The Isley Brothers’ “The Heat Is On” with the one and only Soul Supreme. I first heard this cut when I was four years old; my mom bought the cassette tape from Bluebird taxi stand in the New Rochelle Mall. Bluebird had a small selection of tapes on the back wall to squeeze extra bread from you while you waited for a cab 😂. The album itself was already six years old by then but it was special for me from the first listen. Salute the great, generation-spanning Isleys (and Chris Jasper) and Grap Luva for the Mt. Vernon music alum t-shirt since we’re talking about New Ro and it’s long defunct and demolished dead mall I grew up in. 

New : The Means of Production’s new single and debut LP

I was lucky enough to cut my teeth as a drummer on the road from 2016-20 with this group as the backing band for singer/songwriter/record-slanger Chi-Town’s own Ben Pirani. A monster part of paying my dues and getting the tour experience I needed. When the pandemic pumped the brakes on that, we worked as a studio band on a number of soul 45s on Colemine Records. We warmed up for those sessions by letting the tape run and doing the opposite of what we did for the sessions: fuzzy, freaked out, funky, not always prim and pretty improv stuff. Then edited down countless hours of jams Teo Macero style. Out on Royal Potato Family on June 14, but preorder is live now. See below:

First single, “Silver Pools,” on all DSPs now:

Spotify

Apple Music

Personnel:

Rafferty Swink:

Matt Gibbs:

Jay Mumford:

Tre D’Ambrocia: vibes

Pat Carr: Bass

Ben Pirani: 12-string , flute, percussion

Mastered by Pablo Martin

In addition to the lead single, “Capricorn,” my drums also appear on “Hope” from the new Vampire Weekend album (Only God Was Above Us). This one’s an “additional drums” credit – the rolls and kicks and snares were sampled from me and added to the existing drum track. There’s nothing I enjoy more than laying a groove down so I’m honored to have session drumming credits with this kind of diversity over the last decade. Peep it below:

Me and Soul Supreme havin’ a ball covering “North East South West” by the mighty Kool and the Gang, a fave of mine and one of very few K&TG tunes that doesn’t have horns. So what’s left is one of the funkiest rhythm sections in music history. This is from the Good Times album, a record that’s been a top 5 “desert island disc” for me since I was 13.

While I’m on it, Kool and the Gang are up for Rock n Roll Hall of Fame consideration right now. Fan votes are accepted daily until April 26th. I implore you to get a vote in NOW because to span six decades, impact numerous genres and generations, win both music purists and pop charts…can’t think of a band more deserving. The late great Funky George Brown remains my greatest drumming inspiration, and he gave me musical (and music business) guidance when I needed it most. As did the late great Ronald “Khalis” Bell. This music raised us all in some way. Thank you Kool and the Gang.

Last week I saw a tweet suggesting one shouldn’t release albums without having a large audience. I laughed because at this point I’ve spent 25 years releasing stuff nobody asked for, only for a lot of it to end up either something I hate and can’t break away from or something that pays my bills – long after I’ve moved on. And like most things I’ve done, nobody asked for Lunch Breaks, a drum break library I recorded and released in early 2014 while entrenched in my then newfound passion for drumming. I was just happy to be playing and putting it out there. I’d only been playing drums for two years at that point, but I had woodshed some insane hours in those two years and had a unique recorded sound. I figured people may want to sample me. I was correct, but my unexpected pivot from rap to writing a book to suddenly dropping everything to learn to play drums full time was something nobody really asked for. And years after I’d already found my lane as a working drummer and forgotten about Lunch Breaks, that raw, mildly-sloppy-in-a-funky-endearing-way drumming debut of mine suddenly became the gift that kept on givin’ (it’s been sampled to death at this point). Madlib, Danger Mouse (Broken Bells), Prince Paul, Alchemist…and now indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Did not see this one coming, but very happy it did and honored to say their latest single, “Capricorn,” is me on drums. Sampled, but me nonetheless. Cleared and with my proper musician credit. Thanks to Michelle, Ariel and everyone involved for making it happen. The tune is out now, and if you like me and you like Vampire Weekend, dig. Video below:

The response to this has been dope – and it’s a great one to debut me as Jay Mumford on the DSPs because all my session credits are for other artists or Du-Rites.

