Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Community => Gigs => Topic started by: hieronymous on November 02, 2023, 08:30:06 AM

Title: New project - with koto!
Post by: hieronymous on November 02, 2023, 08:30:06 AM
I "discovered" an amazing musician - Brian Wong - he has been playing koto for 35 years, and plays Shakuhachi and other instruments as well. I put discovered in quotes, because he has been around here in the SF Bay Area longer than I have (born and raised) but I just played with him for the first time recently. The first time I played electronics, but the other night played bass with him for the first time - here's a taste:


The video is just the raw audio from my iPhone, but I also recorded everything multitrack and made a different audio-only mix (having trouble embedding the player so here's the direct link):

https://soundcloud.com/gyokyo/obake-jam (https://soundcloud.com/gyokyo/obake-jam)

My B-string is pretty dead - I've been meaning to change the strings, looks like that's my project for the weekend (including lemon oil for the fretboard). I am hoping that this duo is a long-term project - we definitely have chemistry - he can just play and play and play! And one of my favorite things to do is play with a great soloist. This is only the third time we ever played together and the first with me on bass!
Title: Re: New project - with koto!
Post by: David Houck on November 03, 2023, 08:58:38 AM
Very cool!
Title: Re: New project - with koto!
Post by: lbpesq on November 03, 2023, 12:19:01 PM
Sounds great!  The Koto looks like Mickey Hart's Beam's little brother.  Very unique sounding instrument.

Bill, tgo
Title: Re: New project - with koto!
Post by: rv_bass on November 03, 2023, 04:12:53 PM
Very cool, sounds great!
Title: Re: New project - with koto!
Post by: hieronymous on November 03, 2023, 06:17:15 PM
Thanks everyone for listening! This project emerged out of the ether - I'm looking forward to continuing it.

Wow Bill, nice insight about koto & the Beam! Brian actually plays bass koto - I haven't heard that but interested in checking it out. And speaking of the Beam, it reminded me of one of my favorite Dead & Co moments - that night's Drums/Space drove out the annoying family in front of us - mom was maybe a John Mayer fan?


And we are definitely employing drone in this duo - I was going to say drones, but remembered Mickey Hart's shirt:

(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53307066082_41be7abd5c.jpg)
Title: Re: New project - with koto!
Post by: pauldo on November 04, 2023, 05:22:48 AM
The SoundCloud recording is very nice.   The chemistry is evident, hope you do more with Brian.
Title: Re: New project - with koto!
Post by: hieronymous on November 04, 2023, 08:54:47 AM
The SoundCloud recording is very nice.   The chemistry is evident, hope you do more with Brian.
Thank you! I can hardly wait to play with him again! And actually, I have another track where he plays Shakuhachi which I will post when it's ready.