Struttin' Up Bourbon (w/ Ziti)

Struttin' Up Bourbon was inspired by the rather amazing experienced you get walking around the French Quarter in New Orleans. I've been there twice this year (and, yes, met and hung out with MJ member MidiOrleans, a true delight). From one street corner, you can hear blues punching out from a dark bar, 80s rock distorting through vibrating windows, acoustic jazz trying to compete from across the street, and funk pulsing between beckoning waitresses and their colorful trays of shot glass. After New York City and Provincetown MA, it is becoming my favorite city. The musicians there are the happiest I have ever met or played with.

On my last visit, I attended my friend Bryan Lee's 68th birthday. (Like me, Bryan is from Wisconsin, a little town named Two Rivers where my mother used to visit her cousins.) The whole blues vibe kind of stuck with me. It's not really "jazz fusion," but it is a fusion of jazz and blues.

I sent a half done track to Woody Mankowski for him to lay down the scored sax section parts and add a solo. What I got back still didn't feel complete. So I invited Ziti to add some of his magic. He replied with this alive and strutting wah guitar that made the whole track sound real and present. I truly get the visceral feel of walking up Bourbon Street, a cacophony of music bursting out of every opened door bar and music hall.

There are moments my organ saturates and kind of rumbles too loudly in the background, and there are cracks and noises from feet movements and whatnot, but I decided to keep it all in. It added to the live feel.

Thank you, Fran, for another fresh and happy collaboration. [We collaborated on a dreamy track What I Was Thinking When You Were Talking several years ago (2006) - you should check it out. Inventive mix of organ, Moog, electric piano, acoustic guitar, and backwards tape engineering].

This track will be the last uptempo track on The Muller's Wheel CD. Here are all the demo tracks on MJ:

Seafood Gumbo Bop
Oasis On The Rocks
Saddle Shoe Sally
Lost In The West Village
The Müller's Wheel
Windowshade
Fusion of Minds
Struttin' Up Bourbon
River Runs Through Me
Forrest's Fire

You can also follow the progress of this project on my website:
www.tobinmueller.com/wheel/

Vocal variations of this series:
Seafood Gumbo w/ AngelaHope

If you haven't heard much of my jazz stuff, please check out all the draft mixes that ended up on the album RAIN BATHER. Maybe start with I Wanna Fly. Woody also plays on most of those songs.

Please check out the finalized CD on CDBaby: The Muller's Wheel - Tobin Mueller & Woody Mankwoski

I'd like to dedicate this track to Scotty Hill.

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Uploaded: May 06, 2011 - 12:18:19 PM
Last Updated: Jul 07, 2011 - 09:16:04 AM Last Played: Apr 24, 2013 - 04:05:56 AM

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