singer songwriter & guitarist

The first weeks of 2014 have found me diving into a new musical collaboration with visiting NYC keyboardist Cameron Greenlee, just off the road from a long stint as a touring and recording member of the Skatalites, the world reknown Jamaican roots band. A highly accomplished jazz pianist, Cameron also plays a mean left hand bass that keeps our Caribbean grooves rock steady. We're now doing weekly Tuesday night shows at La Costa de Papito, along with scattered appearances at other area venues. But Cameron is only in town for a few more weeks, so if you're in Puerto Viejo between now and mid-March, be sure to catch a taste of our blend of reggae, funk and jazz roots while it's still cookin'! 

Tonight I'm starting my extended Arte Viva weekend, joining Junior Alvarez and his band, along with Jimmy Mac and other special guests for the pre-festival calypso jam at Le Costa de Papito from 7 to 10. Tomorrow I'll be in town again at the Lazy Mon for my solo sunset show from 5 to 7 PM to help warm up the crowd for a whole evening of live music culminating with a true cultural icon, reknown pianist and national Minister of Culture and Youth, Manuel Obregon, in a rare local appearance performing with our local Calypso Limonese legend on the festival's Plaza de Cultura main stage. And Saturday I'll do a short solo set on the big stage myself at 8:40, opening a night of music headlined by the high energy Latin fusion of Lucio Calavera and la Canalla. Bring your dancing shoes for that one!

This week marks the 44th anniversary of the original Woodstock Music and Art Festival, and I'm celebrating by reviving my Woodstock Memorial concert next Wednesday, August 21, at La Costa de Papito. It will be a whole evening of songs that were played at the festival, and this time - assuming all goes as planned - I'll be joined some very special guests to kick out the jams on some of those rock and blues numbers. Of course there will be plenty of acoustic classics, too, from the sets played by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, the great Richie Havens (rest his soul,) John Sebastian, and more. And of course Jimi will definitely be in the building!

The CD version of my latest album, Punta Rasta: a Musical Journey to the Caribe Sur, was just released. The disc is now available for previewing and purchase here on the website and at CD Baby, Amazon, and a bunch of other media outlets. (Buying it here from my online store or at CDBaby.com will give the most financial support to the artist.)

I've been enjoying my usual break from live performing during this slower tourism time of year here in Costa Rica, getting some great swimming and snorkeling time in and last month, along with more work on the Rumi album. Finally recovered from my hand injury in late September, too, so working a lot on a new set of covers for for the winter/spring season and learning the ropes on a new equipment setup I'll be using in my live shows. Hoping to have some video previews of the results for you soon - not quite ready for prime time yet, but getting closer.

Be sure to visit the MUSIC page for a FREE download of a new song!  In solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and in commemoration of the 10th anniversary this weekend of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan I’m giving this track away to everyone on my mailing list and everyone who visits my website in the coming months. The song is dedicated to all who work for peace and justice and for the protection of our planet, continuing to go beyond merely dreaming of a better tomorrow for our children. Called SNOW, paying tribute to the Puget Sound peace coalition that inspired the first verse, this track is from Strings and Wood, a mostly acoustic solo album that I've been slowly completing over the past year. The song is streaming here and on my Facebook and Bandcamp pages, so you can listen, read the lyrics, and download the song for free. And if you like what you hear, please share a link to this site with your friends: http://jimvick.bandcamp.com/track/snow

Punta Rasta, my new instrumental album, is almost done. I'm just finishing up the final editing and mixing, only a few weeks away from being able to release this baby. Getting there has turned out to be a huge commitment of work and time, wearing all the hats of producer, engineer, composer and primary instrumentalist on all the tracks, but I'm happy to say that I really think the resulting product was worth all that sweat and repetitive motion strain after all. I hope that you will agree when you hear it for yourself.  Previews of the new mixes are coming right up, and I'll be sharing more details on the release date very soon, as well.

On the live front, I'm continuing my weekly gig at La Costa de Papito, normally every Tuesday night, but switching to Thursday for one week only on March 17 (so come celebrate St. Pat's Day with me!)  The rest of the week, you'll probably find me right here in front of the Macbook, fine tuning a piano or drum track to be sure this little movie for your ears comes a bit closer to the auditory vision in my head that's playing when I take the headphones off for awhile. Unless I've escaped to the beach for a quick swim break! (The water is clear and calm right now, and the sun is shining much more frequently - meet me there?) 

