Having the same birthday as my father, it’s obvious we’d be close. Throw in me being an only child. So when he suddenly passed away this week, everything went blank. 

Exposing me to Coltrane, Miles, Hendrix and Tony Williams as a kid, then me getting him deep into funk (which I got from Mom) and hip-hop of my teens – Gang Starr, Tim Dog, Professor Griff, Kool G Rap and Capital Tax were his favorites, eclectic taste – music was our bond from early. Basement jams; excursions to record stores and conventions every other weekend growing up, including way out to a diner in New Jersey to find obscure Kool & the Gang albums; escorting me to dangerous studios in high school…he was there every step. During my hiatus from music I started covering high school b-ball – he’d just retired and rolled with me to games, bonding over hoops. Only right since I rarely beat him one on one – OGs will hook shot and finger roll you to death. 

In 2011 he put a drum set in the basement on a whim and his only words were “make it happen”. He helped me find passion for music again, and a whole new chapter. Even rented drums from Guitar Center when I visited once and put ‘em in the kitchen so I could practice and play whatever he asked for while he was eating lol. His advice, generosity and long phone calls got me and a lot of people through rough times. We got through my Grandmother’s passing in 2016 together, but this is by far the roughest week of my life and for the first time, he’s not here. Haven’t yet accepted the person closest to me is gone, but where I am with music and in life is what he wanted for me, so I’ll do my best starting there. Forgive me if I’m not “on” with much else for a while. 

Our birthday next month will be hard as hell. Gonna spend some quality time with Mom and the close few who’ve gotten me through the last week.

Turned off comments, Pop wasn’t big on social media. In lieu of those, CALL your people today. No texts. Visit if you can. There’s always tomorrow…till there ain’t. Love you immensely, Pop aka “Bucky”. With all you’ve done and sacrificed, you can rest now. I’ll keep doing my best to make you proud.

Vampire Weekend to Kelly Finnigan, Greyhounds, Rudy DeAnda, my own (Du-Rites, Means of Production) stuff and more…honored to have had my time in the drum chair on these 2024 releases and adding different styles of music to my credits. Hit my discography to see where I was groovin’ in 2024…look forward to more in 2025.

No touring this year (only played outside NYC once) but big shouts to Reed Turchi and Thomas Simon for the calls to keep me gigging regularly in my hometown and outside my comfort zone with hill country blues and hard rock. Didn’t see those coming but glad they did – groove is universal! And of course the Du-Rites residency at Penny Jo’s. Thanks to all these folks for the call to be part of their music and all who gave these a spin or pulled up at a gig.

For those who dug this Digable Planets cover I did with keyboardist and producer, Soul Supreme (and any of those covers, really), the pre-order for the 7″ (with PUTS’ “Crown Ones” on the flip side) is live on my Bandcamp now! Stock is limited. Full arrangements on both cuts.

Ships in February 2025. Non-U.S. customers will save on shipping at Soul Supreme’s Bandcamp. Enjoy!

The people asked, so the people shall receive! For those following the cover videos I’ve been posting with Soul Supreme, we gave Digable Planets’ “9th Wonder” and People Under the Stairs’ (PUTS) “Crown Ones” covers full arrangements and a 7″ is coming. The funk is deep. Bandcamp pre-order up this Friday at:

http://jaymumfordmusic.bandcamp.com (US)

https://soulsupremerecords.bandcamp.com (EU/worldwide)

Back with more in two days…

Two years strong! The Du-Rites weekly improv jam at Penny Jo’s began as a residency playing our own catalog. At some point someone couldn’t make it, so we started jamming with locals and our musician friends who were available instead. This gig has showed me that while the big stages and Jumbotrons get all the likes, it’s great to have a small spot to sharpen iron every week. Whether the place is packed or there’s 3 people in there scrolling their phones and it’s on you to pull something funky outta thin air and make em look up. I swore in 2020 to never take playing live for granted again, and it’s dope to know regardless of whatever’s going on in life (or the world), there’s some playing to look forward to every week with the crew: Pablo, Billy, Ike, Sami Buccella, Chef Seth, Melvin (our MVP on ) Ola and countless folks who’ve sat in with us thus far. We appreciate your musicianship and anyone funky always got a place uptown to play with us. Salute to the regulars. Every Wednesday 9-11PM (Broadway & 163rd), see ya uptown.

