www.AbrakadabraMusic.com

John Pickell

Percussion, Marimba, Vocals

John began playing drums when he was 10 years old, a couple of years after seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. This inspired him to pursue music. His love of Latin music and Latin percussion (congas, bongos, timbales, etc.) began after the release of the first Santana album back in 1969 which led to his seeking out and discovering artists such as Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Willie Bobo, Ray Barretto and Mongo Santamaria...all were big influences on his musical direction.

John is well versed in many different styles and genres of music. In the 80s, he played Brazilian /Jazz music as a member of acclaimed Brazilian trombone master Raul de Souza's band and also backed crooner Andy Russell, a big international star back in the 40s and 50s and the original singer of classics such as Besame Mucho and What A Difference A Day Makes. During this era John also wrote, sang and played original Latin/Jazz/Pop music as a founding member of the band Abrakadabra, and also played Latin Jazz with the group Sound Wave. The early 90s found John playing African music in a band called Orchestra Shegamo (the house band at a wild European-style nightclub in Hollywood called Club Pu-Na-Na) and also with Bateke Beat. "Bateke taught me everything I know about how to play African music," John recalls. "I had to un-learn how I played and approach it from a different angle". The 90s also saw John playing Jazz/Rock/Funk fusion with the Michael Grange Band and Turnaround, and fronting his own band The Primal Rhythm Project. It was also during this time that John began his tenure backing actress/singer/writer Michele Greene, an association that continues to the present day and has resulted in 2 great CDs, countless hours of live performances and the occasional television appearance as a member of her band Los Tios. In the new millennium, John has kept busy recording and releasing the critically acclaimed Gold Coast CD Latitudes, and continues performing and recording with Michele Greene. John also found time to front his own Latin Jazz band JP and Combo Mambo. In November of 2005, the principal members of John's old band Abrakadabra got back together for a one-time reunion show and things went so well musically that they decided to start performing together again. "It's been a lot of fun getting back together with the guys and re-visiting our past material", John said recently,"I've always felt these songs were some of our best work, collectively and individually, and that our sound was distinctive and our own. While we have been influenced by bands like Malo, War, El Chicano and, of course Santana, we still add enough of our own jazzy melodies and pop harmonies to create our own musical identity. It has also been fun updating the material --changing arrangements, fine-tuning the sound and just taking a new look at each of these songs."

John's recording career began with the release of the first Michael Grange album in 1993, and he's found himself active in the studio since then, appearing on several different CDs ranging from Rock 'n' Roll to Bossa Nova to Jazz Fusion and Latin Jazz...even a Neil Diamond Tribute Album in 2005!
John also performs live with various bands around the Los Angeles area. Currently, he performs with singer/actress Michele Greene's band (Los Tios) as well as occasionally fronting his own bands, JP and Combo Mambo, a traditional Latin Jazz band, and The Primal Rhythm Project, an electrified fusion of Jazz, Latin, African polyrhythms and Funk music. John's drum mastery can also be heard on the soundtrack of the movie, Freeway starring Keifer Sutherland and Reese Witherspoon, and on the theme music for the USA Network TV show Reel Wild Cinema starring Sandra Bernhard.

Copyright © 2006-2009 AbrakadabraMusic.com