Editorial Reviews With the release of his debut CD, "Pin Stripe Brain," in 1996, Nick Binkley received a lot of attention, including a Reuters news wire release and stories in The Los Angeles Times and American Banker, as well as an interview on CNN television. His authentic brand of Southern California rock and roll was picked up and played by radio stations in the Americana and AAA formats across the country. His second collection of songs, "Let The Boy Jam," is now poised and ready to expand on that success. Born on Halloween in Pasadena, CA, Binkley's first memories are of chasing chickens in the backyard of his home in San Gabriel. On his seventh birthday he received his first guitar, a Martin 00-17. His first performance was in his second grade class and then in talent shows with his younger brother on accordion. From then, it was on to the guitar lessons in Flamenco and classical styles. On a steady diet of Fernando Sor, Bach, Elvis and the Everly Brothers, Nick was well on his way musically. In 1960, a family vacation in Italy was marred by the death of Nick's father. Shortly after, his mother was seriously ill with hepatitis. The guitar became a best friend and a quiet refuge for the young teenager. His first professional gig was at age 17. Nick frequented the Southern California music club scene with his high school folk trio. The Ice House in Pasadena, The Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, and Prisoner of Socrates in Newport Beach. After attending high school at The Webb School in Claremont, CA, Nick went on to study at Colorado College, where as a freshman he formed the "Beggarmen." They filled their itinerary with local bookings at sororities, fraternities, the Rotary club, and with local radio exposure. During his junior year abroad in Aix-en-Provence, Nick formed a folk-rock band and they made their debut on France-Inter T.V. (an Ed Sullivan type variety show out of Marseilles). He also organized and played in an American rock and roll revue there. After graduation, with a B.A. in political science, he was off on a Peace Corps tour in Tunisia. Malouf bands on summer evenings introduced Nick to new sounds and instruments: the oud and darbouka. This was a time of inital songwriting. After Tunisia, he enrolled in graduate school in Washington D.C. while teaching guitar to pay the rent. After graduating with an M.A. in international studies, it was back to Paris for more music and songwriting, singing and playing in a nightclub on the Left Bank in Montparnasse. A couple of years later and he would be working for the Chase Bank in New York, London and Beirut. Outbreak of civil war in Beirut meant a return to the U.S. and a parting of company with Chase Bank. Back in New York, Nick was songwriting full time at Guitar Study Center with Eddie Simon, brother of Paul Simon, and music veteran Barry Kornfeld. Out of money and no hits yet, -- "You can make more money as a singing banker than as a singing songwriter," said Barry -- Nick returned to his California roots and a job with Security Pacific Bank in L.A. Along the way he acquired a Martin D-35 12 string guitar and wrote the lyrics and music to "Baby's Got a Way With Words." Meeting up with new friend Valery Saifudinov, Russian rock and roll singer of Sasha and Yuri fame, Nick set up rehearsal and recording operations with the Russian rock 'n' rollers in a loft in San Francisco. During this time his daughter, Pepper Alexandra was born, inspiring the song "Main Squeeze." continued/over... Not long after, Nick was holding auditions in L.A. for NB Enterprises and rehearsing at SIR studios in Hollywood with Steve Dudas on guitar (GIT instructor and songwriter), Mark Hart on keyboards and guitar (former member of Crowded House, currently with Supertramp), Dave Logeman on drums (toured and recorded with Frank Zappa), and Doug Lunn on bass, (L.A. based studio musician and player in the Dennis Miller Show band). A son, Byron Jack was born, and so was the song "Tucker Rose." Later on, Nick would also be part owner of Left Bank Management with Allen Kovac. Leaving L.A. and the music scene behind, Nick returned to the basics of raising a family and business opportunities in San Diego. With Valery Saifudinov as founding partner in Flight 19, a rehearsal and