John Pena Solo (Quicktime Movie)

Yeah, I like and respect him a lot, I heard him with Steve Lukather and he's smokin!!!

Vince

 

John Pena is a badass for sure! I've got some old stuff with John Pena on it it is truly smokin'!

 

I used to catch him and David Garfield a lot at LaVaLee with a number of different drummers. Also caught him at Baked Potato a couple times with Los Lobotomies ... very cool player, solid, not all that flashy, consistently good tone, really nice guy. Used to play Trace stuff ... did a nice Marcus-like version of Teen Town ...

Hope that helps ...

Tony

 

I have the Steve Lukather DVD with him on it....great stuff! He plays on a ton of L.A. studio work

 

He used to be the bassist for the band for this cheesy show that used to be on Nickelodeon called "Roundhouse", which was a sort of teen Saturday Night Live. He was the one who actually inspired me to play bass.

 

I used to stay home to watch that simply because of the bassist. Totally forgot his name and never again made the connection till now. Awesome.

 

If he's the same John Pena, I think he used to play bass for Larry Carlton (I've seen them live in the late '80's. At the time, Larry Carlton intro'd him as an "great up and coming bass player".

 

That's him!

 

Hi, Jerry....noticed that you're in Hawaii! I grew up on the Big Island looong time ago (makule!)(old). Where in Hawaii are you? Played in surf/garage bands in Hilo in the '60s. Still playing here (in Bay Area, California).

 

John Peña...
John lived in South Florida for a while. He played bass at a big club called Uptown ( he beat me out for that gig ) . I didn't mind because he played his ass off. I just saw him at NAMM and reminded him of that. he got a kick out of it and then we ran into Ronnie Ciago who was the drummer on that gig... needless to say, he made the right choice and got the hell out of Florida.. what a career he has had.

 

nice clip! Thanks for the link!

 

I saw John perform last november at Catalina bar & Grill in Los Angeles. He was playing with Alex Acuna's 8 piece "Salsa" band. He had great tone, was in the pocket,and did a great solo. I also saw him years ago at the Baked Potato with the Garfield band.It's cool you posted the qt movie.

 

Garry, you probably also saw my good friend Ricardo " Cocho" Arbe- he is a local Vegas keyboardist from Peru and a very good frined of Alex's and the Stagnaro brothers...he went to Austri with them recently to play at Joe Zawinul's jazz club- i would love to catch those guys- i think they call themselves " Los Hijos del Sol" ?

 

Adrian,
I would have to find out the name of that particular band. Alex said he has something like 6 bands,so maybe that's the name.On this gig, the piano player was an older gentleman,but was a killer player.There were three horns,Alex on drums,two percussionists,John on bass and the pianist.

 

Garry, this is Cocho- a DEAR friend and the kind of player that takes me to school everytime we play together. Just a great and talented human being. This is from our tour with Martin Nievera.

 

I think the player I saw was much older-i would love to have a lesson with Ricardo. On my CD, there is a tune entitled "Dune Dance". Alex Acuna saved our butts on this track(actually the whole Cd). In the middle of the tune,I play the tumbao with the left hand, and mimic a Salsa piano line in octaves with the right hand ala Stick style while the guitarist is strumming chords.(see http://garrygoodman.com ,music,"Dune Dance" excerpt #5. When Alex heard the track,he said "now that's Latin!" His percussion parts are brilliant! He is very nice,and the professional's professional. I love Son Montuno and the piano parts are killer.That's another reason i have the in line 12-string.

Seeing John Pena (can't get the enya over the N) and them play was very inspiring.Please let me know if you or Ricardo are ever playing in the So. Cal. area.

 

Now THAT is something I can get behind!

That was a really refreshing clip to see. Too much these days it seems like all you hear are cats too concerned with playing everything by the book, and precise. but this guy, who, had some questionable note choices, and some ...interesting rhythmic ideas, comes off as playing from his soul, very free, explorative and fun. I dig it.