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Mike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs
by Neil Duggan
Echoes and Other Songs is guitarist Mike Stern's first release since the loss of pianist, friend and confidante, Jim Beard in March, 2024. Beard, perhaps best known for his association with Steely Dan, appears here as pianist, keyboardist and producer. Stern is still on the long road to recovery following a fall in 2016 that broke both his arms and left him with nerve damage. He has adapted his technique and now uses a homegrown solution to hold his pick ...
Continue ReadingMike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs
by Doug Collette
With a running time of seventy-seven minutes plus, guitarist Mike Stern's Echoes and Other Songs is effectively a double album. And like most such expansive works--including classics like Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde (Columbia, 1966) and The Beatles (aka 'The White Album')(Apple, 1968)--it would benefit from consolidation of its best elements (as would a replacement of the amateurish cover design). Even so, this is still a deceptively ambitious piece of work. Of course, advanced thinking has virtually always ...
Continue ReadingMusical Tribute To Jim Beard Plus New Releases
by Len Davis
A tribute to musician and producer Jim Beard, featuring his own work and also with Bob Berg and Oz Noy. New music from Lyle Workman and trumpet player John Fumo. From Brazil Joseph Olivera and from Canada Gustavo Carmo. Benjamin Croft with Frank Gambale and Argentinian band Streams. We get a little laid back with some cool stuff from David Garfield with his latest single and the band Tea featuring Neil Larsen.Playlist Jim Beard “Bakers Annex" from Song Of ...
Continue ReadingSteely Dan's Jon Herington and Jim Beard
by Mike Jacobs
In memory of Jim Beard, this article was first published at All About Jazz on July 6, 2017. While keyboardist / producer Jim Beard and guitarist Jon Herington are both solo recording artists with long and varied careers that straddle jazz, rock and beyond, they may be best known these days for being longtime members of Steely Dan's current touring band. They have also been close friends for nearly 40 years. They sat down for a conversation as ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard: Grace In The Bubble
by Mike Jacobs
Though he's a great enough musician to be exactly what many a recording or live situation calls for, “Grace In The Bubble" is emblematic of the mixture of technical proficiency, compositional acumen and playful quirk that Jim Beard invests into his solo outings. If Beard's idiosyncratic whimsy was perhaps tucked away a bit on his stunning solo debut Song Of The Sun (CTI, 1991), this track from his sophomore release, Lost At The Carnival (Lipstick, 1995), shows it off as ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard / Jon Herington: Chunks And Chairknobs
by Mike Jacobs
The seeds for Chunks and Chairknobs were planted for guitarist Jon Herington and pianist Jim Beard a few years prior to its recording, while they were on a break from their touring duties with Steely Dan. The two took the opportunity to do something they had never done over the course of their 40 plus-year friendship—work up a duo set and mount a short tour together. The lion's share of those resulting arrangements— tackling a mix of Beard originals, Herington ...
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