July 5, 2009: I have relocated back to the seacoast NH area.  I will be looking to join or start a band that focuses on these genres in the coming year, so please write if you're interested!

May 5, 2009: I'm temporarily suspending my search for musicians to form a funk/soul/jazz band as I may be relocating within the coming year.  Please check back here again in a few months for updates.

August 10, 2006: Bassist Mike deLeon has relocated to Amherst, MA and is resuming his search for like-minded musicians interested in putting together a serious jazz-funk-soul band based in the Amherst-Northampton, MA area.  The basic concept of this band is a part-time band rehearsing twice a week and then gigging 3 - 6 times a month, mainly within an hour of Amherst.  He would like to meet and work with some level-headed, competent, dedicated musicians with professional attitudes who support the concept and are willing to make the required sacrifices.  This means a willingness to forgo making money for awhile until the band can get established (NOTE: this could take 6-12 months).  It also means a willingness to depart from the worn-out formula of playing only popular covers that are repeated, ad nauseam, by most other bands!  The goal is to play the best music, regardless of its current popularity - music that still sounds fresh (even if it's old).  This will involve dusting off and resurrecting great old covers that have been all but forgotten and creating new, original music that contributes something that has been lacking in our musical environment for the past decade or two! 

Time commitment: You should expect that, between regular rehearsal attendance, practicing and learning parts, and assisting with band business (promoting, publicizing, recording, etc.) that it will take a minimum of 10 hours each week, and more when the band is performing regularly. 

Here's what Mike brings to the table: 

• Solid, reliable, and very motivating funk/soul/jazz bass playing.
• Great equipment.
• A nice PA system.
• Web site design ability and other marketing know-how.
• Excellent organizational and management skills.

  1. The original jazz-funk-soul band concept [click here for details]. 

  2. An "academic" type of funk band:

The concept of an "academic" type of funk band stems from my years of playing in high school, college, and other jazz "big bands" and ensembles.  The basic structure and concept would be similar, but instead of playing jazz and "jazz-rock" arrangements, this band would play funk- or soul-based arrangements.  The biggest challenge would be to come up with full sets of sheet music for a band consisting of a rhythm section and several horns, plus (ideally) some singers.  The advantage of this approach is (as in the case of any big band) that the sheet music provides the foundation; all the band then needs is talented players who can read music and show up to rehearsals and gigs.  It tends to lend stability to the concept.

In some ways, this concept is starting to come of age.  Think about it: the contemporary big bands that have been busy recapturing the essence of the Big Band Era for the generations ahead of me serve as a kind of tribute to that era.  Now that decades have passed since classic, old-school funk hit its prime - this may be the most viable approach for our generation.  As said, the club scene for live funk and soul is pretty much dead now, but the music itself is still great and deserves some way to live on beyond mere recordings.  Maybe it's time to recapture it in more formal settings, including music festivals and concert halls, and this could be the vehicle.

Long the preferred format for hippies as well as advanced jazz players, the jam band does have its advantages: the players don't have to spend a lot of time learning songs, forms, complicated arrangements, and hooks, pauses, key changes, or turnarounds!  It is also more tolerant of unreliable players: if players don't show up to rehearsals or gigs (or even bother to practice), the jam band format is fairly forgiving because one can usually jam with whomever does show up.  An additional advantage to jam formats is that they don't rely on more structured songs that can often overly restrict the creative process and thereby get tiresome to play repeatedly.

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