kucharikmusic@gmail.com
A Musicmakers history
Like many musicians, JD, at a very young age, formed and played in many bands, using either his guitar or his trusty Hammond organ. Although all the early details are likely unimportant to repeat, they all formed the solid foundation for JD's skill set of performance and writing original pieces.
His first studio session at age 14 set in motion the life long love of recording those melodies that haunt the minds of all serious music creators.The hourly studio rate was virtually out of reach for a young, struggling musician and the cost of newer multi-track recording gear was only available to the wealthy. Years rolled by until "used" stereo gear became affordable..........
Through the early 70s, JD had one band that stood out from the rest. This was a 10-piece rock/jazz unit with a super tight rhythm group, co-joined with full horn section comprised of coveted JULIARD players. Exclusively playing his Hammond, this moved him on a newly discovered musical path of writing and actually having to script and transpose all the horn parts. Studio time was still a huge expense.
In the 80s JD had begun to utilize his small piece by piece collection of decent, old (affordable) studio recording gear. Although he continued to perform with band mates, he now had the ability to write and record multiple instruments as a solo artist. Those elusive song ideas could now be captured and expanded. Dissatisfied with the sound quality, JD, determined to continue to grow and expand his studio gear until he was fully satisfied. JD was close friends with bassist and talented writer, RACHEL BOLAN, who on countless nights came to JD's small home studio. JD assisted and rolled the tape to help his good friend craft and demo many ideas. He felt it was very cool to help a very driven, Rachel, to his rise to fame with SKID ROW.
Finally, in the 90s, JD had his own personal large 16-track studio. Here, JD wrote for the new DREAM CHILD sessions. His 7- piece group included 3 distinct and very diverse guitar greats. After almost a year of countless hours of rehearsal, recording, production and mixing, the 10-song CD was finally complete. Sadly, like with most bands, they disbanded. Some of these Rock/Blues/Gospel-like recordings can still be found on JD's ANTHOLOGY releases.
JD continued to write and solo record, and he was continually asked to be producer for many different bands and solo artists. His solo SKIPJACK recordings were never really released but now are available on his ANTHOLOGIES, both 1 & 2. Writing and recording still continued and still continues today albeit in a smaller home studio environment. Maybe he is stuck in the past somewhat, but JD still utilizes older "vintage" hands-on recording gear.
You'll never hear an auto-tuned or computer-driven cut and paste sound on his recordings. Like he says, "Maybe I'm just a purist, but I'm passionate for instrument by instrument, organically recorded music, where you have to work very hard to get those (real-time) recorded sounds...........and then just maybe, you might reach those listeners receptive to your sound-craft and lyrical message."
the Brief Summary
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NOT included here, are all the strange details, meetings with A&R's, small label releases and decades of interesting and some funny stories...........
