Videos

A smorgasborg of different live records :

Playing a lap steel feature in one of my favorite groups, Sandcatchers.  I think of this piece by Yoshie Fruchter as an exotic clash of Zorn’s Masada and Magic Sam (Yoshie Fruchter-oud, Michael Bates-bass, Mathias Kunzli-drums):

I’ve taken deep inspiration from the sonic possibilities of the electric guitar and its masters.  I’m always trying to find ways to express those timbres on the lap steel.  Here I’m exploring some of the feedback I love so much from Hendrix’s playing:

At some point I became obsessed with the idea of the lap steel being a vehicle for playing extremely fast.  The steel is not often thought of as an instrument where fast lines are played continuously and this intrigued me.  One road this has taken me along is that of sweep picking and other shredder guitar techniques of the 80’s.  On this Sandcatchers gig in Brooklyn I was playing around with using the technique in a gestural way:

This was the first recording session I did with my custom Fouke lap steel after it came back with some heavy mods.  This was take 1 of the first track of the day.  When I heard the playback I couldn’t believe how great its tone sounded.  Also, I love playing with Joey Weisenberg and the Hadar Ensemble!:

When I was asked to play a solo piece for one of my favorite bars in Brooklyn, Barbes, my first thought was, Do I have enough broken amps at my place to make a tiny Barbes in my bedroom?  Sadly, the answer was no, but I do like how this video came out anyways:

Further explorations of extended avant-garde lap steel techniques alone in my room:

From the Myk Freedman and the Mykfreedmans weekly residency at happylucky no.1 in Brooklyn (Michael Bates-bass, Carlo Costa-drums, Michael Kammers-tenor, Kenny Warren-trumpet):

Sometimes you just need to let it all hang out (Patrick Briener-tenor, Kenny Warren-trumpet, Yoshie Fruchter-bass):

This was from a set I did in a loft in Berlin on my only international solo guitar set (so far).  There’s a little Hendrix reference in the middle that maybe no one but me recognizes(?):

Playing free with Kenny Warren and Carlo Costa in at the Bushwick Series Brooklyn.  I love how much of the music is in time and in a tonality and yet we still felt so free.  Definitely trying to find the outer edges of my lap steel on this set experimental set: