Music

Get Live Album now (and more)! Released Friday, 10/21/22.

I’m super excited to announce that “Document:Freedom:Spring (Live!)” was released on Friday, October 21, 2022! This is exclusively available on Bandcamp. 

To celebrate, I’m also releasing reissues of my entire 2000s catalog there, for $7+ each. The great thing about Bandcamp is that you can download lossless and hi-res files all for the same price, plus, you can also “name your price” to generously support artists further. Even cooler, on Bandcamp Fridays (the first Friday of every month), the full amount of your purchase goes to the artist.

But enough about where you can buy it, you probably want to know about it! The album’s “liner notes” detail the magic of re-opening The Warner Grand Annex with my “Roots & Rambles” show after lockdown in June of 2021. The quick version is that they had a piano, I fell in love with the idea of playing it, so I did — for the first time in my adult life ever in a show! This led to a retrospective night of joy with an introduction of nine songs never recorded until now. And, only the last song of the night — an unplanned encore — is played in an arrangement that’s something I’ve done before. 

For all of us, it was a beautiful night of hope! We were elated and a little bit surprised to be in a theater together. Covid rates were low, vaccine rates were high, variants were in the distance. I felt so free to have three different stations to play three different guitars…and a piano that night! It felt like a rebirth, as does today, being able to share this music with you. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Here are a couple thoughts from others:

“The word that leaps to my mind is “generosity.”  This recording absolutely drips with it.  Generosity of spirit.  Generosity of artistry. You feel the artist’s presence.

Over the course of 15 remarkable songs, Jason Luckett invites us into his musical world, receiving all with warmth, humor and boundless energy and invention.”

— Todd Lawrence (aka Milo Binder)

“I have been a fan of Jason’s for many years and have watched him perform live many times, and I know this much about him: Live music is his happy place. He loves playing in front of people, playing off of and interacting with a crowd with a guitar in his hand, or his fingers hovering above a piano and keyboard. This here live album is classic Jason Luckett, at the height of his powers, playing to a room full of happy Lucketteers! His positivity, his love for his craft, is all present and accounted for in this show. I loved listening to and watching it as much as I am sure all of you will. Realize it!”

Dee Madden

You can buy everything now and you can access the liner notes for free there, too.

The full concert video comes next month. But, with this album, thanks to Raymond Moore‘s carefully detailed mastering, the picture you can create in your head is so vivid, and that’s really the way I like to see music. Put it in your headphones and be transported. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Bill Withers live at Carnegie Hall in my mind since 1973, but I hope you’ll join us at the Grand Annex many times in the years to come.

I hope to see you all again, in real life, on the road soon!

Peace and Love, 

J

Song List:
Stir It Up (piano version)
Home (piano)
Reimagine (piano)
Faithful (dreadnought acoustic guitar)
Looking at a Photo of Sonny Rollins (dreadnought)
My Return (nylon)
Stack of 45s (electric)
Bad Man You Want (electric)
The Passage of Time (dreadnought)
This Love (nylon)
Magic Trumps Reason (electric)
Our Moment in the Sun (electric)
Daydream (piano)
Summer Nights Are Ours To Seed (piano)
Miracle (dreadnought)

Big thanks to Simko for the beautiful photos!

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Posted in Blog, Music, News

Our Moment in the Sun (Live)

I’ll be releasing a live album in the next couple weeks on Bandcamp. Here’s one cut.

Posted in Blog, Live Video Archive, Music, News, Video

Autumn 2021: New Music Live Preview!

I’m really excited that at the beginning of the summer I was invited to play at The Grand Annex in San Pedro. I was able to debut a batch of new songs and rearrange some old favorites for an in-person audience for the first time in months. It was also the first time I’d played piano onstage for probably a few decades! Here’s “Reimagine,” a song I wrote thinking about what we were going to do when we emerged from this time of lockdown.

I’ll be releasing more music from this show very soon, so watch this space.

And, if you haven’t already, please join the mailing list to get announcements when the new music becomes available.

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Nilsson Show – “Remember!”

