top of page

Track-a-Week

 "Get Your JAM On!"

Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons
with very, very special guest Erica Falls

GetYourJAMOnfrontJan202023 copy.png

We recorded "Get Your JAM On!" on February 1, 2022 in Rick G. Nelson's Marigny Studio of New Orleans with Adam Kiel as engineer. We being Roger Lewis saxophones, Herlin Riley drums-set, Kirk Joseph sousaphone,  and Michael Torregano Jr. (Teezy B)  keyboards, and me as voice. You can check us out on a page at stickingupforchildren.com. You can hear the first minute of our " ... JAM ..." below, following the Fine Tooth Comber of this month. So sweet to my ears--the band,  the Herlin-and-Kirk groove, Erica's voice. Mario Abney's trumpet, Roger's multiple saxophones, ...
 

1 _Bumping the JAM_, 0-00 to 1-00, Sept. 16, 2023Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 01:01
DP & RIversAnswerMoons on upper river copy.png

Roger added more saxophone with his overdubs at the Marigny later that month.

Erica Falls added her voice in March at David Farrell's studio on the West Bank of New Orleans. David and I then mixed and mastered the track into April and it came out on the LOVE OVER WAR album during June and July. 

 

LOVE OVER WAR, Don Paul, front for Offbeat Magazine, July 2022.png

The album was very lucky in the responses it received and "Get Your JAM On!" appeard to especially excite
DJs. The album reached #1 Jazz on the WZRD of Chicago and WODU of Norfolk, VA. Reviewer Dick Metcalf's sentence about " ... JAM On!" made me smile.
'Some of the most superbly creative, funky fun you'll ever hear', he wrote.

" ... JAM ..." worked due to the musicians' and the overall love that went into it, I think. A new energy-bar inspired the tune and its lyrics.
JAMBAR is an 'Organic Artisan Energy Bar', created by nutritrionist and athlete and Power Bar founder Jennifer Maxwell. Jennifer is a friend since the San Francisco Bay Area in the latter 1980s and her genuine philanthropy has supported Sticking Up For Children since 2014.  
 

JAMBAR LOGO W ENERGY BAR A.jpg
JAMBARs for Students in Haiti.png

JAMBAR has donated more than 3000 Bars to students
in Haiti since its first batch through Sticking Up For Children to our partners College Canapé-Vert and the EFE School and FEPE orphanage of Port-au-Prince and the Youpi Youpi School of Cayes Jacmel.                            

The tune and many of its lyrics and riffs was another shower-song. 'Get Your Jam On' already was JAMBAR's
trademarked slogan. I wanted to create with Rivers Answer Moons a track useful to JAMBAR... A jingle, maybe... So, one day--January 26, 2022 to be "pree-cise"--while I was in the shower after bicycling the slogan became a melodic and rhythmic hook. Onto that hook jumped more lyrics and consequent riffs.  The whole frame evolved into my notebook in about 15 minutes, as with "Live Out Loud" for Melissa Gregory Rue's documentary in 2018 and with many other songs before and since.

Jennifer and JAMBAR were a particualr inspiration. I wanted to express how truly "darn good" the Bars are; how helpful they are to athletes' and everyday people's health and performance; and how JAMBAR's 'Purpose' with 19 Partners in Music (mostly Music-Education) and Active Living really is to make folks OPTIMAL as people and creators.

And so ... Let's get to the music--all of it immeasurably enhanced by Michael, Herlin, Kirk and Roger from my simple frame. This September I've gone through " ... JAM ..." second-by-second in a process that I call Fine Tooth Comber, or FTC. What's this Fine Tooth Comber do eggsackly? Groom with a hard-wire brush, is he? Rider on a wave? Wh'all, No. FTC begins with opening a Track in the Audacity freeware. The process then listens. Listens and listens. Then begins to adjust volumes in the Stereo or Mono channels ... so that what's happening among players and between players and vocalists can be more heard ... because musicians such as those here (Rivers Answer Moons) are consistently HAPPENING ...  responding to content and nuance ... and so is an artist such as Erica consistently responding with her instrument.

I hope that you love what comes out!

You can hear all of " ... JAM ..." and nine of its Part over on Bandcamp.  Streaming there plays the Tracks at 128 megabytes per second (mbps). Downloading them gives your ears and brain over 10-fold MORE in information and--for Maryse and me--worlds more of musicality. Or--THUMBS UP!--"JAM On!"--you can simply listen to Parts here and presumably through my 'Stands the Human Being' on Substack.   

1 _Bumping the JAM_, 0-00 to 1-00, Sept. 16, 2023Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 01:01
2 _Get Your JAM a Deh-de--de-de-Dah JAM On 1-00 to 1-27Artist Name
00:00 / 00:27
3 Hey Now, Nobody Dances Like You Can Walk, 1-27 to 2-00Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 00:32

A

Get Your Jam On / Get Your Jam On

B
You over there have a flair for that

You right here have a flare for this
Nobody dances like you can walk
Nobody draws like you can see

4 Goin' Strong, Goin' Long ... Black, White, Yellow, Red, Brown, Olive-Blue and in-BetweeDon Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 00:42

C

You're goin' strong / You're goin' long


God and Gods are in our blood

God and Gods made all skin-tones

       Black   White   Yellow   Red    Brown

       Olive   Blue  And In-Between

5 Hey now Hey now ... James Joyce Yes. Yes Yes Spake the Light Some Know As Oliver Lake 2-Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 00:50

A

Get Your Jam On / Get Your Jam On

D
Hey Now    Hey Now   Did-a-Wop-a-Nay

Hey Now    Hey Now   Wash-a-Tub-und-Bake

Hey Now    Hey Now   James Joyce Yes Yes Yes
Hey Now    Hey Now
   Spake the Light some know

                                        as Oliver Lake

6 JAM On! JAM On! JAM On! 3-29 to 3-58Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 00:29
7 Our Genius Can Create So Much Fun God and Gods Love the Gifts in All Skintones 3-59 to 4Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 00:34

C

Goin' strong / Goin' Long

JAM on!    JAM on!   JAM On!

E
Our genius can create so much fun

God and Gods are in our blood

Worlds unbound those Hands

                                            and our minds have grown
God and Gods love the gifts in all skin-tones

Black   White   Yellow   Red    Brown

       Olive   Blue  And In-Between

8 Nobody Draws Like You Can See 4-30 to 5-01Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 00:31

B
You over there have a flair for that

You right here have a flare for this
Nobody dances like you can walk
Nobody draws like you can see

9 Get Your JAM On 3-40 Mile Double-Lovin' Marathon 4-55 to 5-28Don Paul & Rivers Answer Moons with Erica Falls
00:00 / 00:33

A

Get Your Jam On / Get Your Jam On

 

Get your Blam'ma Ham'ma Gram'ma Bop this Whip  

 

Your Sky's-No-Limit-Triple-Back-Flip

Your 3:40-Mile-Double-Lovin'-Marathon

Your Cheops-Michaelangelo-Tu-Fu-'n-Li-Po

Your Badda-a-Dah-Bad-Ah-Gnash-a-Gosh-

A-Grosh-und-Groan-a-Wah-Whoop

Your JAM On!    Your JAM On! 

JAM On!          JAM On!          JAM On!

bottom of page