jake sharp band
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jake sharp band

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"Southeast Performer cd review 2006"

Jake Sharp-Brilliant Shadows
Produced by Jake Sharp and Tony Copley
Mastered at Yes Mastering, Nashville, TN.

For years music was mostly instrumental. Then with the wild sucess of rock music, overnight songs became trimmed down to three minutes and featured rigid patterns of vocals. One would think that after decades of Verse-Chorus-Verse adherence we would be up for something a little stranger. Sadly, outside of post-deadhead circles and post-rock fanatics, most are in agreement that the pop format is here to stay.

Jake Sharp adresses this issue in the liner notes of Brilliant Shadows. He writes:
"Why instrumental? Music has the power to help us transcend the mundane, unfulfilling aspects of life on this spinning rock and show us a place that is pure pontential and becoming. Leave our being for becoming. Music takes us there as does love, art, spirituality, etc. I play/compose instrumentals because words fail. Words bring us back. Words ground us when we want to go ...out there."
So maybe this guy is a bit of a fruitcake. He still has a point.

And the compositions on Brilliant Shadows speak to the limitless possibilities of musical expression. The moment someone sings a line in a sond, a context is necessarily provided. Words cannot be separated from the music unless they altogether disappear. There is no room on Brilliant Shadows for vocals. As the albums name suggests, the music tells stories through a series of immpressionistic brush strokes. It is a quiet and meditative affair, and needless to say this isn't exactly a "party album." The lone cover on the album is of Raddiohead's "Karma Police," which is drastically redone in order to crowd out Thom Yorke's original lyrics. It is during this moment that Sharp's explanation rings most true. (Self-released)
www.jakesharpband.com
-John Dyson - William House


"Southeast Performer cd review 2003"

Jabla Trio...(Jake Sharp's group)

If you're on a quest to spice up your music collection this summer, look no further than Atlanta's own Jabla Trio. It's light, it's cool, and it's all jazz, baby. These guy's are in it for the sheer passion of playing great music and the album exeplifies that theory.
The opening track, "Brilliant Shadows" dives right in with a flow that will have you tapping your foot in no time. for better or worse it's everything you'd expect. "Ebb, Flow", on the other hand, cranks things up a notch with a racy, yet contained drum line, and the way the guitar and bass come together on the melody; it's a perfect match.
If you find yourself lost in mid-album mode, track seven, "Will, and oh Well", is sure to pull you back in. The distant echo effect at the beginning of the song serves as a "calling" of sorts. Close your eyes and lose yourself. Though the song continues for almost nine minutes, the change-ups are smooth and the guitar line is progressivly evolving. Guitarist Jake Sharp's storytelling style is sure to keep even the non-jazz fan satisfied.
"Freakout Pillow" is significant in the fact that it incorporates all three musicians' compositional skills. Sharp's winding guitar riffs (again the storytelling feel) and drummer Blake Helton's accentuating drum interludes fish around independently for a while at the beginning of the song. And then, after about a minute of searching, both seem to fall in line with Jason Shewmake's soft punching bass beats, which carry the melody of the journey, commencement to conclusion.
For a self-produced album, Jabla Trio's is definitely one of the best. The sound quality is crisp and clear, and there is enough "meat" to conjure an accurate representation of these guy's live ability. Perhaps it would serve supreme justice as a full-length release. At any rate, to request your own copy, drop the band an email, I'm sure the'd be happy to oblige.
-Luci Harrell
Southeast Performer Aug. 2003 - William House


Discography

Jake Sharp will have song on Nokia's "Music Recommenders" monthly subscription service /w David Bowie as "Godfather Recommender"!
Jake is jazz feature Oct-Nov 2006!!!

2005 RELEASE: Brilliant Shadows
I have tracks on several radio stations including:
88.5 WRAS atlanta
91.9 WREK atlanta
bandradio.com
mvyradio.com
theothnetwork.com
outboundmusic.com

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Jake Sharp guitarist, composer and bandleader

Guitarist, composer and bandleader, Jake Sharp, started on the instrument in 1987 drawn by classic rock
and blues.

“I began studying and was amazed and inspired at how much there was to learn.”
A close listen to Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk was all it took to place him squarely in the jazz world.

But, Jake had never given up on his love of more modern, popular sounds and soon began putting it all together
along with “world beat” sounds he had been soaking up, giving him an aggressive tone and heavier-than-expected
rhythms, solid songwriting and swirly moments of psychedelia.

“I basically just realized that there
are no ‘styles’ — it’s either an honest expression or it’s not.”

This accounts for some of the unusual choices in the latest band’s cover material (Beatles, Radiohead, Bjork, and Ray Charles tunes) that has all popped up at gigs and on recordings.
Most of Jake’s experience is in the southeast — he currently records and performs in Atlanta with his own group. It’s a core trio that adds members as gig size permits. “This gives us a spontaneous feel that the audience responds to".

One of our favorite things to do is hand out percussion gadgets to the audience and give them space in the song... and they really have a blast with it.”

2006 semi-finalist in the: Independent Music World Series songwriting competition
Made 2nd round in the ISC competition

With his 2006 recording, Brilliant Shadows,
“Jake seems to have a knack for ‘speaking’ through his guitar,”
-James Hart, CD Baby.

“It makes you feel like you’ve traveled a familiar road, catching up with
old and new friends along the way.”

“Guitarist Jake Sharp’s storytelling
style is sure to keep even the non-jazz fan satisfied"
-SOUTHEAST PERFORMER MAGAZINE

C O N T A C T: j a c o b m s h a r p @ y a h o o . c om
W E B S I T E : w w w . j a k e s h a r p b a n d . c om

Jake has recently contributed a track to the film “The
Essence of Irwin” (produced by Tony Copley).

The latest release by The Jake Sharp Band is Brilliant Shadows (produced by Jake Sharp/Tony Copley) with Jairaj Swann on bass and Blake Helton
on drums and fender rhodes.

The CD is available for purchase at: www.cdbaby.com/cd/jakesharp.

Songs may be sampled/downloaded at:
www.myspace.com/jakesharpband
www.jakesharpband.com and
www.ledge7.com (management/marketing).