Cast of Characters:
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark--sax (VST), organ, tremolo guitar chords (synth), harmonica, composition, production, mix
Mysterious Decibel--@themysteriousdecibel --MD—lyrics and primary vocals

TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– second electric guitar solo, and mastering

J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –piano and electric piano

K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and percussion

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass, first electric guitar solo, rhythm guitar comping 



This is a song started when Mark came up with its architecture, recorded in a  slower, more laid back version on his own. However, he wanted a more souped up version with solos in turns. So, he turned to The Eclectic Collective to fill in the pieces. He originally had solos in all the parts which he laid down on the keys, and he had some lyrics, too. However, once he heard The Mysterious Decibel's excellent lyrics and vocals, the song totally changed the direction and the vibe, for the stellar. 
  But MD didn't start the whole thing. As happens sometimes, even without Tez on this one, we still needed to clear out some space to let everyone have their say. So, Mark went in and lengthened the song mechanically. Once we had a final form, Ken, as always, came up with the foundation for the song, allowing Josh to add his version of Mark's bass line. Then, after MD gave us the vocals to form the song, we got down to adding the solos. JJ first added his thrilling opening piano solo, as well as the electric piano solo right after the first verse, which Mark is also playing a VST sax solo in, as well. Then I added my guitar solo, which is the first of the two, with a very clean tone. Right after that, Stephen added his fiery solo, which follows right after with a more overdriven tone. Finally, Mark stepped back in and added his killer harp solo at the end. Of course, it needed to be mixed and mastered well, too, so we turned to both Mark and Stephen for those important roles, once again, which they fulfilled expertly.  
  This past Tuesday, we released a fun little series of interviews over a compilation of some of our favorite musical moments. If you want to hear our voices and some of our thoughts about music, check it out. I realize it's a big ask at twenty minutes, but you might really enjoy it, especially if you follow us, and have been for a while. It's a celebration of all of our work over the past almost year together in various forms. This song was supposed to be a showcase of all of our skills, except Tez isn't in on this one. He'll be on the next one, though, for sure.
  We hope you enjoy this jazzier side of the EC as much as we enjoyed making it. MD's lyrics are about a psycho killer artist who hides clues about his murders in his paintings. 
Original Lyrics by The Mysterious Decibel:

Some might say he's crafty and planned.

With a shade of black and a brush in his hand
Some might say the world is his oyster
But no Pearl lays inside just a conjuring blur

He'll paint you a murderous scene
With the blending of  sin all between pigments of green
He's a shady fella Who hides behind the canvas!
I spy something with my little eye
This art might show just where he died

Will you find it?
The secret
Some freak shit
are you so sure you'll really wanna Keep it ?
The secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?
Ahhh a little secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?
It'll haunt your mind like it does him too
He's a swifty one he'll come for you!
The secret
The secret
The secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?

I spy something with my little eye
This art might show just where he died

His art might show
might show
might show
just where he died

A Brush With Death (Eclectic Collective with The Mysterious Decibel)

"Magic is what we do. Music is how we do it." -- Jerry Garcia

Welcome to my page, my peers, associates, friends, and musical family. I'm a lifelong, multi-instrumentalist musician who records prolifically and joyfully. You'll hear me play guitar, bass (regular four string, and four and five string fretless), mandolin, banjo, keys (piano, organ, synth), lap slide, sitar, and sing on my recordings here. I've been in a few dozen bands in my life, playing everything from bluegrass, jazz, rock, jam band, reggae, funk, afrobeat, Middle Eastern, traditional Irish, singer/songwriter, pop/covers, to experimental/avant garde. 
  Since I found SoundCloud a couple years ago, I've found many talented, creative people with whom to create music. However, in the summer of '23 I formed a band called The Eclectic Collective with some of my favorite musicians I've met through here. It started as a loose collective of musicians and coalesced into a core group of musicians who find other musicians with whom we'd like to make music, then run their songs through our process, and in effect add a full band. That core of The Eclectic Collective includes Tez (Llanpsych), J.J. Terrel, Ken (K2 and the Three), Stephen (Texmex Shaman), Chris (cgmaness), and Mark (mistermark). A couple of other musicians are frequent collaborators, as well, including Artur of Surfers Like Us, and Steve Vervaet of Steve's World. More recently, we've been joined by Carl of The Beautiful Dark fame. 
  The magic of music is amplified exponentially by each person adding to it. So, we really try to add our sorcery all kinds of music from all kinds of artists. Sometimes, we keep it within the group, but a lot of what we do is collaboration with other artists. Therefore these days, 100% of what I do is collaboration, within the group or with other artists on the side.
  I, and we, are also available for hire if you have a song or lyrics and you really want to add bigger instrumentation or a band and good production to it. 
  A small sampling of the artists whom I consider primary influences, and whom you will hear coming through my fingers include Phish, The Flaming Lips, The Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Rye Cooder, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Fela Kuti, Arcade Fire, Mikey Dread, Yellowman, Purpleman, The Meditations, Michigan and Smiley, Lee Perry, Dillinger, Django Reinhardt, Impossible Recording Machine, The Allman Bros Band, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Bela Fleck, Les Claypool, Sam Bush, David Grissman, John Prine, Talking Heads, Beastie Boys, MMW, Moe., Morphine, Ween, Steve Lukather, Michael McDonald, John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, John Scofield, Victor Wooten,  Cannonball Adderly, Thelonious Monk, Flea, Parliament Funkadelic,  Frank Zappa, Prince Paul, Pete Rock, Thievery Corporation, Amon Tobin, Chet Baker, Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Carol Kaye, Tame Impala, Mumford and Sons, Japanese Breakfast, LCD Soundsystem, Beach House, Sean Lennon, and Billy Strings, but of course there are many more. I also really like and am influenced by traditional Iranian, Palestinian, Indian, Sri Lankan, Sudanese, Mauritian, Somalian, Egyptian, West African, and Syrian music. I welcome anyone who plays non-western music to contact me for a collaboration, too.
 I'm overjoyed to have found my community on SoundCloud. This is a truly unique forum where everyone is sincerely trying to build each other up. The profoundly supportive and positive SoundCloud community has really opened up an exciting new world of collaboration for me. That is the main reason I'm in the Cloud, actually, to connect with other musicians and make music that I enjoy listening to, and hopefully others do, as well. I am ALWAYS looking to collaborate with interesting musicians, mostly though BandLab, which is where I record almost exclusively. It's a solid, free digital audio workstation hub where you can share recording projects, even if it's not where you make your recordings.
  Everything I do is live instrumental, not programmed, and using no computer beyond my phone. That's not to say that I would be opposed to using that kind of tool, it's just not my preferred medium with which to paint. If you like my music, please share it. If you want to collaborate, my BandLab handle is @bingo_pajama. Feel free to contact me at cornbreadband@hotmail.com, as well, even if you aren't on BandLab.
  If your music is primarily AI, please don't come around my page, as I'm not at all interested in complimenting a machine.
  Here's a link to music I've recorded live with a group of musicians here in Pittsburgh called The Northumberland Street Ramblers.
Check out The Northumberland Street Ramblers on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/fU4Me

New tracks tagged #jazz solos