Two Against Nature - Steely Dan cover by Jim Wilkas
Jim Wilkas - Vocal, keyboards, clarinet, tenor sax, bass clarinet, trombone, horn transcription, drum programming, audio mixing
Joe Mendicino - guitars
Gary Badger - trumpet
Marilee Wilkas-Ciarlo - backing vocals

Two Against Nature

Two Against Nature - Steely Dan cover by Jim Wilkas

Second Arrangement Recreated

Now with added guitars, horns and background vocals.
Jacqui Abrahams & Tasmin Wright-Taylor - Additional vocals
https://soundcloud.com/roysmith - Additional guitars

The Bear (Jive Miguel Mix 2)

These songs were completely improvised on 11-17-2023 at the Varuna North studio in York. PA. Groovatine is a loose collection of musicians that congregate periodically to improvise groovy music.

These sessions are captured and posted on SoundCloud and sometimes video is posted on YouTube. The musicians for this session include Ralph Washington on Keys, Quinn Slonaker on Bass, Louis Woodyard on hand percussion, Trev Williams on Drums and Roy Smith on Guitar, Keys and Bass.

Due to technical difficulties, the sound quality of this set is not up to Groovatine's normal level, however the music is compelling enough that we wanted to present it even in a compromised form.

Release date:
18-Nov-2023

Shifting Sands

Tasmin Wright-Taylor & Lani Garcia - Additional vocals
Roy Smith - Additional guitars
https://soundcloud.com/roysmith

Special thanks to Pipedream (https://www.youtube.com/@canaconn2388) & https://www.youtube.com/@SirMixALotRareMusic for sharing their Donald Fagen models,  and to Michael Caplin, monkey & adriii for sharing the knowledge.

Steely Dan - I Can't Write Home About You (Jive Miguel Mix)

This is the ninth track of my latest instrumental guitar album Kuuki Wo Yomu. This Japanese phrase means "reading the air" which I equate to picking up a vibe.

This track features Logan Bedard on drums, Dave Rhen on Saxes and Louis Woodyard on percussion. I composed the track and played all other instruments using my guitar synthesizer.

This song is a Groovatine mainstay and has been performed in improv form many times over the years. Here's an example from 2017 - https://soundcloud.com/roysmith/slinky

Slinky

These songs were completely improvised on 6-9-2024 at the Varuna North studio in York. PA. Groovatine is a loose collection of musicians that congregate periodically to improvise groovy music.

These sessions are captured and posted on SoundCloud and sometimes video is posted on YouTube. The musicians for this session include James Klippel on Keys, Join Godinez on Bass, Louis Woodyard on hand percussion, Rodney Godinez on Drums and Roy Smith on Guitar synthesizer.

Ridgeline

This track is the latest of my "Virtual Collaborations", music created with wonderful musicians I find on the Internet but have never met in person. Calaminus is a prolific composer of very good funk-fusion-jazz music and you can find his original version of this song on his soundcloud.  On this track, I played 8 string bass, lead and rhythm guitars.  Everything else is Calaminus. Enjoy!

Mood Of Blue - Calaminus Feat.Roy Smith -

“Breath of the Strings — After Midnight” is an intimate late-night jazz journey told through the voice of an upright bass. Every track is a story whispered after the world has gone quiet — warm rooms, soft lamps, empty glasses, and emotions you can only admit when the night is listening.

Led by deep, expressive upright-bass lines and supported by soft Rhodes piano, brushed drums, and gentle sax, this album feels like stepping into a tiny jazz club long after closing time. It’s emotional, comforting, nostalgic, and cinematic — the kind of music that lets your heart breathe again.

Created for Sunny Bear Radio, and officially released under DJ Sunny Bear, this album is part of our mission to bring music into the world to help support Sunny Bear Rescue. Thank you for listening, sharing, and letting these quiet stories into your night.

A lot of songs put out (including this) so far has been older music DJ Sunny Bear made. 

Come sit in the glow of the low strings. The room is warm. The lights are dim. The music is ready to heal something soft inside you.

10. The Room Exhales

A set of completely improvised music from Groovatine. Improvised on 12-28-2015 by Ralph Washington, Quinn Slonaker, Trev Williams, Louis Woodyard and Roy Smith.

Video of this improv is at https://youtu.be/I7yY9Ddic_4

SlipTown

"Neon Bubbles" derived from an extended jam session, the first jam I had since a long time.  It was such a big fun to play along with the groove and over the first basic chord progressions for more than 2 hours that I decided to develop a complete track out of it.

Hope you will have some fun listening to the final version as well...

"Neon Bubbles" also is another addition to my "Light Series" (https://soundcloud.com/calaminus-music/sets/calaminus-light-series) - a compilation of original music tunes which may send you into transports of delight.

Light Series

Neon Bubbles

Neon Bubbles | Light Series No 3

I've played guitar and bass most of my life, in a wide variety of styles and genres, typically as a session producer and/or musician. During the 80's I worked in Philadelphia as a session musician on albums by Teddy Pendergrass, Patti Labelle, Lou Rawls, Pieces of a Dream, The O'Jays, and the Jones Girls. I've recorded and produced hundreds of projects ranging from demos to a top ten charting song co written with Cynthia Biggs and Dexter Wansel.  I tend to favor harmonically complex music that's underpinned by great grooves, and I often hear the comment that my music is reminscent of Steely Dan.   For the past 20 years, I've focused on helping startup high tech companies and on writing, producing and recording music at Varuna Studio, my 24 track automated home studio.

Slinky

RoySmith

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