#64 Mel Brown- Author of "From Zero to Sideman" & Grammy Award Winning Bassist

The first thing talked about in the episode is the difference in conscious and subconscious practicing and performing. Here are three articles to check out that might give some more insight, and suggestions on how to deal with that. 1. Musical Proficiency and the Brain, 2. Seven Steps to Getting Out of Your Head, & 3. How to Learn a New Skill Well Enough to do it Automatically. 

The iconic recording is "Calle Luna, Calle Sol" by Gonzalo Grau Y La Clave Secreta. If you'd like to check out the forthcoming album and help finish it with the band, you can click on this link: HERE.

The Book we mention written by our featured guest, Mel Brown, is called "From Zero to Sideman (in Five Steps)". Mel has an extensive carreer playing and recording with tons of artists. 

Music news for this week.....

5 ways artists and bands can take advantage of Facebook's new algorithims. Here's a blog post to help break down using the paid Facebook ads. Tips for US artists to aid in touring abroad. French Montana opens a hospital for 300k people. Reporters without Borders is uploading news stories as songs on Spotify. Diddy and Jay-Z are making an app to ease in finding black owned businesses. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo book by John Oliver to stick it to VP Mike Pence. 

The song leading into the interview is "Summer Breeze" by George Benson and Al Jarreau.

One of the people Mel suggested to check out was bass player Julian Vaughn. 

The recording engineer Damon and Mel talk about is Grammy Winner Phil Magnotti, and the studio is the Carriage House in Stamford, CT. You can check out the Michel Camilo album called "One More Once" that Mel talks about. 

This is Tim Pierce recording the guitar solo for Taylor Mesple.

This is the Weather Report song "Havona" that changed Mel's life, specifically the Jaco Pastorius solo (also "Teen Town"). "It's Over Now" by Luther Vandross was another one. The "Straight to the Heart" video by Dave Sanborn with Marcus Miller on bass was another moment. Also mentioned was "What Cha Gonna Do For Me" by Chaka Kahn with Anthony Jackson on bass. 

Some of the drummers Mel enjoyed playing with over his career are: Tony Moore, Tiki Pasillas, Rayford Griffin, Sergio Gonzalez, Herman Matthews, Michael White, the late Ricky Lawson, Dave Hooper, Lionel Cordew, John Lewis, Wolfgang Haffner, Eric Valentine, Gregg Field,  Some local (to AZ) drummers are: Chris Strong, Matt Goodman, Terry Green, & Smurf. A few other names are Mike Marlier, Christian Teele, Daniel Bejerano, Poogie Bell & Cliff Almond. 

You can find Mel on his Website, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube. And you should pick up his book, "From Zero to Sideman (in Five Steps)".

The song after the interview is "Mr. Coltrane" with Mel on bass. 

This is the skit where Chris Rock talks about the differences in men and women and situations. NSFW.