After party for Umphrey's McGee with Willie Waldman Project featuring Jake Cinninger on guitar from Umphrey's McGee, Jim Loughlin on bass from moe., and Kofi Baker son of Ginger Baker on drums joining Willie Waldman on trumpet.
WILLIE WALDMAN - Trumpet
The name might not strike an immediate chord but Willie Waldman is one you’ll find in the liner notes of great artists and groups such as Banyan, Rob Wasserman, Perry Farrell and the late Tupac Shakur. While the list goes on, there’s much more to this trumpet players credit than simply recording as a sideman on many of today’s contemporary artists albums.
Willie Waldman was born July 5th, in Santa Ana, California, summer of 1965. Since Willie was three years old he’s been infatuated with music, specifically one instrument, namely, the trumpet. For years he begged his mother for the prize until she finally purchased his first trumpet at the age of seven, with the exception that he would learn to play. Now living in Westville, In. (Just East of Chicago) Saturday mornings brought those lessons with Mr. Claude, Willies first music instructor. Soon thereafter Willie found himself in school and in his first large ensemble situation with the Chesterton High School Marching Band in Chesterton Indiana. The band had won many state and national marching band competitions that led to Willies eventual scholarship with Memphis State University. This is where Willie feels he received his first real training.
Beale Street is where the action is in Memphis, and Willies calling beckoned him to find work playing on the famous strip. He met living legends Herman Green, Calvin Newborn and Jimmie Ellis (Willies first actual paid gig) at Club Handy. Willie recalls, “I would go there and sit in and they would have me playing John Coltrane songs. I was so horrible and lost. I remember Herman saying, If you want to keep coming and stinking up my stage you’d better take some lessons! So I started taking lessons from Herman and slowly honed my skills.”
Now a member of Herman Green & the Green Machine (The Memphis Giant that produced such greats as James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Kirk Whalum and others) Willie was playing five plus nights a week. As Willie and Herman became better friends they decided to try playing their music with a different approach in hopes of reaching a younger audience. Something with more of a rock/fusion flavor. Their conception and direction led to the 1987 formation of Freeworld. Freeworld became an educational breeding ground for many of Willies life long friends and fellow musicians and the group toured with huge name acts like Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Robert Cray Band, Albert King and Joe Cocker.
After several years of playing and touring with Freeworld, Willies drive brought him to California in 1994 to meet up with friend and engineer David Aron. At the time, Dave was working with Death Row Studios mixing and recording Snoop Dog’s latest release and Snoop wanted to polish the disc with a brass touch. Willie was in the City of Angels less than one week and was already recording with Raps biggest superstar! He went on to record with Tupac Shakur, The Dogg Pound, Dazz & Kurupt, K Ci & Jo Jo, Exhibit and Nate Dogg. Although the situation was different, the experience and musical level was never the less very much the same. It proved valuable as well because this eventually led to session work on studio soundtracks such as Tombstone, Under Seige 2 and 101 Dalmations and also many commercials.
In 1997 Willie met Perry Farrell of Janes Addiction. Willie states, “Perry opened the door to the whole alternative rock scene for me. I did horn parts for Perry’s project Gobaleeusing the original Earth, Wind & Fire horn section and went on to meet Janes Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins.” A Waldman and Perkin’s friendship ensued and Willie played, wrote and co-produced the second Banyan recording Anytime at All including some of Willie’s original Memphis crew Clint Wagner and Ross Rice. Working with Clint and Ross also brought Willie yet another musical connection with the introduction of Rob Wasserman of the Grateful Dead. Wille recorded on Wasserman’s Space Island project and Willie was once again, an integral part of the project, writing, playing and co producing.
Willies first album, The Willie Waldman Project was recorded largely in the summer of 2000. Produced and engineered by Dave Aaron, Willie has brought an array of talent to the table showcasing the musicianship of: Daniel Shulman (Garbage), John Molo (Mickey Hart/Phil Lesh), Tony Franklin (The Firm/Jimmy Page), Greg Kurstin (Sheryl Crow/Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Stephen Perkins (Janes Addiction/Banyan/Methods of Mayhem, Porno for Pyros). An all original album, Willies thoughts are that this recording encompasses the roots of Memphis and the freeform of L.A. bringing an eclectic, jam oriented jazz album that will definitely knock your socks off! Twelve tunes strong, dip into the light Latin tinged Spanish Nights and the Acid feel of Surfin’ Dog and Happy Days to start. You’ll hear a definite Miles touch on Magic of Bear and Ursa Major while the back-beat of Rise Risewill make you want to shake your Memphis tail-feather! If avant-garde is your bag than it’s here as well. Take a trip on the Cygnus X1. Rounding out the project are the percussive “7 8” and “6 8” with just enough electric piano and Latin bump/funk to make any fan hussle.
A testament to his style, experience and roots, Willie Waldman has arrived and the proof is here in the Willie Waldman Project. Simply said, Willie Waldman will be the “next big name” years and bios apart from today’s first project and you’ll still see his name on credits everywhere!
JAKE CINNINGER - Guitar
has risen to fame as one of two lead guitarists in the Chicago-based rock band Umphrey’s McGee. He is influenced by a wide range of styles and guitar players such as Joe Pass, Tommy Emanuel, Chris Poland, Randy Rhoads, George Benson, David Gilmour, Frank Zappa, and Roy Buchanan among others.
JIM LOUGHLIN - Bass
from moe. on bass.
Tony Austin - Drums
Known for his versatility and dynamic performances, Austin plays the drums professionally in all styles of music, and is now one of the most recognized and sought-after drummers in Southern California. He has toured and recorded with many established artists in the entertainment industry, including Lauryn Hill, Carlos Santana, Robbie Krieger, Terrence Howard, India Arie, Roy Hargrove, and more recently Willow Smith, Gwen Stefani, Patti LaBelle and Dave Chapelle, to name a few. He has composed for and appeared on numerous TV and film projects, including “Step Brothers” (Sony), “Studio 60” (NBC), “E-Ring” (NBC), “One on One” (UPN/CW); The Cloverfield Paradox (Netflix) and “Truth or Dare” (NBC/Universal). He has also travelled to Iraq and Afghanistan, performing double-duty as tour manager and drummer, entertaining US Troops on numerous Army bases.
Tony is the Drummer, Engineer and Producer for the acclaimed Los Angeles- based group, the West Coast Get Down (WCGD), a collaborative group of musicians born and raised in Los Angeles. Apart, they are some of the most sought after musicians in the world; together they are uninhibited innovators moving effortlessly through multiple genres of music. He Produced, Engineered and was the Drummer on the critically acclaimed WCGD albums: The Epic by Kamasi Washington, a triple CD named one of Rolling Stone’s and Pitchfork’s “best albums of 2015”, with The Epic Tour selling out arenas worldwide for the past three years; and UPRISING, by vocalist/upright bassist Miles Mosley, an album that debuted in Jan 2017 at #4 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart, #2 on the ITunes Jazz Album charts and featured on Apple Beats 1 Radio. He also engineered and performed on trombonist Ryan Porter’s ‘The Optimist’, pianist Cameron Graves’ ‘Planetary Prince’, and Kamasi Washington’s 2017 EP "Harmony of Difference and 2018 release ‘Heaven and Earth’. He also partnered with Kamasi Washington as recording engineer and performer on the Emmy and Grammy Nominated music score for the Netflixdocumentary - "Becoming", A chronicle of former first lady Michelle Obama's life via her book tour
Due to a back injury, Kofi Baker will no longer be performing.
