Royola Records released "Waiting for the Bread", classic jazz and new jazz vocals with Carl Tassi [vocals and drums], Cengiz Yaltkaya [piano] and Austin Nicholsen [bass].
Royola and graphic designer Greg Stevens selected my award winning photograph "Waiting for the Bread" - along with the photograph's title - for this debut CD.
-- Stan Friedman [www.stanfriedmansight.com]
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"I dig the voice. You're not afraid to put it out there. With the brushes, as Jake would put it, "Ya got a lotta pepper."
-- Jeff Hamilton (Jeff Hamilton Trio, Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra)
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"His voice has a pleasant baritone texture with tenor highlights..." "He is clearly an experienced and more than competent practitioner of the percussive arts.
-- Alan Bargebuhr / Cadence magazine (September 2006)
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"I've been listening to Carl's music for years and this collection of classic tunes not only captures his style, but brings joy to those of us who enjoy good music performed by musicians who obviously love playing it."
-- Huell Howser (Producer/Host KCET-TV Los Angeles, CA - California's Gold and Visiting with Huell Howser)
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"I am so pleased with Carl's interpretation of 'Don't LookBack'. He really understands the song."
-- K. Lawrence Dunham (lyricist)
["Don't Look Back" - Lyrics: K.L. Dunham / Music: Johnny Mandel]
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"My favorite singing drummer..."
-- Nick Demopoulos (Guitarist from Exegesis) Brooklyn, NY (exegesisonline.com)
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Nice music
"...your (vocal) style reminds me of Matt Dennis'."
"Your vocal style is very clean; the voice 'with' the instruments rather than 'standing on' them."
"Good stuff...I hope you do well!"
-- Angela Woodward (Tower Records Corporate Office - Sacramento, CA)
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"...Carl Tassi sings 'em the way he feels 'em." "He's fresh and alive..."
-- Jim Santella / L.A. Jazz Scene (March 2006)
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"Just want to say how much I enjoyed your CD! I don't usually listen to vocal music, so it was a refreshing change to follow the well-sung lyrics. Those are some cool songs you chose, and the renditions are heartfelt!"
-- Alexandra Caselli (pianist - Los Angeles, CA)
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For more information go to www.myspace.com/carltassi
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LA Times Article Featuring Carl Tassi ~ Sunday Edition in the California Section, front page.
STEVE LOPEZ / POINTS WEST
Getting in tune with that L.A. vibe
Steve Lopez
June 24, 2007
Dear friends:
I'm here at the Hollywood Farmers Market and thought I'd fire off this quick postcard.
You know what I love about the place? Smoke from the grills, sunlight on brick, the human centipede that marches past all the organic food stalls. Pupusas and tamales, Gouda and mushrooms. Organic cherries and Harry's Berries.
And the music. There's this cat Carl Tassi in his Panama hat, a singing jazz drummer. Eleven years in the same spot and so West Coast cool, a little bit of Mose Allison with Chet Baker and Annie Ross mixed in. Here, listen to this from Tassi's song [repertoire] "Small Day Tomorrow":
I don't have to go to bed
I've got a small day tomorrow
Small day tomorrow
I don't have to use my head
I've got a small day tomorrow
I can sleep the day away
And it will cause no sorrow
Not tomorrow.
You know what's fun to do? Next time you're here, try this:
Stand behind the band.
Behind Austin Nicholsen on upright bass (the kid's in his 20s and eats organic sprouts on breaks), and Cengiz Yaltkaya on keyboards, and last week Ben Hurwitz, an 85-year-old trumpeter.
You've got to see these guys, but don't miss the real show: the people walking by.
It's L.A. on parade. The old and new, stroller for two. The dreadlocks and comb-overs, the hipsters and farmers.
You see grannies and toddlers do a little bounce step when the music hits them. The best, says Tassi, is to see some guy up at the corner of Ivar and Selma, catch him tapping his foot. Is that for Tassi's band? Yes, look at that. He's tapping in rhythm, and next thing you know he follows the sound and drops a buck in the basket and says thanks, that last song made his day.
It could have been "Blue Skies" or "Gypsy in My Soul." It could have been "I Love the Life I Live (And I Live the Life I Love)."
Tassi's life fits into the trunk of a red Mazda Miata convertible. The drums and the amp. What else does he need? No, he never broke out big, but what's wrong with Hollywood on a Sunday morning?
Dozens of gigs have come his way here. No, hundreds! The people who come down out of those hills for fresh arugula and heirloom tomatoes like their music organic too. Tassi can't remember all the parties he's played in 11 years. Weddings and bar mitzvahs. Birthdays and Christmas.
"I just like their sound," says Don Murphy, a regular who also enjoys the bluegrass band and the reggae guy who gets all the kids drumming along with him. "The story I'd like to know about is the blind guy who plays flamenco guitar."
That's easy. His name is Pepe Viramontes, 69, born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and blind since he was a toddler. Like Tassi, the farmers market gig gets him jobs at birthdays and weddings.
The sun is high in the sky now. The vegetables are baking and Tassi's band is cooking.
The thing about L.A. is that you can't define it, sum it up neatly or pretend to have found it. But I always feel like I'm getting closer to knowing it when I'm here where little Caroline always wants the grilled corn on the cob and Alison is always bumping into Sheila or Hillary, and Carl Tassi's band makes Sunday morning so familiar.
Honey child tonight's the night
And there's a car I can borrow
Til tomorrow
We can swing til broad daylight
I've got a small day tomorrow.
--
steve.lopez@latimes.com
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