Alien Music Club is meant to be a vehicle for like-minded musicians to express themselves while creating diverse styles of music. Conceived and produced by Jonathan Pearlman (JP) of Asheville, NC, AMC is essentially an on-going studio project, with JP contributing most of the instruments and vocals.
JP grew up hearing light jazz and classical music. His first musical icon was Bobby Darin. ‘Mack The Knife’ was his theme song, which he performed often for various audiences. Elvis Presley was the next big icon, and JP was a huge fan.
The Beatles took Elvis’ place. Other influences at the time came through the British Invasion, like The Kinks, The Animals, The Stones, and The Yardbirds. Then came the ‘Summer of Love’ in 1969 and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Cream, The Who, and Led Zeppelin. One JP’s primary influences arrived in the form of Frank Zappa. He was also a Steely Dan fan. These became JP’s earliest jazz-rock influences.
JP focused on college studies and graduated with a degree in Broadcasting in 1978. Fast forward the next 20 years or so, and he had done quite well as a videographer and producer, all the while pursuing his music in his personal studio. JP became an avid songwriter and recording artist. He was immediately attracted to the process of overdubbing and playing all the instruments. During the 1990’s, JP began to win songwriting competitions and adopted the pseudonym “Alien Music Club”.
JP had a major breakthrough in 2001 as he began to rediscover his musical roots. He started to study and transcribe jazz standards by Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Thelonius Monk, Chuck Mingus, John Coltrane, and others.
He began to study and emulate the works of master guitarists like Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, John Scofield, and Pat Martino. His music had come full circle.
Future music by JP and Alien Music Club will be more experimental and collaborative in nature, as the audience for his special brand of jazz-influenced fusion continues to expand.
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