North Star Jazz and CommonGround Video

Here are a couple of videos with our music as the theme or the soundtrack, as well as a few featuring some of the many artists that have contributed to our recordings over the years.  We hope you enjoy them, and feel free to contact us if you find or make a video that might work on this page.  Thanks.   

Autumn Leaves

I live near the Blackstone Valley Bikeway, part of the National Heritage Corridor that follows the river from Providence to Worcester.  The Blackstone played a key part in the birth of the Industrial Revolution and is lined with old mills including the historic Slater Mill in Pawtucket.  

The bike path is always lovely, but never more so than in the fall.  I like to in-line skate along the river and shot this video in 2011, and edited it with some still photos my wife had taken the year before.  

We had recorded an arrangement of the classic standard 'Autumn Leaves' that Marty had arranged for us with the Woodvale String Quartet for our 'Moonlight And Sax' release, and it seemed an obvious choice to accompany the images.
Hope you enjoy it.
                                                   Paul Mason

North Star Jazz with Strings

Between 2001 and 2005, North Star Jazz recorded a series of albums with strings, including "Romancing The Sax", Moonlight & Sax", "Sax Across America", "Jazz For Lovers" and the Christmas release "Mistletoe Sax".  We also put together a few concerts to get the chance to play these arrangements live.  This video was shot by Christopher Seufert at Concerts at the Crossroads at the Orleans United Methodist Church on Cape Cod. It features the group along with Tomoko Iwamoto and Shawn Verfaillie - violin, Gail Robertson - viola and Mike Czitrom - cello performing the Rogers & Hammerstein classic "It Might As Well Be Spring". We originally recorded the song (without the strings) on our "Like Someone In Love" release with Tony Bennett guitarist Gray Sargent and chromatic harmonica virtuoso Mike Turk.  Bruce added the strings to his arrangement for this series of concerts.

George Masso: An American Musical Life

Enjoy concert footage from our date at Brown University with George back in February, intercut with an interview where George talks about his early influences and meeting and jamming with Jimmy Dorsey in Providence in the late 1940's.  This chance meeting lead to George being asked to Join the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra.

This is one of many stories of this accomplished trombonist, composer arranger and all-around gentleman of jazz.  It was our pleasure to get to play with him for the date in this video and his final club date on trombone at the legendary Chan's in Woonsocket RI. 

Down A Country Road

If you've seen my previous video of my adventure at the Tuckerman Ravine at Mt. Washington, you'll know that if it's winter, and I'm not playing drums, ther's a good chance I'm skiing.  I'm an instructor at Wachusett Mt., north of Worcester, MA.

This video is was filmed while on a recent trip to Salt Lake City, UT.  My wife, Holly is an equestrian instructor (www.dressagebydesign.com) and has a client out there that she visits a couple of times a year.  I get to tag along in the winter and, along with my younger brother Dave, ski the incredible mountains of the Wasatch - in this case Solitude and Alta. 

The track is James Taylor's "Country Road" from our CommonGround CD 
"Fire & Rain." We got fresh powder and just had a ball.  Hope you enjoy it.

Paul Mason

Gray Sargent with Tony Bennett

We've been privileged to have guitarist Gray Sargent join us on two of our releases - 'Like Someone In Love' and one that's named after this song that Gray plays here with legendary singer, Tony Bennett - 'The Way you Look Tonight'.  

Gray has been playing and recording with Tony for nearly 15 years, so we were incredibly lucky to get him to join us in the studio for the two projects.  He's a joy to work with, and he adds so much to the tracks he's on.

 

Peter Calo with Carly Simon

Let's face it, we're spoiled!  We got to make jazz records with Gray on Guitar, and contemporary records with Peter Calo.  Peter's a master of both finger style acoustic guitar and burnin' electric as well.  He knows just what to do to make a track come to life.  

And clearly we're not the only ones to notice this.  Peter has been Carly Simon's go-to guy for years now.  When he's not out with Carly, you might see him with  Broadway sensation Linda Eder, or any number of established and up and coming singer/songwriters in NYC or on the road.  If you saw 'Hairspray' on Broadway, that was Peter on guitar.  And if you ever get the chance to see his solo performance, don't miss it!

Marty Ballou with Kenny White

Marty is the backbone of all the North Star Jazz and CommonGround recordings. You may not realize how important the bass is to bringing a performance together, but Marty lifts us all up pulls us all together.  

And there's a long list of people who agree with us about that.  He's played and recorded with a who's who of jazz, blues and folk greats - from Gary Burton to Jay McShann, Peter Wolf (Jay Geils Band) to James Cotton, and too many others to mention.

On this clip he's backing up NY session pianist and singer/songwriter Kenny White.  Bringing things full circle, Kenny played on the very first North Star release, the self-titled 'Cheryl Wheeler'. 

Soundtrack by CommonGround

When I'm not playing drums or in-line skating (see 'Autumn Leaves' above) I'm a ski addict. Since I was a kid I've been torn between the drumming and skiing.  At times I've been lucky enough to play some of the clubs in ski towns across New England - The Rusty Nail at Stowe and the Red Parka Pub near Wildcat, for example.

When I left the record business last year, I started teaching skiing at Wachusett Mt. in central MA.  My birthday (this was a big one) is in late May and I celebrated by climbing Mt. Washington to ski the famous Tuckerman Ravine, the only place you can still ski in late May in New England.

The soundtrack is one of my favorites of our catalog - Paul Simon's 'America' from our 'Homeward Bound' release.

                                                              Paul Mason

O Tannenbaum

A quick tour of the neighborhood reveals the Christmas Spirit in brilliant lights of every color. Wreaths and Christmas trees of all shapes and sizes, from the giant  display in front of city hall and near the ice rink in Providence to a neighbor arriving home with the tree on top of the car.  You'll see it appear in the window, then shine its bright red lights out onto the street.

The background track, the classic "OTannenbaum" comes from our holiday recording "Mistletoe Sax", featuring Bruce and the quartet along with the Hawthorne String Quartet playing lush arrangements of a dozen Christmas favorites.  Visit our online store for more information.