Bands & Ensembles, Audio Clips, MP3s

La Tuza: Mexican Roots Music

In November 2007, I joined a group called Son del Otro Lado (now La Tuza), a group playing the indigenous Mexican styles of music called son jarocho, son calentano, and son huasteco. I sing and play pandero, tamborita (not sure on what yet!), and cajon in this trio group which features David Wax on guitar/huapanguera/jarana, and Ana Lisa Portillo on violin who both sing. See the MySpace page for show dates.

Original member since Nov. 2007

Orchestra of This

This is one of the most unique groups I have played in. We are best described as third-stream music - a blend of modern classical/chamber sounds with jazz and a touch of world rhythms. Matt (guitar) wrote the music and started this group and I perform on vibes sometimes (as a duo with Matt), and on multi-percussion in a larger ensemble setting (trio+).

Original member since Jan. 2007.

Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica

In 2008, the WAITIKI Orchestrotica will become a separate project from the band WAITIKI, of which I was an original member. The new group will continue to play the big-band music of Juan Garcia Esquivel primarily and may eventually incorporate other mid-century easy-listening artists and early-mambo musicians. Stay tuned for details and email me to get on the mailing list. You can read about the original project on my site, and enjoy the video from the 2006 Festival de Mexico where we performed for a sold-out crowd of over 1000 people...until the new website is up. We may return to Mexico in the Summer of 2008.

Playing as "WAITIKI Orchestrotica" since 2006.

Groove Honey is a modern, instrumental jazz band I lead, plays drums in, and arrange for. Focused on groove music, we perform a lot of brazilian, latin, and modern jazz charts often with a modern/lounge spin. For example, sometimes we will re-arrange jazz charts in a electronic/club-style while always using real players and instruments. This group performs inpublic on occasion and does a live of private function work.

Founded in 2007

Gato Malo is Shaun Wolf Wortis’ (ex-Slide, Family Jewels, Leah Callahan, etc.) latest project. A ragbag of loose soul, New Orleans rhythm and blues, and hip-sway rock and roll; a large band with full horn section, vibes (that’s me!) and other surprises -- armed by a rotating cast of some of Boston’s best musicians. I rotate on drums, vibes, and organ. A record was started in October, 2007 (I will be on b3-hammond organ, percussion, vibes, and who knows what else!)

Original member since Jun. 2004

Original member since December 2007.

Previous groups

WAITIKI (waitiki.com and myspace.com/waitiki) is Exotic Tikitainment of Polynesia and Beyond. We are one of only two well-known exotica/tiki bands in the world. Consisting of a quartet of musicians, and a wide variety of cast members who do kung-fu, tell stories, dance hula, and eat watermelon, WAITIKI performs both locally and for private events. I play vibraphone, the primary melodic and harmonic instrument in this style of music. I also play piano and marimba, and plenty of bird calls and sound effects. Finally, I also produce and drive our subproject: transcribing the music of Juan Garcia Esquivel by ear off the records. WAITIKI and I wanted to perform this music but learned that Esquivel's big band manuscripts from the 50s and 60s were completely destroyed; we are now the unique owners of transcriptions of around a dozen Esquivel tunes. Many songs of which were never been performed live by Esquivel but now, our 21-piece “WAITIKI Orchestrotica” changes that a few times a year. Our first album Charred Mammal Flesh: Exotic Music for BBQ was released in Sept. 2005. Our second album, Rendezvous in Okonkuluku (RIO) was released in the summer of 2007. See the website for audio and video.

Aug 2003 - Feb 2008

Mista Ruddy plays and sings “stories from a young man with an old soul.” A singer-songwriter with a percussion background out of Brooklyn, NY. Matt recently moved to Florida.

Sideman since Feb 2006

io4 is live, electronica/drum’n’bass/jazz...thing. This project is currently on hold given all the stuff going on with WAITIKI these days.

Conceived in 2002

Steven and I played in a Flamenco duet a few times a year, sometimes with our dancer, Yvonne. Steven has been performing this style for several years.

Joined in Sep 2003

Fabrizi Kern Quintet

This is one of the first bands I did some session work with early on when I arrived in Boston. The track is Chank by John Scofield as recorded by this group which features Matt Steckler on saxophone. I am playing drums on this early demo recording we made around 2002 I think.

• Chank 8mb

Orchestras

I also play in the Boston area with several orchestras, and have performed in a few professional orchestras in Arizona. My resume higlights past events.

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