drew waters: music

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rock for bass and drums

feb 09

this was recorded at sharkbite. the drummer on this album is alex vittum. overdubs were done in my studio. all of the parts, besides drums, were generated on my bass using old, and not-so-old analogue sound altering devices.

• "big time buck white" someone told me about a person that goes by this name. for weeks i could not get it out of my head. i'm told the person has a world built around this persona.
• "sara's latte" when i first moved to this part of the east bay, i gravitated to a coffee shop that made killin' soy lattes. the best were made by a very cool person named sara. sadly for me she doesn't make them anymore.
• "aikenaut" this was written for my old friend matt aiken. i think this is just one perspective of one aspect of matt's personality.
• "orange targa" as a kid watching american television (including abc after school specials), i always assumed that everyone in california drove orange targas.
• "ziva blooms" this was written for a little person i have not yet met- and i hope to meet real soon.
• "shiny red ten"
• "mericana" this is a reflection of how i perceive aspects of american culture.

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jazz for bass and drums

nov 08

is the latest album of some my jazz arrangements of my more favorite standards as well as three original compositions.

drums and most of the bass parts were recorded at sharkbite studios in oakland, ca. more bass parts were added at my studio where this album was also mixed.

the drummer on this album is joe shotwell. i played all of the other instruments- bass and bass and some more bass.

if you have any questions, please feel free to send an e-mail. _____________________________________________________

atmos plays waters

feb 08

this is the latest album by the atmos trio. the album features joe shotwell on drums and rob michael on guitar, and me on bass.

this album is a collection of music i've written dating back to the mid-1990's. most are orphaned tunes that were left off of sessions, always in "pre-production" or could never find their place in a set of music.

all of this music was played for my ph.d. recital at n.y.u. in 2001. beside being great friends, drummer matt aiken, saxophonist matt belzer and guitarist khabu young are all excellent musicians that i played with for years. ced curtis, greg joseph, brian drye as well as brook martinez and jesse neuman also worked on these pieces with me.

after moving to the bay area, ced curtis introduced me to drummer joe shotwell. this lead me to guitarist rob michael. soon i was playing with the atmos trio. i've been doing gigs with them, as a member since late 2006.

it did not take long to realize that this would be a perfect trio to record this music. in august of 2007, we began rehearsals specifically for the purpose of recording these pieces. we began to integrate the music into our live repertoire and discuss the arrangements. both joe and rob proved themselves to be committed and engaged musicians. we would regularly discuss the aesthetics of different pieces, while the two of them were trying to fully understand the intention of each piece. it didn't take more than a rehearsal or two for rob and joe to completely grasp the essence of each piece.

on november 26, we recorded atmos plays waters at sharkbite studios in oakland, ca. besides having incredible, well-maintained vintage gear, the tracking room sounds amazing for drums.

this album was mixed at my studio.

• "steve" was written for my ph.d. recital. steve was actually a default name i would call almost anyone. i'm sure it was not funny to many. i know to date there are only a few people who understood this habit- one fed by stress more than anything.
• "c+k" is dedicated to a very cool couple- two people who are amazing musicians and friends that i respect quite a bit.
• "duet II" was originally written as a duet for matt aiken and i.
• the title "4m2elles" doubles as a dedication to my wife and as a means of differentiating between her and the woman that introduced us. only one person to date cracked the little code without the above hint. his name is mentioned above.
• "guelphobia" this song was originally written and performed by matt and matt in a city in ontario, canada called guelph. i was born there.
• "50x4" this piece was dedicated to a dear friend. if i remember correctly some grades were withheld because i owed a university $200. she instantly, without question, lent me the money. i had four badly paying gigs that week- each of them paid $50 each. i had paid her back in 4 equal installments. then i wrote a tune for her.
• "oregon jackass" i was touring between seattle and eugene, oregon. the driver of the tour vehicle was trying to negotiate a busy intersection coming out of a washington roadside stop. recognizing his out-of-state plates, an irate washingtonian driver, frustrated by our driver's indecisiveness, screamed this out the window at him.