My friend, Janet Grey, captured this performance from a beautiful night celebrating Harry Nilsson! Thanks so much to Chris Price for playing the piano that I couldn’t pull off, Lyn Bertles for the string arrangement and all the players! One run during rehearsal and one shot at Molly Malone’s. A good time was had by all!

https://www.facebook.com/janet.grey27/videos/10219485977807024/

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Posted in Live Video Archive, Music, News, Uncategorized, Video

Octogenarian Phenom, Larry Wolf’s Single

I recorded this a couple weeks ago for a friend of mine, Larry Wolf. Larry is known for his acting in a number of films directed by Robert Downey, Sr., including Robert Downey, Jr.‘s first acting scene in the movie “Pound.” He’s 83 years old and sounds great. We’re in the process of trying to set him up with his own Facebook page, etc. But, give this a listen and please share some comments that I can share with Larry. It’ll make him happy to know that people are listening. And If you have any ideas of how more people can hear his music, let us know.

Use the links below to purchase or stream.


CD Baby

Apple Music

Amazon

Spotify

Embraceable You (YouTube)

You Are My Sunshine (YouTube)

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Posted in Music, News

25 Years


Incredible to think that it’s been 25 years since the verdict in the Rodney King trial set things off in Los Angeles. This was my response then, my attempt to understand. This dance was not meant for escape, but for confrontation of reality and for healing.

And in the struggle it’s good to laugh as we come together to fight oppression.

Peace.

 

      Tears to the Wind - Jason Luckett

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Posted in Blog, Music

“Bird on a Wire” – Thank You, Leonard Cohen

It’s nice to hear all the different musicians sharing tributes today. Sometimes the best way to honor our heroes is to participate in the act that gave us the inspiration. This felt good. I’ve always listened to Leonard Cohen in times when I needed to be reminded that a contemplative world was possible, that we were free to experience life in intimate and liberating ways. He’s inspired me to write. A few of you have heard a song of mine called, “(Please Don’t Play) Hallelujah.” That was inspired by his pursuit of excellence, not as a diss to the song, but I wanted to shake people out of covering the obvious, and encourage people to write their own “Hallelujah.” I look forward to sharing that song on an upcoming release. But for now, here’s a moment from last night trying to engage and give gratitude to the gift of Leonard Cohen’s art. (I’d never sung it before other than to myself, so please excuse the mistakes…)[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/292504642″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

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Posted in Blog, Music

Podcast today!

Jason Hikes!I’m in Bar Harbor, enjoying my mom and Acadia National Park! Last week, though, Katie Mitchell interviewed me for the Standing “O” Project’s podcast. Standing “O” is a fair trade music streaming site that you may have heard about from “The Art of the Song” radio show, your music community or me (I was featured last year on “The Art of the Song.” It just went live today!

Listen here: https://www.standingoproject.com/artist/jasonluckett/ with a fan or free trial subscription. Fans can also listen on libsyn here: http://standingoproject.libsyn.com/jason-luckett-mid-week-coffee-break or on itunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/art-song-standing-o-project/id707128897?mt=2

I haven’t listened to it yet, but I loved talking with Katie in my studio. I was just getting ready for the Harry Nilsson Birthday Concert (which went great — I had a string section, bass and drums accompany me on “The Wailing of the Willow” from Harry’s Aerial Ballet album), and working on some new stuff which you’ll be hearing about over the summer.

I hope you’re having a good summer. I find nature, exercise, and music are the best healers, so I’m grateful to be experiencing them all. Hope you’ll experience some of the same!

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Posted in Blog, Music, News

Nilsson Preview

Here’s a little preview of the song I’ll be performing at the Nilsson Birthday event on Tuesday. It was a demo for the string arranger. It got me inspired as you may hear on my next music update.

      Wailing of the Willow - Jason Luckett

Hope to see you at the show. I’m on in the very beginning. More info here. Harry Nilsson Birthday

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Posted in Music, News

Unsolicited sweetness

Kenny Burrell told this story last night to a few of us. Duke Ellington had previously told him to his face that he was his favorite guitarist, but there was another private compliment he received from the legend. Kenny – with his trio – had opened for Duke for a concert in Central Park. They’d done a really good job and the applause was loud and strong. As Kenny left the stage he was walking past the maestro’s dressing room and heard Duke’s manager ask Duke if he heard all that applause. (Maybe he was trying to get his competive juices flowing…)

Duke said, “Yes, but did you hear that harmony?”

I felt a little like that when seeing this photo of me playing one of Kenny’s new songs last night, noticing him looking on so sweetly at the corner of the stage. These are the moments you live for as a musician, the moment you make your heroes smile!

Performing "Giving Back," a new Kenny Burrell composition.

Performing “Giving Back,” a new Kenny Burrell composition. That’s Kenny, far left, with Tom Rainier on piano and Tony Dumas on bass.

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Posted in Blog, Gratitude, Music