SlideMeister  Featured Artist - May 2013:


Jason Keene

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Jason Keene is a Jazz monster who,  like a lot of my favorite players grew up in New York. (Queens, in particular)
Says he started bass in the 4th grade, and got his first Chromatic (a Chromonica Deluxe II) from his father at around age eleven. He was instantly "hooked" however, he only puttered with it for many years while primarily playing the bass.  

Jason discovered his father's West Coast jazz collection when he was around 12, and also became obsessed with Nat King Cole around the same time. He enjoys all kinds of music, but I has never strayed very far from his jazz and jazz vocalist roots. 

Mr. Keen has an astounding collection of vinyl LP's. Last count was around 7000! Is that off the hook or what!?  Wait! There's more! He's also an avid movie collector, with over 5,000 titles in that collection. 

His favorite artists and influence include Chet Baker, Nat King Cole, Anita O'Day, Toot's Thielmans, (of course) Chico Hamilton, The Hi-Lo's, Paul Desmond, Dexter Gordon, and anything else that sounds good to his ears.

With his BluesBop band

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Rather than going to college, he kicked out all the stops, cut to the chase and pursued music full time, right after high school, and moved to Atlanta where he toured  for around 8 years with a successful regional rock band (Cruis-O-Matic) until he moved to L.A. when he was twenty-seven. In L.A. he  played music, did a few commercials and T.V. as an actor, and got into photography, shooting portraits of his acting and music friends. The photography proved to be more lucrative than he expected, and began a free lance career as a photographer when he was thirty. 

                           Jason Keene 
                              (AKA "Jasonic")

Recent gig with actor/singer/comedian Jack black

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Jason says he picked up the Chromatic more seriously when he was 35, and has been playing ever since. (We're glad about that part) Jason is primarily an ear player but can also read a chart acceptably. He has studied with his good friend Wim Dijkgraaf. 
 
Jason's band's name is Bluesbop, (Blues + Bebop) which he also uses as his internet name since there is an abundance of famous "Jason Keen's" out there, even including a race car driver. Strangely, no one was using "Bluesbop" so he decided to grab it before someone else did. (kinda reminds me of  how I came up with the same: SlideMeister ;o)

Jason also plays bass and harmonica for the "Kyle Gass Band" and tours the west coast mostly. 

He likes to approach most standards from a vocalists standpoint and moves out from there. He says most of his favorite solos from artists like Chet Baker can be sung, and feels that melody and phrasing are everything. (How can ya not like a guy who thinks like that?)

Jason plays "springless" Chromatic (That's a unique style of Chromatic playing where a loop or hook is attached to the button, and requires a "pull" as well as a "push." Jason says he finds that particular method easier for his style of playing. (I'm sure Wim has more than a little influence in that decision; unless it was the other way around :o) He also prefers plain old stock tuning. 

Jason says he's married with 5 cats. (I'm not even sure I know I know what that means ;o)

Chick here to check out his youTube channel