Let's Get Funky

various

BUY JAMIE'S MUSIC

Funk Collection

Love finding great musicians from around the world here on SoundCloud and have developed these tunes with superb blues guitar players Joe Bongiovanni, Justin Valente, Tom Adams,  fusion guitarists and composers Ronny Heimdal and Benny Sutton, lyrical guitarist and prolific composer Igor Rajsa, wonderful electric bassist and composer Daniel Petrocchi, and jazz alto saxophone player, composer and recording artist Matt Criscuolo.    Such a treat to record with each of these fine musicians.  Hope you enjoy the music.  Check out each of their galleries for more of their playing.  

Collaborations

Songs performed on by Vinnie V.
Most are composed by me as well!
Thank You For Listening!

Vinnie V.

The Best Of Vinnie V.

Has been a very musical and creative 2015 with so many friends here on SoundCloud.  A huge thanks to all the players who continue to contribute to the wonderful tracks and music that we regularly create.  

Thanks as always for everyone's support!


2015 Collaborations

Not Lately

NOT  LATELY

"Because I Got High" (em inglês: "Porque eu fiquei doidão") é uma canção do rapper americano Afroman com a participação de Jay e Bob Calado no video clipe, lançada no álbum homônimo.

Afroman   Because I Got High  (Orginial)

14-afroman-homegrown alabama

16-afroman-smoke 2 blunts

Artist: Robin Joy
A & T Records
Macola Records Co.
Year Released 1986
Written & Arranged by:
Mike Daily, Dennis Austin, David Repace, and Clifton West
Tenor Saxophone Solo Played By, V i n n i e  V.  Courtesy Of BMI

MIDNIGHT LOVER By: ROBIN JOY ~ featuring saxophonist ~ VINNIE V.

What fun pulling this together with three serious musicians.  You probably know Joe Bongiovanni and Justin Valente's awesome blues oriented guitars, and they stretch out here on this funk / soul / fusion groove.  Burning it up they are.  And joining us on Alto Sax is recording artist Matt Criscuolo.  Look for him at mattcriscuolo.com.  These guys just play their ass off here.  Started with an internet fusion loop, I added many keyboard lines to funk it up to the max, and we added these pros.  Joe takes the opening solos for the first four minutes, Justin follows, and we finish with all the guys trading off.  So much energy.  Positive energy here.  Put this on and relax.  Hope you enjoy the entire tune - an extended play jam.  Damn this is burning.... Thanks for listening.  The guys would love your thoughts....

Funk And Burn - With Joe Bongiovanni and Justin Valente guitars and Matt Criscuolo alto sax

Created this tune to combine elements of rock and fusion, and was looking to set up soloing similar to what John McLaughlin and Jeff Beck did with Jan Hammer.   Norway's superb fusion guitarist, composer and recording artist Ronny Heimdal is featured, and just tears it up.  Into pieces.  Little pieces.  Check out his gallery here on SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/ronny-heimdal

Hope you enjoy our music.  Thanks so much Ronny:)

Busting Out - with Ronny Heimdal / guitar

Another fun one with Scotland's outstanding guitarist and master chef Ian Tait.  Ian once again brings it home with his signature funky solo and rhythm playing that matches so well with my jazz fusion roots.  Sure you'll enjoy this groove and tune I wrote, and be sure to check out Ian's gallery here too.  He cooks!  

https://soundcloud.com/ian-tait

Goin' Home - with Ian Tait / guitar

Bringing a soulful sound to SoundCloud with this one.  Lifetime recording artist, soul vocalist, saxophone and harmonica player Johnny Pugh sits in with blues guitarist extraordinaire Justin Valente and me on an emotional Ray Charles type slow jam.  What a wonderful surprise to hear Johnny's beautiful harp lines, which fit perfectly with Justin's raw electric blues energy.  Real proud of this one, as it captures the heart and spirit of why we all love SoundCloud.   Check out Johnny and Justin's music here - you will love their playing.  Thanks for listening.