Back from my summer U.S. NW trip/tour, I’m resuming live performances in Costa Rica this week with a show Tuesday night at La Costa de Papito, in Cocles.  (Muchas gracias to Eddie Ryan for keeping my weekly live shows alive at his beautiful restaurant - even through much of the low season!) Since my return a few weeks ago I've been busy with recording and rehearsal - the fall months are always a good time to catch up on writing, recording, and rehearsal, which have been the focus of my musical activity since returning from Seattle a few weeks ago. Returning to focusing on a solo performance format is my agenda for the coming high tourism season, and I'll have some surprises in store when I introduce the full show in the coming weeks. I'll let you know here and, for those on the mailing list, through an email update when my weekly shows resume at La Costa de Papito, as well as the additional venues I'll be adding to my schedule this winter. 

On the recording end, I returned from Seattle with some beautiful new overdub tracks for the BHAKTI BLUE album, with bass legend Rob Moitoza laying down the groove on all the songs and Brazilian keyboardist and Yellow House Records recording artist Paula Maya playing piano and organ on a couple of the tracks. It has been a great pleasure re-immersing myself in this project again and hearing it evolve to the next phase in its 2 1/2 year development.  Meanwhile, my instrumental album, delayed from release for a few months due to the loss of my old laptop and a few other technical problems, is nearly ready to hit the web - stay tuned for the final word as to when exactly that happens. And my solo singer-songwriter CD is only a little further behind, so please don't give up on me there either. The previews on the music player this month should hopefully give some reassurance that I'm actually making some progress here in spite of the rash of power outages brought on by the exceptionally heavy rainfall in the central part of the country this year.  Fortunately for those of us here on the Caribbean, though, our area has been spared the perpetual downpours and is enjoying a much more comfortable balance of sunshine for the beach and rain for the garden. So if you’re entertaining thoughts of coming down for an October break from your northern routine, don't hesitate - the beaches are more sparsely populated and accommodations are cheaper right now, even though the weather doesn't get much better.  Drop me an email if you're thinking of paying us a visit, and I'll steer you to my friends in the B & B department!  

When I first moved from Boston to Seattle back in the early 90's and began seeking out places to hear and play acoustic music, one of the first people I met in the local singer-songwriter scene was Kate Phillips.  I was immediately taken by this remarkable and incredibly talented young woman, who was then co-hosting and giving heartfelt solo performances at a weekly U-District open mic where I first introduced my own material to a Seattle audience.  Only a year or 2 later (help me on this, Kate!) she and her former partner Bill Pritchard opened Madison's Cafe and Music House, a little musical miracle in West Seattle, where I met and began to make music with some of Seattle's finest performing songwriters, including the incomparable Brad Warren.  My memories of touring the NW with Brad, in the duo that became the Vick-Warren Conspiracy (often with Eva at the wheel on those Eastern WA highways,) are among my fondest.  I couldn't be happier to be sharing the stage again with my longtime friends Brad and Kate, and very thankful to Kate for pulling this show together for me during my Seattle visit. The concert will be held at a great new performance venue, Friends, Philosphy and Tea in Bellevue. (Details on the Calendar page.) I really hope you can join us for this long overdue reunion!

Only 1 more scheduled show to follow before I head back to the tropics: an outdoor afternoon concert on Sunday the 5th up in Marysville, WA, again sharing the bill with Brad.  Details coming up next week.

My NW mini-tour started Friday evening with a coffeehouse full of friends I haven't seen in years at my gig at Makeda, in the Phinney-Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle. Marc Smason played beautiful African percussion and trombone accompaniment on my songs and then took me as his guest afterward to a late night jazz jam party at a house right there in our old Phinney Ridge neighborhood. The party was given in honor of NYC clarinet master Perry Robinson by family members who live here, following his own gig at Egan's earlier that evening. There was already a guitarist in the mix, so I played the Fender bass when it was vacated for awhile, jamming with Perry, Marc, and constantly changing band of jazz luminaries (I counted about 20 rotating in and out of the chairs over a couple hours of listening and playing there!) 

Perry was very sweetly welcoming and complimentary to me. Now 72 years young, his father was Earl Robinson, who wrote "Joe Hill" (the one Joan Baez made famous in the Woodstock festival movie) and songs for Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Like something out of a dream, it was an amazing experience and an honor to sit in with Perry. If you're a music lover and don't know about him, check out http://www.myspace.com/perryrobinsonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Robinson

Next stop is Ashland, OR, for a reunion with my daughter and first meeting of my new granddaughter, born just a couple weeks ago. Then back to WA on the 1st for a couple more shows before I head back south - details to follow shortly.