Jim Duffy: Home
Hello, this is Three Dots Music, the home base for the musical activities of Jim Duffy.
Thank you for visiting, and welcome. To hear some tunes, please visit the expanded Music page. To read the latest posts and essays -- and to comment -- please go to the Blog section. For updates on upcoming events, please see the Calendar page.
To buy CDs or downloads, please go here.
...
Hi, this is Jim -- Thanks to all of you who came out a couple of weeks ago at Clemente Velez to see and shake to Mitra Sumara, that rhythmic, psychedelic Persian band. We will be playing again on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 11 p.m. at Fontana's, 105 Eldridge St. in Manhattan.
We play Persian pop music of the 1960s and ’70s, tunes that shook the air before the Islamic revolution rolled into Iran.
This vibrant music has deep grooves and funky breaks and dark, keening melodies. This music is challenging and rewarding, and it all fits together like clockwork.
>>>>>>>Mitra Sumara<<<<<<<
Thursday, Feb. 9, at 11 p.m.
Fontana's
105 Eldridge St., New York, NY
with ***Screentests*** at 10 p.m.
$7
///////Hot Farsi funk - Persian psych - bangin' dance grooves from beyond!\\\\\\
Mitra Sumara is an eight-piece super group of musicians dedicated to the vibrant sound of 60s/70s Persian funk & pop hits. The sound of pre-Revolutionary Iran mixes the beats of Fela Kuti, Salsa, and Disco with Mid-East melodies, a cool LA breeze, and tragic poetry. Big beats, blaring brass, and wheezing electric organ.
We are here to help you get your Persian groove on!
Mitra Sumara is:
Yvette Perez– vocals (Birdbrain)
Julian Maile – guitar (Loser’s Lounge)
Sam Kulik– bass (Talbam!)
Peter Zummo – trombone (Arthur Russell, John Lurie)
Jim Duffy – keyboards (Jim Duffy Group)
Bill Ruyle – tabla & hammer dulcimer (Arthur Russell)
Brian Geltner – drums (Nervous Cabaret, Chris Whitley)
Michael Evans – drums & congas (Alex Hacke, AndersNilsson, God Is My Co-Pilot)
http://mitrasumara.tumblr.com/
...
Jim Duffy -- that's me -- is a New York-based keyboard player, electric bassist, composer and session musician. In the 1980s, I co-founded the Boston band Rods and Cones, which was known for its quirky grooves and unbridled performances. In the 1990s, I co-founded the New York band Martin's Folly, which explored many forms of 20th century American music.
Since 2000 or so, I have focused primarily on composing, recording and performing original instrumental music. My first album of original tunes -- I still call them albums -- was "Side One," which was released in 2004. My second album, "Mood Lit," was released in 2009. The third installment is in the works.
In the past year or two, Rods and Cones has stirred to life again and played some gigs. And Martin's Folly never quite broke up -- in fact, we were playing again just recently, for our own amazement -- I mean amusement. So I'm glad to know that my old bands can still make some sweet music.
I have also done plenty of studio session work, playing on records by the Bottle Rockets, Sour Jazz, Greg Trooper, Reid Paley, Florence Dore, Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, Joe Flood, Jim Koeppel, Will Rigby and many other artists. And I have performed on stage with rock and roller Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson and many others.
And new projects keep cropping up. I'm part of a new band that's in the works, which is called -- wait for it -- Mitra Sumara. We play Persian pop music from the 1960s and 1970s. The group is led by vocalist Yvette Perez, who has gained some expertise in Farsi language and music. This is very exciting, and I will have more to say about it in the weeks ahead.
In the meantime, I've been playing some solo piano gigs, playing my own tunes, plus some bluesy and ragtimey jamming, plus some favorite pop tunes, plus some unusual takes on the American popular songbook of the 1930s and '40s.
Again, thanks for visiting. Please have a look around, and a listen.
***
Sunday, Oct. 2. Hi, this is Jim -- thanks for visiting.
"Mitra Sumara." Say it to yourself a couple of times...
I'm involved in an exciting music project that has been brewing for several months and is just now seeing the light of day: a Persian rock band. Yes, you heard right. Iran had a vibrant pop music scene in the 1960s and '70s, before the Islamic revolution moved in. And now, 35 years later, vocalist/arranger/bandleader Yvette Perez is giving that music new life here in the Western Hemisphere.
(photos by Stephanie Woodard)
The group, Mitra Sumara -- for that is our name -- had a test run at the Westbeth Center for the Arts last Sunday, and so far, all systems are go. Yvette sings all lyrics in Farsi. The lineup is as follows:
- Yvette -- vocals (Birdbrain, H.E.R.)
- Julian Maile -- guitar (Loser's Lounge)
- Sam Kulik -- bass (Talibam!)
- Jeff Hermanson -- trumpet (Stew and the Negro Problem, Yo La Tengo)
- Peter Zummo -- trombone (Arthur Russell, Lounge Lizards)
- Jim Duffy -- keyboard (Jim Duffy Combo, Martin's Folly, Rods and Cones)
- Bill Ruyle -- hammer dulcimer and tabla (Arthur Russell)
- Michael Evans -- drums and percussion (Alex Hacke, Anders Nilsson, God Is My Co-Pilot)
We'll have some public events coming up in November and December, so please stay tuned. This is some of the most challenging and rewarding music I have ever played. And to be on the bandstand with such high-caliber musicians is an honor. We have been rehearsing hard and often to get this music to bounce and shake the way it should.
Mitra Sumara. Say it a couple of times and it becomes natural.
***
Assorted posts and essays:
Rocking With Wanda: Rock and roll pioneer Wanda Jackson is finally getting her due. Here are some reminiscences from my brief stint as Wanda's piano player.
Thank You, Burt Bacharach: Let's appreciate this man while we still have him.
While You Were Out: Experimental activities of a confidential nature.
The House of Hits: How my old Boston band Rods and Cones met a high-rolling starmaker, with world-shaking consequences -- but not for us!
Herm, Part 1: Time-traveling to a Saturday afternoon in 1981 when we tried to write an album.
The Early Rods and Cones, 1982: When you try to create something, you often end up with something quite different.
'Education in Love': Rods and Cones' greatest hit.
The Elliot Mouser Floating Blues Band: Thirty years after this band blew my mind, I started playing some gigs with them...
Play Me, I'm Yours: Sixty pianos, outdoors in New York, courtesy of British artist Luke Jerram. Here's a hands-on report.
Frank, Before and After, 1989. Here are some non-musical notes from a strange, outlier period.
Notes on Hank Jones (1918-2010): He was a jazz pianist with a magic touch and a graceful manner to match.
Dealing With the Dead, Part 1 and Part 2: Is it possible to hear the Grateful Dead without absolutely loving them or despising them?
Marty and Elayne at the Dresden, Los Angeles, October 2009
Muzak on the Radio, Arizona, October 2009
The Black Hollies, and Paying for Music, 2009
