Jason McKenzie: News

I'll be in L.A. from Jan 11th to the 19th to visit friends and attend the NAMM conference in Anaheim.

Now that the weather is starting to get cooler, the JSunray shows will relocate to an indoor venue soon. Come join me with featured guest, Oliver Rajamani this Thursday 10/23 for the last show of the season at Cafe Mundi.

The dates on the last half of the Billy Joe Shaver European tour have been rescheduled. As a result, we will be returning on Sept 11th.

I'm excited to announce that I will be touring Norway, Sweden, and the UK from Sep 6th through the 16th with Billy Joe Shaver. Ja! Yee Haw!

Our regular Wednesday shows are back on from 10pm-midnight.

My laptop is back in business, so the JSunray shows are back on at Cafe Mundi. Also, Atash is taking a couple of weeks off from the Red Fez while a couple of our members do some traveling. We'll be back on Aug 20th with special guest, Subrata Bhattacharya on tabla.

I've had to cancel the last couple of JSunray shows because of technical problems with my laptop. I should have the problem resolved in time for the show this Thursday at Cafe Mundi.

I will be hosting a global electronica jam featuring different world music artists every Thursday outdoors at Cafe Mundi from 8pm to 10pm. Come join us!

Atash will be headlining the international festival in Durango, Mexico on Sunday July 27th. Afterwards, some of us--including myself--will be staying a few extra days to explore and play some acoustic shows.

I will be performing live world electronica with sitar maestro, Indrajit Banerjee, at the Red Fez from 10 to midnight on Monday July 7th. Come check it out!

I booked my friend Jef Stott (from San Francisco) at the Red Fez this Friday in Austin where I will be accompanying him on percussion. He has a new album on the Six Degrees recored label called "Saracen" which is full of rich global electronica featuring influences from Iran, Turkey, and Eastern Europe.

I'll be hanging out in L.A. on Monday 5/5 after playing the Stagecoach Festival the day before in Indio, CA. I'm looking forward to catching up with old friends.

On Wednesday, April 30th I will be hosting "Six Degrees Night" after the Atash show at the Red Fez in Austin, TX around midnight. I'll be giving away free CDs and download cards from the innovative world electronica record label 'Six Degrees' out of San Francisco. More info here:http://www.sixdegreesrecords.com/nights.php

I was up at the crack of dawn with Atash today playing for a local news station. Special guest, Indrajit Banerjee, joined us on sitar. It was a lot of fun! Click below to watch the video:
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/Detail?contentId=6125796&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=5.2.1

Every year the Austin Chronicle holds a readers' poll for the best bands, radio shows, and DJs. After ten years of experimenting in global fusion, Atash has won first place in the World Music category. Thanks Austin!
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Awards/MusicAwards?Year=2007&mode=awards&MPCategory=Best%20Performing%20Bands

Oye! I will be going to Spain with Atash from March 5th through the 10th. As a result of this and other factors, the annual Atash Global Harmony concert which usually takes place in Austin in the Spring will be postponed until Fall.

Things are off to a good start. Atash is gaining momentum at our Wednesday residency at the Red Fez in Austin with a new time (9pm-11pm). Billy Joe Shaver has been nominated for a Grammy(!) and he's keeping me pretty busy on weekends.

Atash will be starting up a new residency at the Red Fez in downtown Austin starting November 28th. Come join us every Wednesday for hookas and booty-shaking world music!

In the last couple of months, I recorded three albums for Will Taylor & Strings Attached -- now available on his website (stringsattached.org). More recently, my tour schedule with Billy Joe Shaver has gotten increasingly busier...

My drumming can be heard on half of this new full-album release from Matt. (Deathcab For Cutie drummer, Jason McGerr plays on the other half). The album is currently ranked number 6 on itunes. I'm also on the first single entitled "Car Crash". (To view the album, click on "Discography".)