The following new date has been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

The following new dates have been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

Winter Beer Fest

Hello!

I am writing to ask for a small favor.

As you may know, I now have my first three CDs (Jazzmanic, The Surprise Trilogy Discs 1 and 2) for sale on my website. I also have them listed on Amazon, and iTunes.

If you have a minute, please stop by iTunes and/or Amazon and write a quick review and rate my albums. This could potentially help translate into more sales, gigs, and if nothing else, greater exposure and visibility of my music. I have posted links to the albums on Amazon below. Reviews on iTunes can be posted via the iTunes store.

Make no mistake, I would prefer you to make your purchases of my music (CD and Digital Downloads) from my website directly, since I get 100% of the purchase price to help fund subsequent recordings. The other sites typically take 30% or more from each purchase.

Additionally, I am in the process of manufacturing The Surprise Trilogy Disc 3 CDs. I am planning on releasing the album in December. I am very excited about it and looking forward to sharing all of my new music with you!

Thanks so much for all of your continued support, and make sure you stop by the website and check my upcoming Calendar dates, I have some exciting shows coming up.

Jazzmanic on Amazon

The Surprise Trilogy Disc 1 on Amazon

The Surprise Trilogy Disc 2 on Amazon

I will be performing all of the songs from the disc, which are all original, many of which have not been played out before. The night will feature many special guests such as Jeff Coffin, Rod McGaha, and Halfbrass. I also have a saxophone quartet lined up to play a particular song that is on the CD.

The Surprise Trilogy is a project that I have been working on since mid 2008. The initial idea was a more organic, straight ahead follow-up album to my funky/acid jazz first release, Jazzmanic. As I was slowly recording the songs for consideration (recording 2-3 songs at a time, once a month), I realized I had written a lot of songs over the years, and wanted to record them all, if for nothing else, to archive. Eventually, I decided to record and release them all as The Surprise Trilogy.

Surprise is a song that I wrote several years ago and have performed it in many different ensembles, and as a result, it has been played in many different ways. So I put a different version of Surprise as the first and last track of each disc (hence the name) to tie the albums together.

The album will be available in both CD and digital download formats here on my website after the release party date.

I am very excited to share with you the next part of this large project that I have been working very hard on for a long time. Please come out and celebrate with me.

- Chris

The following new dates have been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

The following new dates have been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

The following new date has been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

The following new dates have been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.

Hello friends. It’s been a little while since my last blog, and I have some very exciting things that are going on that I’d like to catch everyone up on.

The Surprise Trilogy is finally finished, and I celebrated the release of the first disc on Feb 10 at the Basement in Nashville. The show was GREAT! There was a great turn out at The Basement, the band sounded incredible, I had some very special guests, and the overall vibe was awesome. I was able to get not only the full band who played on the album, but also all of my special guests, such as Jeff Coffin, Don Aliquo, Rod McGaha, and Halfbrass. I was also able to get some great reviews for the show. You can read these on my website. I’m in the process now of promoting the new CD, trying to get it to different radio stations and publications for reviews. If any of you have any connections to radio/publications, any help would be greatly appreciated. Just drop by my website (Jazzmanic.com) and drop me an email.

I have planned the release of the second disc of the Trilogy for July 28 at the Basement. You can find out more info on my Calendar. I’m hoping to have some more very special guests at this next release as well.

Now that I’m finished with the writing and recording process of the Trilogy, I’ve started writing and tracking for my next project, which will probably be more along the lines of my first album, Jazzmanic, stylistically. I’ve been getting into a lot of programming lately and this new project will certainly reflect that. I’m hoping to release this disc in the middle of 2012 (after the third disc of the Trilogy is released). So please keep and eye and an ear open for that.

I’ve also been doing a lot of traveling. I went to Australia over Christmas and New Years with the Dynamites. We played 10 shows while we were there… all festivals. We made many new fans and friends and had a great time. In fact, I’m surprised I came back! Then, I went to LA for the NAMM show where I was able to meet up and play a few sets with my good friend Nioshi Jackson, as well as finalized a few endorsement deals that I’ve been working on for the past several months. I’m now endorsing Theo Wanne mouthpieces and Benz Reeds among other manufacturers.

Well, that’s about it for now. I’ve added a lot of new dates and information to my website, as well as started a YouTube channel and have uploaded several videos from my CD release party, as well as several Dynamites montages from our Australia and Europe trips. These will also be added to my website. So please stop by and check it out.

The following new dates have been added to the Chris West Calendar.

For additional dates and details, visit the Chris West Calendar section.

You can also subscribe to Chris’ e-mail Newsletter to be notified of his latest news, events, and website updates.