A cover of a cover: Soul Supreme & I re-visit the great organist Dr. Lonnie Smith’s cover of a Blood Sweat & Tears classic, breaks and all. Speaking of breaks, HIGH praise for Joe Dukes, the drummer on the Lonnie Smith cover who is also on my personal Mt. Rushmore of 4 favorite drummers. I discovered him through his work with Lonnie (Drives and Live at Club Mozambique) and then in 2014 I took a deep dive into his years with Bro. Jack McDuff. Equally inspiring and terrifying. Watch Jack McDuff Live, 1964 (in France) and…yeah. His name isn’t mentioned often but reading that Jab’o Starks, Al Jackson Jr., George Benson and Maurice White all spoke highly of him made sense.

There’s rightfully a “Can I Kick It?” nod in here as well; to A Tribe Called Quest on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Well deserved.

Session anecdotes: One cut that stood out for me from the four days of sessions recording Kelly Finnigan’s A Lover Was Born LP was “His Love Ain’t Real”. We hit this 11PM at the end of day two and we’d been in there 13 hours, but figured we’d get one more in before the night was up. It took a lot longer to get down than the other songs. I managed to get an acceptable take each time until about the 14th take, when we all played the PERFECT money take and I rim clicked that drum fill you hear a few seconds in. Kelly gave me the Mutombo finger wag and I nearly put my stick through a drum head.

I’ll never hear that fill again without recalling how mad I was that I blew it . We decided to quit for the day and try again next morning, but Jimmy James was on his way from the airport and time was short. We got it on the first try. Sleep cures all (unless you’re Joe Crispiano, who rarely slept ). Cutting this song alone made me a better musician. Hat tip to Kelly and everyone on those sessions for a great experience!

The soul lord of the Soul Supreme and I back at it one time for Uncle L, Marley Marl…and everyone jingling I suppose! ( Central Line / “Scorpio” / Grass Roots)

I’m honored to be a session drummer on soul singer-songwriter Kelly Finnigan’s A Lover Was Born album, which came out Friday on Colemine Records. I played on all but two of the tunes (Kelly himself is on “Be Your Own Shelter” and Joe Crispiano on “Count Me Out”), surrounded by musical heavyweights, including the aforementioned, guitarist Jimmy “Scratch” James, Sergio Rios and Max and Joe Ramey. I’d never played with anyone on the record before and didn’t get any demos to learn. I flew to the Bay Area and we got it done off the cuff, all in the same room, over four straight 12 hour days. It was what I envisioned sessions being like from looking at the back covers of my favorite soul, funk, rock and jazz albums growing up, before technology allowed us to create in pieces and in solitude. Cig butts and beer cans everywhere – half finished black coffee cups, water bottles and a bag of peanuts that’s probably still by the drum set for me because I’m old and square – and we recorded to a reel to reel. Everyone on these sessions was pro and made me a better musician in that short trip. If you made a mistake, we all started over. Nobody wanted to be that guy. Especially not at 11:52 PM and we’d been there since 10 AM. You better find the bacon fat at that point. The rest of the band still had energy to spare at quittin’ time every night and hit the bar – I went to sleep completely spent. Middle age ain’t for the soft! If you dig gritty and pretty soul music that references a specific time (late 1960s) but is still 100% authentic in its own thing, give it a spin on Spotify or wherever you buy records/stream music. Or just let the YouTube link above play the whole record. 

Another one with Soul Supreme on keys – a piano for the first time in all our collaborations – and special guest Skratch Bastid returns for turntable action. Shouts to Mr. Walt and Evil Dee of the Beatminerz who produced the original cut from circa 1995.