Soul Brothers - with Justin Valente guitar and Johnny Pugh blues harp and horns

Can't take too much credit for this one, but loved the funky backing track and added an extended organ solo over the top.  Has a great groove and thought I'd have some fun with it.  Enjoy!

Fresh Funk

So much fun to have musicians all over the world play together, and this jam includes three of my very favorite guitarists and musicians here on SoundCloud...Tom Adams, Ian Tait and Justin Valente.  These guys can all light up a stage, and graciously came together for this funky collaboration.  If you aren't following them all you should be - you'll be getting fresh tracks almost every day from each.  Tom and Justin are both from the US (Austin and NYC), and Ian hails from Edinburgh, Scotland.   For our Summer Funk Jam here, we started with a very funky internet backing track, allowing everyone to dig in and do their thing.  You'll recognize each of the guys' styles if you've been listening to their galleries, and together it makes for some serious Summer Funk.  Thanks guys for all the ongoing support - each of you help bring out the best in SoundCloud.  Make that SoundCloud FUNk.  Let us know what you think - it is always inspiring to get feedback on our playing:

guitar: Tom Adams @tom-adams
guitar:  Ian Tait @ian-tait
guitar:  Justin Valente @justin-valente
organ:  Jamie Rhind @jamie-rhind


Summer Fun(k) Jam - collab with Tom Adams, Ian Tait and Justin Valente / guitars

Created this Latin Jazz Rock tune with a very percussive latin groove over classic jazz changes.  Justin as always does a fantastic job with the guitar, helping anchor the mood while developing a fine solo to complement the salsa groove.  Put on your dancing shoes...

https://soundcloud.com/justin-valente

Latin Dancer - with Justin Valente / guitar

Afroman - "Because I Got High" Positive Remix (2014)

Such a pleasure to have Norway's brilliant guitarist Ronny Heimdal  https://soundcloud.com/ronny-heimdal join me again, this time on Purple Mountain.  Ronny's playing and creativity is world class, and he makes this heavy modal fusion original come to life with his listening, note selection and phrasing, interaction with my synth lines, and finally his engineering abilities.  My deepest appreciation goes out to him for jumping in to help us climb the Purple Mountain together.   

This photo is of the stunning Norwegian fjords, a magical place that I am looking forward to exploring someday.

Thanks as always for your listening, for your comments and for your sharing among your friends.  Please go to Ronny's gallery to check out more of the superb music he has created and recorded.  A very fine keyboard player as well as guitarist, Ronny should be followed by any musician interested in fusion, jazz rock and progressive rock.

https://soundcloud.com/ronny-heimdal

Purple Mountain - with Ronny Heimdal / Electric Guitar

Here's an original Latin Jazz groove that includes the very fine Spanish flutist Santi-Caballero Mendez https://soundcloud.com/santi-caballero and German bassist Mirko Borach (Stringburner) https://soundcloud.com/stringburner.  Wrote this tune with kind of a Santana groove, and think you will love what Santi-Caballero does with his gorgeous flute playing.  I have the trombone patch solos.  Route 251 is named after the classic II-V-I chord changes around which the tune is built.  Please check out and follow both Santi-Caballero and Stringburner's galleries - you will love their musicianship.

As always, thanks for your time listening, your comments, and your shares.



Route 251 - with Santi-Caballero Mendez flute and Stringburner (Mirko Borach) bass

The brilliant Dan van den Berg https://soundcloud.com/danarchx and I are thrilled to share a tribute to two of our favorite bands, The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever.  These seminal bands and their musicians were so important to the merging of rock and jazz, many having come out of Miles Davis' fusion band, and featured virtuoso soloists and creativity that had not been seen before with electric music.  Dan here plays both electric and acoustic guitars, and has added so very much of himself to this modal tune.  The tune features a repeating simple lick, with dueling aggressive synth and guitar solos that these bands pioneered and took to a very high level, with John McLaughlin and Al DiMiola on guitars and Jan Hammer and Chick Corea on keyboards.     Please check out more of Dan's extraordinary music at https://soundcloud.com/danarchx .  

