David, Josh & Shandon Records are extremely pleased to announce the arrival of Notes Home, their second CD. It's been a long time coming but we feel it will have been worth the wait. David rather poetically describes the CD as "a series of musical postcards through 13 original compositions which perfectly capture the atmosphere of warm sunny days and balmy nights in the Mediterranean. Whether upbeat or laid back, these jazz rhythms and melodies will transport you there, recreating the relaxed mood and colours of this region". Singer-songwriter Dro (she's one of our Myspace friends) describes the music as "bike riding with hats and white dresses in Paris". Indeed, most of the tunes were composed by David on his holidays in Italy and France - these are his Notes Home - and we hope you will all enjoy them whether or not on your holidays at the time. We're joined on the CD by our musical buddies Stephen McFarlane (electric guitar), Andrew Csibi (double bass) and Robbie Harris (percussion) and Stephen and Andrew join us for some live dates across Ireland this summer to mark the launch of the CD. The CD was engineered by Brian Masterson and the music is beautifully iinterpreted on the cover by designer Mark Conway. The gigs are posted here and you can buy the CD here. Hope you're enjoying whatever summer you're getting - make the most of it !! Hope to see some of you on the road before it's done.
Notes Home, the 2nd album by David MacKenzie & Josh Johnston is now mixed and mastered, the cover is being designed as we speak and so we are very much on track for it to be released through the David & Josh website and Shandon Records in June 2008. The album was recorded over two weekends in May 2006 and March 2007 in RTE Studios in Dublin, Ireland by Brian Masterson. It features David & Josh on violin and piano, as well as regular collaborators Stephen McFarlane (electric guitar), Andrew Csibi (double bass) and Robbie Harris (percussion). More details as we have them.
In other news, Josh has taken a step into the unknown by beginning to record his 2nd solo CD, 7 years after the first one (these guys don't work quickly !!). He's assembled a group of musicians from various projects he's worked on in the past and, after an informal set of rehearsals, he's taking the ensemble to Bewleys Cafe Theatre in Dublin for a one-off concert on Friday February 22nd, roadtesting the new songs and instrumentals and seeing if other people like them as much as he does ! Doors open at 8.30 and the band are on at 9.30 but come early - capacity is strictly 50. If you want to reserve tickets (valid until 9pm), you can ring the Bewleys Ticket line at (086) 878 4001.
We're still persevering with our plans to finish our 2nd album but there have been a few behind-the-scenes delays which have held it back. On a positive note, we're going back into the studio to record a few more tunes to go on the CD in March. We're very excited to see the whole thing finally begin to take shape. Rather than predict when it's going to come out, we're going to let things run their course and we'll give you more details as we have them.
In the meantime, Josh is playing a very special gig on Saturday March 3rd with his friend and colleague Roesy in the Unitarian Church on Stephens' Green in Dublin where Josh is coincidentally also organist. The acoustic gig - by its nature and location - looks like it's going to be very special and kicks off at 8pm. Admission is free but there will be a bucket for donations to the Church Restoration Appeal, an ambitious but essential appeal to raise &euro 200,000 to leave this beautiful city-centre church in a proper state for future generations of Unitarians and Dubliners.
For more information on Roesy, see here. For more information on the Unitarian Church in Ireland, see here.
David's back from his hols and to prevent him going mad at the thought of going back to work, we've put together a plan for the autumn. It's not as comprehensive as previous years as we're very busy putting together our second album (more about that in a mo) but we are playing over the next few months - click here to find out where.
And we are putting together our second album with Irish engineer Brian Masterson manning the desk for us. Many of you who have seen us recently will have spotted the continuing presence of Stephen McFarlane on guitar at our gigs and when we asked him to record with us, he suggested pulling Andrew Czibi on double bass along for the ride too. So, as it stands at the moment, the album is mostly a quartet with a few tracks in the middle being just David and Josh. We're really excited by the sound of the record, as well as how far we've come as musicians since recording "A Minor Happiness". The working title (and probably the name of the end product) is "Notes Home". We like it and we're really excited about getting it out there. We're hoping it will come out in some form or another in the early spring of 2007. A lot more update of developments between now and then. . . .
The American reference website www.allaboutjazz.com have selected "Heatwave" from our debut CD, "A Minor Happiness" to be their weekly free download. We have always found Allaboutjazz.com to be an excellent and informative international jazz resource so we're delighted to have been given this pat on the back. Click here for the download.
This track is a full free download (no 20 second samples for us) and is the same recording as the track of the same name on our CD. Consider it a gift.
We also have tracks from the album streamed at our myspace site (www.myspace.com/davidandjosh). If you're a myspacer, we'd be delighted if you'd become our friend.
In other news, we're still sifting through four CDs of tracks that we recorded in May in RTE with producer / engineer Brian Masterson - all original compositions ready to be mixed for our next CD which we'd like to think will come out early in the new year if the fates allow.
Bon voyage to David who is off to sunny France firstly for a holiday but secondly (and we all know, much more importantly) to be inspired once more and arrive home with lots of new tunes which we will play to you at a few select dates in October and November. More details anon. If you know of a venue where we really ought to be playiing but who haven't for some reason heard of us yet, please let me or them know.
** David & Josh have had their heads down for the first four months of 2006 writing, arranging and recording new material. No new CD in mind just yet but lots of new tunes. They're delighted to be 'coming up for air' in the form of two gigs in Dublin over the next while, the first in the 'new to us' Sundance Cafe on Clare Street (just opposite Greene's Bookshop in the city centre), and the second in Cabinteely Park House (this gig is being run by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Arts Office). Full details on the concerts page.
** Six years into the new millenium and David & Josh have entered it by setting up their very own 'myspace' website as a neat little brother to this website. On it, you can get all the tourdates that we know about, as well as hear four of the tracks in their entirety, one of which is downloadable. If you'd like to be our friends, we'd love to be yours.
** If you'd like to see previous news features from our illustrious past, feel free to click here.