music

STYLES:

I play rock, jazz, gypsy jazz, bluegrass, blues, fusion, jam, and more styles. I’ve played with over 80 bands; see my bio page for the full list.

INSTRUMENTS:

I play and teach:

• guitar (electric and acoustic),
• piano & keyboards,
• mandolin,
• electric bass,
• ukulele,
• melodica, and more.

I utilize various technology in live contexts, including MIDI guitar which creates sounds of many instruments, and looper pedals which allow me to layer tracks on top of each other in real time.

CURRENT PROJECTS:

Updated November 13, 2023
I’ve been in Ajijic for over a year and a half. As I’m still getting settled and finishing my house, I haven’t been able to make the scene — as an audience member, or booking my own gigs — as much as I’d like… hopefully, soon. But I’m playing out regularly, and I’ve been active with several acts:

Don Samaniego Trio

Don Samaniego is a versatile vocalist with a rich, captivating baritone and delivery. I started working with Don in spring ’23; he dropped me a line interested in having me accompany him on piano, and help him organize his repertoire. He has quite a list of songs, and a book of scores from a previous accompanist. Don sings in styles including:

• swing jazz (Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin),
• vintage country (Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, Ray Price)
• 50s/60s pop (Ray Charles, E. Humperdinck, Elton John)
• heartfelt ballads (Matt Munro, Henry Mancini),
• and classic Boleros and tangos sung in Spanish!

In the trio, Don is accompanied by myself on piano, and Jan Reimers (Bluegrass & Beyond) on the electric bass. I may play guitar or we might add a guitarist or pianist in the future; if you are interested, let me know! Don has a page on www.ajijicmusic.com here.

“Bluegrass & Beyond”

I’ve had a lot of fun working with mandolinist Jan Reimers, playing as a duo we call “Bluegrass & Beyond”, since we include many acoustic styles marginally related to bluegrass (or not). Much of it’s instrumental music, including traditional bluegrass, newgrass, vintage swing, fiddle tunes, waltzes, various Latin rhythms, & classic rock with vocal harmonies — and plenty of lively, hot pickin’! He’s taught me many great songs I’d not heard before.
VIDEOS: visit this YouTube playlist of videos of Bluegrass & Beyond — Jan Reimers and Jeffree White.
We’ve played weekly for over a year at the Huerto Cafe — every Tuesday lunchtime (11:30-1:30).
We’ve also played at Pasta Trenta several times, and the Ajijic Society of Arts’ Art Market; we’re looking to get out more.
We have a page on the website www.ajijicmusic.com (which I created, and have yet to officially launch as of this writing).

Solo Piano

I’m delighted to have been approached by venues to play solo piano! It’s valued here.
I’ve played at 3 different venues: Hotel Hacienda del Lago, La Estacion, and Emmanuel’s Cantina.
You might hear early jazz songs, pleasant & fun takes on 20th century popular music, some exotic gems from around the world, and even film soundtrack numbers!
I can play all instrumental, all vocal, or in between. Usually the piano act is more instrumental.
I do not use backing tracks, like other local pianists do.
VIDEOS: visit this YouTube playlist of videos of Jeffree White playing solo piano.

Solo Gypsy Guitar/vocals/melodica as “Hot Club of Jeffree”

I’m thrilled that my nice new gypsy guitar, which was poorly set up for a while, was expertly set up by a local guy (msg me for details) and is playing very well! So I’ve started performing solo, with looper — mostly vocals, being solo, but not necessarily so — and melodica, playing my old Hot Club repertoire, along with a few additions. I played a show at Pasta Trenta and did a live video of it: not the best camera angle (too close!), but a good demo; skip around every 5-10 minutes to get the range of the styles. https://youtu.be/CnFYnfF6ZOE?si=5xiRQ3pJYRa7pPxi

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RECENT HISTORY:

Over my first year in Ajijic, I have also:

• played many shows with jazz/pop/Mexican band Black Sapphire Jazz, and play some shows here and there;
• been part of the house bands for a few open mike/live karaoke events at La Bodega and El Patio;
• played a solo show with guitar, keys, and looper at Dharma Cafe, the video of which is on YouTube;

GOALS & PLANS:

I’m available for pickup gigs in the Ajijic area.