As always, we thank you for your time listening, your comments and your shares.  Enjoy Mahafusionu....

Mahafusionu - with Dan van den Berg / guitars

Excited to release Spring Blossom, an original jazz tune with three of the very finest true jazz players on SC.   I have known Alan for a decade, having worked and played with him here in New York.  He's a world class digital marketing professional, superb and highly educated musician, collector of extraordinary guitars, and created the melody here for Spring Blossom.  Santi-Caballero Mendez is a wonderful multi-instrumentalist from Barcelona, and plays saxophones and flute with both ease and taste.  Santi opens the tune up on alto saxophone.   This is my first collaboration with Manuel, who is from the island of Sardinia, Italy.  Manuel is a superb bass player, and performs here on his fretless 6 string - an instrument I am certain Alan would love to get his hands on:).  Despite being born with a handicap to his right hand, Manuel has overcome this hurdle to create and play remarkable jazz and fusion bass lines and music, in addition to drums.  I'm looking forward to doing some very electric fusion tunes with him too, as his understanding of bass and rhythm is simply stunning.  Straordinario.

Grazi Manuel, gracias Santi-Caballero and thank you Alan.  Proud of what we have created here.  

Please check out and follow these wonderfully creative musicians:
https://soundcloud.com/alanschulman
https://soundcloud.com/santi-caballero
https://soundcloud.com/manuel-muzzu

As always, we thank you for your time listening, your comments and your shares, which go so far to spread the word and vision of these wonderful players.


Spring Blossom - with Alan Schulman guitar, Santi-Caballero sax, and Manuel Muzzu bass

Here's a tasty blues shuffle with New York's outstanding guitarist Alan Schulman laying it down.  Thanks for joining me on this one Al.  Alan used to tour and record with Charles Earland, one of the top B3 players in the world.  Hopefully I didn't pull him down too much with this swinger.  And don't forget to check out Al's wonderful playing at https://soundcloud.com/alanschulman 

Thanks as always for your time listening, your comments and your shares.



Big Al's Blues - with Alan Schulman / Guitar

Funk It Up

FUNK IT UP (Jamie Rhind Synth Solo)

All instruments performed by Vinnie V.
Composer - Vinnie V.
Arranger - Vinnie V.
This is a medley of my audible feelings during one week in my life last year. If I had to label them it would most likely be in order: Worried, Eager, Happy, Melancholy. Listen and hear what you feel. Enjoy!
Copyright 2015 Vinnie V.   All Rights Reserved

Medley Of Feelings

MEDLEY OF FEELINGS

Bright Eyes

BRIGHT   EYES  (Remixed)

For those of you who haven't discovered Orlando "The Don" Lund, here's your opportunity.  Orlando is a serious pro, having built a career as a writer, multi instrumentalist and producer in London during the '90s Soul Funk era, leading and creating with some of the finest contemporary jazz and funk musicians in Europe.  You can hear many of their great tunes here at https://soundcloud.com/orlando-lund.  If you are into grooving music, almost no one does it better.

Orlando approached me about playing on a tune I had released here, What the Funk, quickly sending 5 tasty tracks to me - a solid grooving bass line, a congas line, two rhythm guitar tracks and a George Benson style guitar solo.  I've worked them all in here, adding them to all my keyboard parts, creating some sweet soul jazz for your listening pleasure.  Check out Orlando's wonderful Palma Groove Project recordings on his gallery - really special creations.  

We thank you as always for your generous listening time, for your comments and for your shares.

What The Funk - with Orlando "The Don" Lund

Time for some more funk.  A special thanks to the very kind and knowledgable G-Deed, who jumped in with final sound editing and compression, creating a better overall sound and balance:).  He loves great funk and soul and groove, so check out his gallery here....https://soundcloud.com/g-deed

Thanks as always for your generous listening, for your comments and for your shares.  

