Album Notes

James Katz releases “glow”
Debut solo album

" If I was stuck on a desert Island... and could have only one mixed tape, 4 or 5 songs would have to be from 'glow'. . . "

- Matt Johnson, drummer (John Mayer, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright)



"James Katz is a truly great songwriter/musician. He is equally adept at crafting meaningful, thought provoking lyrics ... as sublime and memorable melodies.

Having been a fan for a while, I've heard his music evolve and flourish here in N.Y.C. and "Glow" is James' crowning achievement.

This is the CD to enlighten countless as to what many all ready know, that James Katz is one of today's most vital artists.

- Matt Beck, guitarist/keyboardist (Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas, Lisa Loeb)



"James Katz is no secret around the New York scene...

How many singers do you know who can burn a track with chops, emotion, and balls and still rap a fuckin shitstorm in the same track? ...

While running from the apocalypse in his dream, Katz tripped on some of the freshest shit to come out of the Lower East Side in years..."

- Ric Molina, guitarist (Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson)




James Katz; founder, front man, and songwriter of NYC's legendary "Choosy Mothers", has released his long awaited debut solo album “glow”. “glow” has received continuous acclaim from New York’s underground music scene and from top music websites around the world. For this album, James recruited some of NYC's best musicians to help craft the next incarnation of his signature sound. “glow” represents a musical shift for James from the improv based funky style that defined the Choosy Mothers sound to the more edgy, moody and passionate emotions that drive this new album.

In the mid 90's there was a burgeoning 'original and unsigned' music scene in NYC.   One of the few bands to actually make a living at it was "Choosy Mothers".

With an infectious amalgamation of styles subtly blended through song craft and improvisation, "The Mothers" packed houses at venues like Wetlands, New Music Cafe, and Tramps while holding down a 3 set weekly residency at Greenwich Village’s Mondo Cane. The band averaged over 2 gigs per week in Manhattan alone during its 6-year tour of duty.

“Choosy Mother’s was a product of the era, or at least the product of what I listened to growing up. My older sibling pumped all this Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, old school R&B, and The Police. All this funky music pumped into this little white boy...my dad is an amazing jazz pianist, so I got a lot of that at home too...that definitely had a lot to do with my writing style during the Mothers years, and is still influential on my sound today...” says Katz.

Sharing the stage with artists like Dave Matthew's Band, Third Eye Blind, Jeff Buckley, and the Spin Doctors enabled Choosy Mothers to sell over 15,000 CD's and cassettes between sets with no marketing or label support.

“It's clearly time to move on when you’re not growing anymore. So what I wanted to do was record the beginnings of the stuff I had been writing that didn't quite make sense in the context of the Mothers...more acoustic stuff at first and some heavier rock sounds that I’d been coming back to in my mind,” says Katz.

While focusing much of his efforts on studio production, writing, producing and engineering albums for other artists, Katz also began working on his own new material.

“Glow was supposed to be just a 3 song demo. [laughs] but then I started working on it...We started getting a really thick and juicy sound in rehearsals, so things just started flowing from there... If I had had such a clear plan of what I was going to do in the studio, and I forced myself strictly to implement it, I wouldn’t have a record,” says Katz.

The result is a fresh new sound that covers a lot of ground and yet remains cohesive and unmistakably James Katz.

“My songs are pretty dark in general and I think everyone has a dark side... I think for some people I can sort of put a face on that dark side and paint it in a way that it’s not so horrible. There’s no such thing as hopelessness and even though things are seemingly insurmountable there’s always going to be a way to move forward.... When people listen to Glow I don’t want them to hear just the individuals playing instruments, I want them to hear the songs and the soundscapes as a whole. I want to choke you up, make you feel.”