demo recording studio in Carlsbad, they played host to a young Eddie Vedder and his band Bad Radio, twice a week in rehearsal. Valery, along with Serge Diujikov and Yuri Valov had all left San Francisco and now lived in San Diego. Meanwhile, Nick was still writing songs and still in banking. Soon after, Security Pacific and Bank of America merged. Nick left B of A to set up a venture capital firm. At Thanksgiving of 1993, Nick and Serge were on Orcas Island, WA, arranging songs for Pin Stripe Brain. Enter Denny Bruce, independent record producer and manager, and former head of Takoma Records. Bruce assembled musicians John York (played behind The Byrds) on 12 string guitar and oud, Chris Darrow (Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor), Frank Reckard (Emmylou Harris) on lead guitar. Don Heffington (Bob Dylan, Lone Justice, Jewel, Victoria Williams) on drums and Doug Lunn (Sting, Bruce Springsteen) on bass, along with David Vaught (bass and engineer of Toad the Wet Sprocket and Counting Crows sessions) to collaborate with Serge Diujikov and Yuri Valov on electric and acoustic guitars... and "Pin Stripe Brain" was born! Nick Binkley's new CD, "Let The Boy Jam," follows up on the themes in "Pin Stripe Brain" and features "In Her Room" (co-written with Dudas, who produced four of the cuts) and "Ball Of Yarn." The remaining nine tunes were produced by Denny Bruce with Binkley, who continues to make music and record his life experiences for us to hear and share. Contact: David Carr, The KubRo Group, ph: (818) 343-1510, fax: (818) 848-1571, e-mail: kenilworth@hotmail.com BAND_MEMBERS: Studio band members include Don Heffington (Lone Justice, Jewel) on drums, Chris Darrow (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Leonard Cohen, The Kaleidoscope, Ben Harper) on mandolin and lap-steel, and PBS/"Spirit Dance" Music Director, Doug Lunn (Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Mark Isham, Wayne Kramer) on bass. Nick Binkley has been playing guitar, singing and writing songs for over 30 years. Over the last few decades, he has had his feet in two worlds. "The album reflects the duality of my life in both music and business," he says. "Some of the new tunes like "Wooden Indians" and "Heart Attack," along with the cover version of Ray Davies' "Well Respected Man," which lyrically mentions "...stocks and shares," continue the theme established with "Pin Stripe Brain." "I have no choice writing music," Binkley continues. "It's just something I do. The front cover of the new album portrays my suit-and-tie life in venture capital activities next to a picture of me at age 10, playing my first guitar." In addition, Binkley has some unique thoughts about the current music media climate, in which radio and music television tend to concentrate on musicians and artists in the 20-40 age range, to the virtual exclusion of anyone over 40. "My songs reflect a life experience that was incubated not in the music business, but on the 9-to-5 treadmill - in the real 9-to-5 pin stripe world," he offers. "So I come to it with a fresh and different perspective." His 2nd CD features a new batch of Binkley-penned tunes, some co-written efforts and two cover tunes. In the period since the release of his first disc, "Pin Stripe Brain," Binkley has played his music all the way from local Southern California events to the Russiya Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia, and has written and recorded his new album, all the while continuing his investment banking business and setting up a structure to sign and nurture other artists.
Let The Boy Jam, Music, Nick Binkley, Pop, Rock, Rock/Pop
About the Artist
NICK BINKLEY - A BIOGRAPHY
Album Description
Four songs on "Let The Boy Jam" were produced by well-known songwriter and musician, Steve Dudas, who also co-wrote two of the selections, "In Her Room" and "True Love." Dudas, who played guitar in Chuck Berry's road band, recently finished work on Ringo Starr's album, "Vertical Man." The remaining tunes were produced by Binkley with music industry veteran Denny Bruce, who has produced albums by John Fahey, Leo Kottke, John Hiatt and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, among others, as well as Binkley's previous CD, "Pin Stripe Brain," released in 1996.