So much music…so little time! What projects do I prioritize bringing to life??
One consideration is the limitation of resources here in Ajijic — talent, venues, and audience interest (demographics).
I hope to get back to playing some electric guitar — including something funky… Classic rock is big here, but it’s not really my thing anymore (though I’d be happy to do pickup gigs once in a while).

I hope to resurrect the 2 bands I led throughout the 2010s in Portland:

• Hot Club of Hawthorne — gypsy jazz, manouche jazz, 20s/30s swing, latin and world music played on acoustic stringed instruments, and sometimes clarinet or accordion. It would definitely have to be rebranded; “gypsy jazz” and “hot club” are problematic terms, and of course “Hawthorne” no longer applies. I’m considering focusing on a Roaring 20s theme for the act, as it will be much easier to market than as “gypsy jazz”… However, a lot of my favorite material in the gypsy jazz style is the non-American styles: waltzes, Latin rhythms — and that exotic material is well-suited to the fine dining restaurants. We’ll see — I can either sneak it in to the “Roaring 20s” act, or have an alter ego that focuses on world music.
  I will likely be doing a solo version of this act, with looper, and more of the vocal tunes.
• Train River — bluegrass, along with selections from related genres.

Both of the aforementioned bands were more collectives of musicians on call than “bands”; lineups varied by the show. Both bands featured over 50 musicians over the years! It’s likely I’ll keep this flexible structure. If you are in the Ajijic area and play either gypsy jazz or bluegrass, please get in touch.

ORIGINAL MUSIC. I have several original songs and lots of ideas to be developed and recorded. I kind of figured I would get around to them when I’m older, and retired and/or burned out from playing live. Well, growing old is not guaranteed… and I will potentially have the luxury of more time with my new lifestyle down here — so I guess it’s time to pursue the goal of realizing and sharing those ideas. The music I’ve compose is eclectic and esoteric and not neatly packaged, so I don’t know what it will look like. At the very least, I’ll sketch them out and put them on SoundCloud or something.

PUBLISHING LIVE MUSIC ARCHIVES. I’ve been promising to do this for years, heh. I have 100s of audio & video recordings, at least some of which should be published somewhere. I’m working on getting into the habit of publishing one a week. Check the music and video pages, as well as Facebook and YouTube, for developments.

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BAND LIST

Acts Jeffree has performed with as a member (in approximately reverse chronological order):
other artists with whom I have had the pleasure of sitting in:
Robert Randolph ~ Family Funktion ~ Folkrum ~ Big Island Shindig ~ Jive Talkin’ Robots ~ Porterhouse ~ Soular ~ Emily Wilder ~ Alexa Wiley ~ Neo-Pagan Jazz Bastards ~ and many more!

ORIGINAL MUSIC

My efforts to create original music have been off & on over the years. Since I enjoy the live effort, I focused on that — and it’s often hard to get people to listen to — let alone go and see a concert of — unfamiliar songs. And while I have a lot of bits and pieces, it’s difficult for me to finish things sometimes… (I may eventually release little snippets, which may interestingly fit in with the “Reels”/short span generation!) The band Stellakinesis performed my songs “Major Air”, “Spectral Rescue”, “Up & Out”, “Spin Round the Block”, and “Arabisco”; you can find versions in recordings in the Live Music Archive at archive.org.

