City. Hearing “Inca Roads,” “Evelyn,” “A Modified Dog” and “Sofa No.2” completely blew my 17-year-old mind. Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention, “One Size Fits All” – My favorite album in my senior year of high school. Here are his picks for albums that most influenced him.ġ. Julin has performed with a variety of outstanding artists from across the region while releasing several studio albums and teaching mandolin online. He says he didn’t become conversant in bluegrass until he began working with Billy Strings, who has gone onto record-setting, award-winning fame as a nationally acclaimed star in the bluegrass scene, winning his first Grammy Award on Sunday. Conversant in rock and jazz as well as bluegrass, the Traverse City musician is also a commercial composer, recording engineer and best-selling author of two books, “Mandolin for Dummies” and “Mandolin Exercises for Dummies.” His early forays into music (apart from accordion lessons as a child) actually were in jazz.