I Don't Funk On The First Date

Urban Funk is a funky track with some awesome musicians on Soundcloud:
Bass: Mirko Borach @stringburner
Guitar solo: Stephan "Pinner" Lipinski @pinner
Synth solo: Jamie Rhind @jamie-rhind
Rhodes solo, rhythm guitar, organ: Julien Apelian @jules-keys-1
Horns and drums: samples from a software called "City Funk"
We hope you like it, thank you for listening !

Urban Funk - Mirko Borach, Stephan "Pinner" Lipinski, Jamie Rhind and Julien Apelian

Funk Yeah!

Some new funky goodness with the superb Joe Bongiovanni.  Joe's got more soul than anyone and adds such great drive with his electric blues sound.  Joe's been a several time finalist at the world blues guitar championships and it sure shows.

Here's a link to his great music:  https://soundcloud.com/joe-bongiovanniz

https://www.instagram.com/bongiovannijoe/

And to the playlist of our more than 30 recordings  together:  https://soundcloud.com/jamie-rhind/sets/jammin-with-joe-bongiovanni-1

Thanks as always for your generous time listening, for your comments and for your shares

Get Your Funk On - Joe Bongiovanni / Jamie Rhind

Vinnie V. Brought up in Sacramento, California, Vinnie V. began learning Saxophone in the 8th grade. Under the direction of Nick Angiulo (R.I.P.), Vinnie studied music theory in High School graduating with a Scholarship from The Sacramento Jazz Society and The Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. Vinnie V. was awarded Most Outstanding Mexican American in his graduating class 1982.
In 1983 Vinnie V. studied under, Dr. Jack Wheaton (R.I.P.)(Professor at Dick Grove School of Music), and Boyd Phelps (Lead Alto Saxophonist for Stan Kenton Band), and has rubbed elbows with musicians or groups such as; Count Basie, Grover Washington Jr. , Bill Withers, Collage, Con Funk Shun, Robert Brookins and The Tubes.
Vinnie V. has performed alongside or with The Whispers, Al Hurt, Richie Cole, , Kenny G., Jessica Williams ,Kool & The Gang, Mahogany Dream, Derick D.O.A. Allen (Bassist for Janet Jackson), DMAN (R.I.P.)(Keyboardist for Bobby Brown), Dennis Austin(Musical Director for Bobby Brown), Bobby G. (Guitarist for Earth Wind & Fire) , Alejandro Lopez (Guitarist for Julio Iglesias), Michael Samuels (R.I.P.)(Drummer for Sly & The Family Stone) Wild Hair, Spectrum, Jimmy Pailor, Bob Clements, Tom Peron, Interplay, Channel 40 TV Band, many others...
In 2002 Vinnie V. graduated from S.C.C. with an Associate of Arts in Music Performance and a Minor in Computer Information Science. Vinnie V. is a member of BMI, and released his debut Album in 1992 entitled "Not Lately" he has continued to compose, record, arrange, and perform his love "Music" forward to this day!
Vinnie V. is by classification an “Indie Artist”.

Musical Influences 
People
Grover Washington Jr., Jeff Lorber, Stanley Turrentine, John Klemmer, Bob James, Stan Getz, Steven Ray Vaughan, James Brown, Dexter Gordon, John Philip Sousa, John Williams, Boyd Phelps and Musician / Inventor Bob Moog, for his key role in introducing the synthesizer to "Music”, Swing and The birth of Bebop. 
Groups
Spyro Gyra, The Crusaders, S.O.S. Band, Maynard Ferguson’s Big Band, Tower Of Power, Parliament Funkadelic, The Reddings, John F. Kennedy Marching Band, Go West, Cameo, The Doobie Brothers, Earth Wind and Fire, Hall and Oates and Weather Report
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