Average customer rating: 
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Let The Boy Jam
Nick Binkley Manufacturer: Psb Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  General
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Pop Rock
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ASIN: B0000488VA Release Date: 1999-12-01 |
Tracks:
Album Description
Four songs on "Let The Boy Jam" were produced by well-known songwriter and musician, Steve Dudas, who also co-wrote two of the selections, "In Her Room" and "True Love." Dudas, who played guitar in Chuck Berry's road band, recently finished work on Ringo Starr's album, "Vertical Man." The remaining tunes were produced by Binkley with music industry veteran Denny Bruce, who has produced albums by John Fahey, Leo Kottke, John Hiatt and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, among others, as well as Binkley's previous CD, "Pin Stripe Brain," released in 1996.Nick Binkley has been playing guitar, singing and writing songs for over 30 years. Over the last few decades, he has had his feet in two worlds. "The album reflects the duality of my life in both music and business," he says. "Some of the new tunes like "Wooden Indians" and "Heart Attack," along with the cover version of Ray Davies' "Well Respected Man," which lyrically mentions "...stocks and shares," continue the theme established with "Pin Stripe Brain."
"I have no choice writing music," Binkley continues. "It's just something I do. The front cover of the new album portrays my suit-and-tie life in venture capital activities next to a picture of me at age 10, playing my first guitar." In addition, Binkley has some unique thoughts about the current music media climate, in which radio and music television tend to concentrate on musicians and artists in the 20-40 age range, to the virtual exclusion of anyone over 40. "My songs reflect a life experience that was incubated not in the music business, but on the 9-to-5 treadmill - in the real 9-to-5 pin stripe world," he offers. "So I come to it with a fresh and different perspective."
His 2nd CD features a new batch of Binkley-penned tunes, some co-written efforts and two cover tunes.
In the period since the release of his first disc, "Pin Stripe Brain," Binkley has played his music all the way from local Southern California events to the Russiya Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia, and has written and recorded his new album, all the while continuing his investment banking business and setting up a structure to sign and nurture other artists.
Customer Reviews:
Let the boy Jam, just not SING!.......2000-06-12
The problem is not so much the guitar licks, song selection, or lyrics. The problem for me is the singing, or lack thereof.
While many of the songs are clever and interesting, more often than not Binkley's voice disappears into an inaudible grunt halfway through a line. In some spots he seems to be hiding his voice behind the volume of the instruments, too.
There's a lounge lizard quality to the singing a la Bill Murry's skit on the old Saturday Night Live.
The trouble is, in the hands of a capable country/blues singer, the songs would be serviceable if not really cool. He can play alright, but Nick just can't croon.
The end result is a frustrating experience. On the one hand, interesting songs and good guitar. On the other, bad vocals and every other word dropping into a black hole, never to be heard from again in this universe.
If not for the printed lyrics, only some other-dimensional being on the other side of that black hole could tell what the missing words are. Maybe they would even consider it an attack from our universe, given the quality of the singing.
Another problem is that the CD is apparently supposed to be some kind of retrospective, but only two of the songs were written before 1998-99. So what's up with that?
And I'm sorry, but "Novi Mir" struck me as being very outdated and corny. The song is basically a call for peace between the US and Russia. I find I can listen to Sting's "Russians" and still appreciate the Cold War statement, but this tune is neither topically fresh or (unlike "Russians"), worth remembering.
Sorry, Nick. But the boy in question should not only NOT be allowed to jam, he should be sent to bed without supper!
Marvelous follow up to "Pin Striped Brain".......2000-01-20
Standout songs for me are "Fish Love the Sea" (an irresistible statement of loyalty that is reminiscent of George Harrison's catchiest work), "A Well Respected Man" (a wonderful, ironic and in some ways poignant song with an outstanding vocal by Binkley) and my favorite, "Novi Mir," the spirited and beautiful song that concludes the album.
There is truly marvelous work on this album, which is confident, ecstatic and passionate proof that Nick Binkley has mastered the use of music as a vehicle to explore ideas in a unique and exhilarating way.
Music:
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