JORGE CALDERON

Blue City & on Mardi Gras Day

2011-10-14

Nick's Picks: Hmmm.....two cuts from which to choose, oh what to do?

FCC ALERT: "Squeaky Clean"

Review by Steven "Nick" Nickelson of Jorge Calderon Blue City & On Mardi Gras Day :

Very laid back, but easy on the ears. Infectious back beat, tasty guitar licks (Ry Cooder is on the slide guitar). Although there are only two cuts on this EP(?), they are both so well arranged and played, that I can close my eyes and get a feeling of lying on a beach in Mesoamerica, watching the deep blue surf, sipping my cervesa. And that's my two nickels' worth........................Nick

ARTIST BIO:

Jorge Calderón, originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer best known for his collaborations with Warren Zevon. He holds the unique distinction of having been credited on all of Zevon's post-1976 albums with the exception of My Ride's Here. Additionally, he produced Zevon's final album The Wind (for which he cowrote many of the tracks),[1] as well as the Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon. On The Wind, he plays bass, acoustic guitar, various percussion, electric guitar, as well as background vocals. GRAMMY-winning musician, vocalist, songwriter and producer Jorge Calderón has been an integral part of the Southern California music scene since he first came to Los Angeles in 1969. He'd been playing around New York City with his band for a couple of years before that, and headed out west in search of something new. Early on in L.A., Calderón met producer Keith Olsen, who at the time was working out of Sound City with Curt Boettcher (The Association, The Beach Boys). "I told him I had some songs I'd like to demo, and he invited me to come to his house to play them," recalls Calderón. "When I arrived, there were two people there, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. They were doing the same thing, playing songs. That's how we met, I had my audition in front of them." Calderón ended up connecting the duo with the drummer that played on the Buckingham Nicks album (produced by Olsen, among his now hundreds of credits), and also did his own demos with Olsen, which led to his Warner Bros. deal for City Music (1976), produced by Russ Titelman. Around that time, Calderón also met Warren Zevon, and through him, Jackson Browne. He decided to play and tour with Zevon and others, rather than making another album and continuing on the singer-songwriter path. In the decades sinc (sic) a new chapter in his story as a key player in the L.A. music scene.

The Musicians:

・ Jorge Calderon – songwriting, vocals, guitar, bass, maracas

・ Ry Cooder – slide guitar

・ Luis Conte – cajon, congas, maracas

・ Don Heffington – drums

・ John Thomas – Hammond Organ

The Songs:

1. Blue City

2. On Mardi Gras Day

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Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.