Thursday, September 9 @  Rockwood Music Hall – Stage 2
CD Release Show!

Doors open at 6:00pm
Show starts at 7:30pm
with special guest Hannah Cohen

196 Allen Street
(between Houston and Stanton) – NYC

$10 at the door
Everyone who comes to the show will get a free copy of Jesse’s new album Through The Night!

Hey everyone.  Jesse here, writing to you, which I know is a rare occasion, but I thought this newsletter required it.

Many moons ago, in the mid 90s, I was a part of a group called Once Blue, led by the singer Rebecca Martin, with whom I made my first albums for EMI.  The first one came out in ’95, and we toured behind it for a year.  The second one was recorded at the end of ’96 and never came out, except in Japan a few years ago, appearing as the 9 bonus tracks to the release of the re-mastered original album.  That version is what I would call “The Complete Once Blue,” containing over 20 songs.  At last, after nearly 15 years, for the first time ever in the US, it is available today on iTunes.

That second album, which begins at track 13 “The Endicott,” was thought for a long time to be lost forever. We had been dropped from the label before ever doing the final mixes and later did not have possession of the masters; besides, it never seemed practical to bother, since the group ceased to exist. But in 2002, our former management, going out of business, offered to give us back all our old reels and DAT tapes, of which there was one single DAT of the second album’s rough mixes.  They sounded incredible, bolstering the perennial argument that “the rough mixes are better.”  These are what appear on this release, and there are some classic gems among them, if I may so myself!  For example, Kurt Rosenwinkel’s guitar solo on “Shadow Of A Bird” is simply brilliant and continues to mesmerize me time and again.

Since it’s a downloader’s world now, for those only interested in getting a handful of tunes, I would recommend “Now That I’ve Disappeared” and “I Hate to See You Go” from the first album and almost all the bonus tracks from the second album, but particularly the above mentioned, as well as “Children and Holidays,” “The Endicott,” “Music Of The Carousel,”  and “Out In The Rain.”

On another note, I’ve recently completed two new albums, one with vocals and the other all instrumental.  The vocal album is called “Through The Night” and will be out sometime this year.  It’s the closest thing to a rock album I’ve made in a long time and harkens back in tone and spirit to Crooked Lines.  I’ve left the 6 string banjo behind for now and have been playing only electric guitar.  My friends Bill Dobrow, Mauro Refosco and Guilherme Monteiro contributed their amazing talents as the band and my frequent collaborator Terry Manning co-produced and engineered.

The instrumental album is titled “Cosmo” and will be released by John Zorn’s label Tzadik Records this year as well. Of the 12 tracks on it, 6 are new compositions and 6 are instrumental versions of previously recorded songs, such as “Somewhere Down The Road” and “Wish I Was A Bird.” I’m joined by old and new friends Kenny Wollesen, Rob Burger, CJ Camerieri, Eivind Opsvik, Tony Scherr and Doug Wieselman.

There will be a Nublu gig of the vocal music on Friday May 21.  For those who haven’t been down to a show there, it’s been a lot of fun and I recommend having the Nublu experience!

Happy Spring!  See you soon.

All the best,
Jesse

04/04 :: Tokyo, Japan – Watching the Sky Festival
at YAON (Hibiya Park Outdoor Stage)
Open 13:00 / Start 13:30
w/ Joe Henry, Yuichi Ohata and more!!
info. http://www.plankton.co.jp/ PLANKTON

04/06 ::  – Thumbs Up – Yokohama, Japan
with Yuichi Ohata
info: http://stovesyokohama.com/thumbs/

04/13 : New York, NY at Rockwood Music Hall
184 Allen Street
9:00pm

04/16 : New York, NY at Nublu
62 Avenue C
10:30pm

04/17 : New York, NY at The Stone
Corner of avenue C and 2nd street
Songwriting Seminar
7:00-9:00pm
$20
Open to all songwriters and aspiring songwriters of any style.
Jesse will give his thoughts on songwriting past, present and future.
Those attending are welcome to bring their songs in, play them and share a critique.

Please come out and say hello.

December 19 – Nublu @ 10:30pm
62 Avenue C, NYC
(between 4/5th streets)
with Jesse Murphy @ 9:30pm

Jesse will be playing shows in Los Angeles and New York next week. Please come out and say hello.

Monday, June 29
Los Angeles, CA – Hotel Cafe
7:00pm

Wednesday, July 1
New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge
doors open at 6:30pm
with Leona Naess

More shows…

Jesse will be playing a show during nublu’s 7th Anniversary Celebration on June 19th at 9pm. Nublu is at 62 ave C between 4-5th st, East Village, Manhattan

Here’s a photo from Jesse’s recent tour in Japan with Robert DiPietro and Rob Jost.

Jesse will be talking about his new album and performing live with his band on WNYC on April 20th at 2:30pm (ET). You can listen in the NYC area on 93.9 FM. Or you can listen live through iTunes.

Jesse performed It Will Stay With Us on The Late Show with David Letterman on March 25. He was joined by Tony Scherr on bass, Dan Rieser on percussion and Norah Jones on piano and backing vocals.

Smokey Robinson performed “Don’t Know Why” on a recent episode of Elvis Costello’s Spectacle TV show.