Spotify

Apple Music

Or check your preferred service. Full video of the recording of the live album performance coming soon, as well as a whole album of funky instrumental improv stuff I cut with Greyhounds (and bassist Kevin Scott) for 29th Street Editions. That’ll drop later this year.

Happy New Year folks. Figure I’ll start ’24 off with an “oh snap, I forgot to share that in ’23” post because it seems the year doesn’t even start until the third week in January. At least in the music business. Well, almost everyone, except the tax man. So here’s a brief musician profile that videographer Surabhi Sundaram shot on me back in the fall for a Columbia University film school project. Hence, it’s unlisted on YouTube, but the link will live here for now. It’s near impossible to squeeze 40 years of musical ride into 4 minutes, so this one focuses on my earliest discovery of music, learning to play drums for my sanity while taking care of my grandmother in my 30s and behind the scenes on a Du-Rites gig. Kind of a clandestine, members only bonus clip, if you will. Thanks to Surabhi for taking an interest in my musician journey and doing an excellent job. (Let’s just say I’m…press weary lately, haha). Enjoy.

Another year in the books! Thanks everyone who supported and/or lent an ear to the music I was a part of that dropped this year .

• The Du-Rites: “Go Funk Me” b/w “Bucket” 7” (Bandcamp / Spotify)

• My first library LP (and final release as J-Zone), Intoxicated Skull (Bandcamp / Spotify)

• Soul Supreme’s Poetic Justice LP (I played on “Dues & Don’ts” and “Fraud Fades”) (Bandcamp / Spotify)

• Greyhounds: Live On 29th Street: Vol. IV (Bandcamp)

• Ralph Weeks & The Means of Production: “Nobody Loves Me (Like You Do)” 7” (Bandcamp / Spotify)

• Havana Syndrome: “Pink Mist” 7” (Bandcamp)

• The Du-Rites: “Super Phunk” (Bandcamp / Spotify)

• Tre D’Ambrocia & the Means of Production: “Love’s Gonna Let You Down” b/w “Closer” 7” (Bandcamp / Spotify)

And thanks to everyone I got to play music with this year – on stage, IG reel, on record, at Penny Jo’s, whatever! Diggin’ every minute of it, nothin’ for granted! More in ’24…

I had the honor of drumming for Austin’s own Greyhounds on a recent NYC gig run. We played the legendary Cafe Wha? and cut a whole new album of funky improv material that will be released in 2024, but we also recorded a live in-studio performance of some Greyhounds catalog and it just dropped as an album on The 29th Street Editions label on Bandcamp today. Grateful for the chance to play music with Anthony Farrell and Andrew Trube, two killer musicians and all round bad asses.

Stream or download the album exclusively on Bandcamp here.

And watch the video for “What’s On Your Mind” from the performance:

The full set will be posted to YouTube soon.

Thanks Reed Turchi for the visuals and Jason Rostkowski on the sound at GSI Studios.

I don’t do these posts often but it’s not often that someone has an impact both musically and personally. “Funky” George Brown was that for me. Kool and the Gang have been my favorite band since I was 12 and are the study guide and soundtrack to just about everything I do. George was “one of the funkiest drummers to walk this earth” (a quote from Steve Jordan) and without question my greatest inspiration on the drum set. 

When I started playing in 2011, trying to transition into something so far-fetched for me at the time came from the way George put his foot in it (literally, for drummers who know) and I just remember wanting to do something like THAT with whatever was next as far as music. FF to 2015, when I started my Red Bull “Give the Drummer Some” column/radio show –  of course George was my first interview guest (that interview is still on my website). What I didn’t expect was the advice he gave me in the ensuing years while I was trying to figure out my own career shift. Publishing (😅), songwriting (he wrote many of the band’s biggest hits), drummer health – no more pickup basketball cause you need all 4 limbs, all 20 digits and everything else to make a living lol – and in general how to keep things moving as a musician. Both George and the late great Ronald Bell offered me advice and guidance during some really precarious transition years and it continues to keep me focused today. It was more valuable to me than they’d ever know, and they really didn’t have to offer anything at all. 

The music George gave us was more than enough – the type of person he was is what really makes this one sting for me.  They say don’t meet your heroes but in this case it was a privilege that continues to push me forward. An immense thank you to the great Mr. George Brown. A peaceful journey. 

Read his memoir (“Too Hot”) that was released in July. Bump some Kool and the Gang today. My sincere condolences to his family and the Kool and the Gang organization.