Reggae mandolin!

**handpicked** · Sep-26-2005, 10:16pm

Hey y'all....
Just wanted to share a recent jam experience I was blessed to partake of, if you will. Jamaican Reggae legend Earl "Chinna" Smith (formerly with Bob Marley & the Wailers) came to my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas this week to play at a local Peace festival. I had seen him down on the square while I was pickin' at Farmer's Market last Saturday morning, and my friend Ted said, "Hey man, Chinna wants to jam with you...He's always looking for new people to jam with...anyway...long story short...the Peace fest got rained out and Ted said, "we're all going back to___'s house, why don't you come jam...? Umm, yeah!...anyway...stayed and picked til about 2 am. It was a blast. Next time we get together we are supposed to record it. ( I gotta get a minidisc recorder!) I was also invited to sit-in at a record store promo gig with him on Thursday.

Anyway, just felt like sharing....happy pickin'
Anybody wanna talk about reggae mando, just jump on in...

**PCypert** · Sep-26-2005, 10:56pm

Sounds fun. #Someone posted a pic of Bob with a mandolin one time. #Would be pretty hard for some of these folks to switch from chopping down beats to up beats

Paul

**handpicked** · Sep-26-2005, 11:07pm

I found myself playing little 6-8 note horn-part type figures...hardly chopped all night. Chinna is an amazing play all night long kinda guitarist...a musical encyclopedia...

**glauber** · Sep-26-2005, 11:51pm

I bet that was some righteous picking, man!

**Keith Wallen** · Sep-27-2005, 10:12am

Too cool! I am going to start venturing out past just listening to Sam do reggea to get me out of a slump. I think its really going to help me phrase things differently in my picking.

**handpicked** · Sep-29-2005, 11:13pm

Today after work was the record store appearance gig with Chinna and Joseph Israel. #Righteous pickin' indeed. Today was one of those rare days with a beautiful flow...gorgeous cool fall mountain morning....a day spent outdoors (I am a land surveyor by trade)....working in the groove...and then off work at 5:00 and over to the library for some new cds...grabbed an espresso grasshopper and cruised to the square where the wife and kiddoes found me en route to the record store.

My mando took about 30 min to warm up and stay in tune, y'all...(thanks, intellitouch!) The conga player was great and laid back....nice groove....Joseph skankin' and Chinna & me skating around on top...he on nylon string guitar...me on A-9....got a little trade-off going a couple of times and took the crowd of 50 on a nice mellow ride.

Great fun...thanks for tuning in y'all...

**PCypert** · Sep-29-2005, 11:17pm

Sounds fun. Wish we could hear some samples...not the samples...but some of you.
Paul

**handpicked** · Sep-29-2005, 11:47pm

Aye...samples...I am such a luddite...I have not the technology to record, presently...except on cassette 4-track. These jams...the music goes out into the air..a joyful noise...and poof it is gone...it's a shame really...It would be great to have a folder on the computer for a collection of jam mp3s to email 'round to folks...a musical journal. I think my friend Ted has an ipod or something and may have some of it recorded...I'm pretty sure I can get an mp3 from somebody...seems like several folks were recording and I know someone shot video so...I'll post audio if I can get it.

**PCypert** · Sep-30-2005, 4:36am

Sweet. The ipod has one device that lets you plug in a 1/4 inch jack to the top and control input volume. It'll only make a 8 bit wav file though. But you can stereo it in some free program and convert to .mp3. That is if you guys are running through some board or someone on hand has a good mic.

Paul

**mad dawg** · Sep-30-2005, 10:23am

Great story HP!

**handpicked** · Sep-30-2005, 9:10pm

Thanks M D....they invited me to play a bar gig tonite from 7-9 tonite(unfortunately I couldn't make it...) and said they had room in the van LOL...they leave town Sunday to go to California...alas...I cannot afford to go...I hope to go to Joseph's again tonite and jam some more...after my kids are in bed.

If I find out their itinerary...I could tip off interested parties...that would blow them away...if we hooked up a mando player in every town via MANDOLINCAFE! They are playing acoustic reggae unplugged...think like a horn or keyboard player...sprinkle that magic mando dust over the top....ummmm....hmmmm.

I was ruminating that wouldn't it be great if I had this opportunity say, 10 yrs ago ( my eldest is 9)....but, then again...10 yrs. ago my mando pickin was in its infancy...and I was still too much of a ###### on guitar..hee...hee...

anyway....thanks for tuning in...still working on scrounging an mp3 file.....

**Chris Cantergiani** · Oct-01-2005, 9:29am

Consider me an "interested party"! Do you know if they are planning on Atlanta or anywhere near Georgia? Heck, I'll be in Chicago Oct 22nd & 23rd... what about there? I'd LOVE to see these guys!

Chris

**handpicked** · Oct-01-2005, 12:09pm

Here's a link to the tour schedule...it's pretty much just California at the moment....find 'em and sit in. Joseph Israel/Chinna Smith Tour Schedule

**ira** · Oct-01-2005, 12:19pm

hey mike,
what great fun this must have/ and will continue to be. i try reggae and just getting the groove in the last month or two. would looooooooooooove to hear your stuff. in addition to so many other genres , mando was built for reggae-maybe you will start the big trend....
congrats!
ira (maybe i should go back to my nickname in college for this post)-IRIE

**handpicked** · Oct-01-2005, 2:14pm

Irie Ira:

Yeah it's been fun...kinda fell in my lap..not really part of any master plan...I just generally say yes when people ask me to play with 'em...especially if they have TALENT!

Lucky for me Joseph is from here...when they get back from California we can jam some more..though I think Chinna # (dreadlocked guitar Yoda) is going back to Kingston, Jamaica soon.

Re: reggae and mando...Ira, I think yer right...the lyrical nature of the mando fits in very nicely with a couple of acoustic guitars and conga....thanks for tuning in...

Now listening: Son Volt "Straightaways"
Now reading: # Smithsonian Magazine
Now watching: #nothing...no cable...hee...hee!

**mad dawg** · Jan-11-2006, 12:31pm

Slightly off-topic, but definitely related, I found an interesting article on Bob Marley's visit to Brazil in 1980, during which this photo of him playing a mandolin was taken...