Danny Zanker, Jordon Andrew, Yutaka Uchida, Laurent Medelgi
Influences
Music in Fargo, The T.V. Boys, Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Pink the Floyd, Harry Neilson, Thelonious, Michael Johnson, Grandaddy, Nellie McKay, The Cure, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Phish, The BandAir Supply(seriously),Flash Dance, Cake, Van Morrison, old Liz Phair, Billy Joel, King of Comedy, Counting Crows, Neil Young, Ground Hog's Day, Christopher Cross, Bud Powel, Joni Mitchell, Joanna Newsom!(quite awesome.), James Taylor, Dylan, Wilco, and.......................>
Sounds Like
ooooh... + Leon Russell, Randy Newman, Phish, Floyd? + ahhhhhhmooshapuh..
(-) (-)
Quick up date about some spins our song ave b(track 4 of new album) is getting on Albany's radio station WEXT(http://www.exit977.org/) ( who's own Dave Michaels has called album "a masterpiece!").
Also, we've got a very hopeful response from 90.7 WFUV about the possibility of some spin time..and are waiting to hear from Los Angeles's KCRW about the same..will keep u posted...
In addition to music on this page please view a film of a live performance we had this summer.
About MD-
Mascot’s Distance is a city slick/ hillbilly soul fantasy band which exists in the ether of Jordon Andrew(www.myspace.com/jrthesongwriter) mind and in the physical plain best embodied on an album entitled Chasing Pixie Dust On A Cheese-a-cycle…..(www.cdbaby.com/cd/mascotsdist3).
Mascot’s Distance is an Alternative-Americana – Soft Pop quartet with R&B and Jazz stylings, who have modeled themselves after such studio band’s as Toto, Steely Dan and Harry Neilson- though have been compared in sound to The Band, Amos Lee, Marc Cohen, Randy Newman, Joe Jackson, Cat Stevens, John Sebastian, Josh Ritter, Leon Russel, Wilco and Phish. Their music is Piano based with a vocal-centric aesthetic, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, as well as heavy use of vocal harmonies.
(WARNING!!! The rest of this bio may be quite boring, due to it's on going list of current band members many accomplishments and credentials...)
Jordon is a singer-songwriter and producer from New York City. He has worked with some of today's better known recording acts including John Legend, Ian Gillan (of Deep Purple), Russell Simins (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), Dan The Automator(The Gorillaz), Taye Diggs (from the musical Rent), Kim Sozzi and Pete Yorn, as well as some of New York's promising up and coming artists such as Kristin Hoffmann, Erene Mastrangeli, Bill Mcgarvey and Cassandra Reed. A few years back Jordon won best film score for the film Union, in the NYU Film Festival and was music supervisor for an independent film called Falling Sky, starring Karen Allen and Brittany Murphy. From 2000 to 2005 he was selected to participate in three ASCAP Songwriters workshops. Jordon has had success writing music and jingles for Carnation Instant Breakfast, Volvo and Folgers Coffee, MTV and Bed Bath and Beyond. He earned a BA in music from Syracuse University and a Masters Degree in music education from Columbia University.
The quartet's drummer, Yutaka Uchida(www.myspace.com/yutakauchida), is also a jazz composer in his own right. Yutaka is from Tokyo Japan and attended Bostons Berklee College of Music. In college, Yutaka won the annual Louie Bellson Award (sponsored by Avedis Zildjian Co.) in recognition of his outstanding performance. In 2005, he received the Performing Arts Award from The Council of the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island. In addition to his performances with Mascots Distance, Yutaka can be heard every Sunday evening at the jazz club Cleopatras Needle.
Guitarist Laurent Medelgi(www.myspace.com/guitarpillbox) was born and raised in Paris and moved to NYC in 1993. Since then he has studied with Mike Stern and Wayne Krantz and released his debut album in 2002, “Circles, Live@55 Bar” on the British label String Jazz, and released his second Album in 2006, “Diverses” on Evander Music. Laurent made his broadway debut with the hit show Rent where he acted as lead guitar. Since then he has worked in the pit on the shows The Wedding Singer, Hair Spray, Jersey Boyz, Altar Boys and many others. When not playing with Mascot’s Distance or performing on Broadway, Laurent acts as music director and lead guitarist for many Jazz, pop, gospel and rock groups around the city. Groups including Marcques, Andrew Suvalsky, Sandra Crede Valeire Ahneman, Ari Gold and Apria Recording Artist B. Hadala.
The bands new bassist Danny Zanker(www.myspace.com/dannyzanker) spent his youth in England, Israel and Texas. The resulting cultural confusion, coupled with a formal education in jazz, laid the foundation for his musicianship. Moving to New York in May of 1995 helped him consolidate all his influences into an innovative and exciting playing style which features elements of jazz, blues, Middle Eastern, heavy metal, funk and avant garde. Danny is also an accomplished and prolific composer, with his compositions representing a natural extension of his concepts on the bass: complex yet danceable rhythms, lyricism and lots of emotional intensity. He currently can be heard leading his quartet, “Anti-Elevator Mission”, at Smalls and Tagine. His playing is also prominently featured in Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, the George Dulin Disband, the Yutaka Uchida Group, Souren Baronian’s Taksim, and Shusmo at venues which include the Knitting Factory, Makor, Joe’s Pub, Cornelia St. Cafe, and
the BAM Cafe.
Recently six of Mascots Distances songs were placed in the top ten for the northeast and New York region on the website Broadjam. Mascots Distance has played at Rockwood Music Hall, The Bitter End, Kennys Castaways, Pianos, The C Note, The Triad, The Knitting Factory, Crash Mansion, The Living Room, Matchless, Lemon, Snitch, etc...
Both full length albums can be purchased at www.cdbaby.com/mascotsdist and www.cdbaby.com/cd/mascotsdist3
...In addition both albums and downloads can be accessed on Itunes..
Thanks for your support of the last NLO concert the photos are now viewable on our myspace site. We are currently mixing the last 6 songs on our 17 track project. Look for it in stores in December 2009
Hey, It's Dave Clupper. If I haven't told you thank you for your support yet, thank you! Check out the video below for a live clip shot from Downtown Tulsa with my daughter Ellen. Also, stop by my profile and enjoy a majority of my new record "Letting Go" released earlier this month. If you want to own a copy, look for the Buy Now Button on my profile or to just own a track, visit iTunes by clicking here. Talk soon!
Hi ! Many thanks for adding me! If you like my songs, you can hear a few others on my web site, read my story, see others pictures and videos.
The site is fully translated in several languages like English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, etc. The link below send you to the Welcome page in English and then you can click on the top page flags to go to the according language. The only problem staying is with Hebrew and Arabic as you have to write it from right to left and my text windows refuse always and put the characters from left to right! So excuse me if you are using this pages because it must be just unreadable (help me if you have a solute!!).
Anyway I’m very happy and proud having you as a new friend now and I will try my maximum to give you regular happiness through new songs posted as soon as it will be recorded.
Awesome meeting you in Utica! Wish I could've caught your set though, sounds like I would've liked it. I'll be sure and check your schedule if I'm going to be in the city :)
"It took a long time to get well, but now that you're feeling better, you're gonna write a book to tell all, you're gonna do the talk show circuit"... I hope that we meet again, and get to tell more about where we've been, and where we plan to go. Keep on, keep'n on! :)