Other songs I have performed include (and I hope to dig up links to audio soon):

• “Broken Toys in the Attic Blues” — played solo a lot at open mikes; recorded with Diggabone in a pro studio, but I think I never got a copy… I have to go through my collection of Diggabone tapes; there must be versions in there. It’s not a blues: it’s kind of a raggy-progression, with a funky beat, and silly alliterative lyrics; I used to dedicate it to Baby Gramps.
• “the Hankerin” — recorded with Diggabone, and later the Hillwilliams. Diggabone’s version was with a rock band, and it included a bridge that modulated up 4ths in an odd time…pretty cool — earning the description “prog-grass” (as in progressive). Hillwilliams is very bluegrassy, with fiddle and banjo. Both versions can be found on YouTube.
  I played it a bunch with my band Train River, if we could get a rehearsal in; bassist Ray Mann used to request it and praise it, which means a lot from someone who has played, and written, as many songs as he has! Check Train River’s video collection, I believe it’s in there.
• “Spiral Escalator” — recorded with Andy Clapp’s “No Cerveza Productions”, and I used to play it a lot at the open mikes. Fusiony, and features my favorite modulation sequence I’ve used in other tunes: down a major 3rd, down a 4th, repeat three times til it circles back. It also has a fabulous “money lick” of dual guitar harmonies at the end of the bridge, and a hard rock guitar harmony at the end. It really needs an extra layer of drums — esp. crash cymbals — to finish it. Then again, it’s worthy of a re-record…
• “Venusian Sunrise” — recorded with Andy Clapp’s “No Cerveza Productions”, and occasionally played at open mikes. It’s mellow and dreamy, perhaps Pink Floyd-y, with diminished and minor-major 9 and 9#11 chords… Later with harmonized tapping augmented arpeggios! Need to get that one on YouTube.
• “High” — only performed once that I recall, at Mt. Tabor’s lounge theater. It’s a trippy song about a visionary dream. While it’s not my style unless in the mood, I think it’s a pretty song and unique, so I should record it some time.
• “Big Black Caddy” — played by Blue Zebra, at least in rehearsal tapes. Swingy bluesy bass line, with modulations and a funky beat. The long form was a little tricky to hold together, so it may not have been performed at shows. Earlier, Diggabone played a formative version as “Piece of Cake”, with Eric’s lyrics, and they continued to develop it after I left.
• “Blues Jam Baby” — kind of a SRV-feeling swing song, based on a true story, ha. Catchy and well-crafted, I’d say; I have it on tapes….but it’s worth a re-record.
• “Keep on Pushin” — a high-energy minor blues variation with modulation of a tritone, with atonal/contrapuntal-augmented chord bridges… Probably inspired by Phish’s “Llama”. It’s on some tapes. I did perform it with acoustic duo Sangfroid, interestingly. And the band Yantra performed it once, at a packed party at Janet Smith Co-op; I remember the lights going completely out at the big climax!!! Sure I wish I had a recording…Yantra’s version was POWERFUL. I’d like to try to program an electro version on a sequencer some time.
• untitled guitar song, used as the soundtrack for a Sierra Club short documentary; find the video on my YouTube channel! Another high-energy guitar hippy-pop song that is due for development and a re-record…
• cowriting: the Flying Colours’ CD “Shine” — I added some guitar melodies that were improvised, but later became part of the composition, including overdubbed harmonies. If you’re ever in my studio, hit me up for a CD (if you can play it!).
• cowriting: Diggabone’s CD “Headspacewalking” — some sections were mine: the first 4 bars of “Walk n Talk” (the first 4 bars of the CD), the bridge of “Positive Lights”, the end of “Steal Away”. All the lead guitar work was mine too, and I sang vocal harmonies.
• cowriting: “Grey Matters”, written by Mark Zempel in acoustic duo Sangfroid, but I came up with the whole instrumental middle section. He gave me his blessing to play all his material (Mark, where did you go??); I sang it many times at open mikes, and recorded it on a 4-track tape somewhere. Great high-energy guitar pop song with funny lyrics.

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I’m available for pickup gigs in the Ajijic area.