“Relatively few people today appreciate the talents of the late Jan Berry, a gifted composer, producer, and arranger whose musical vision guided all of Jan & Dean’s 1959-66 recordings . . .
Rather than revisit Jan & Dean’s biggest hits, Parkes and Moore decided to dig deeper into the dynamic duo’s catalog as well as some [...]
Jan Berry
Encomium In Memorian Vol. 1 (CMP)
This loving tribute was originally dreamed of as a collaboration between Berry and enough strings and brass and musical geniuses to give his complex arrangements of classic Jan & Dean hits, many that Berry based on classical music, the full orchestral treatment they deserved.
Berry’s passing and budgetary restraints reigned [...]
The year 1959 was a momentous one for Jan Berry. At the age of 18, the Bel Air Baron with a rebellious spirit was gaining traction in the fast lane. After a year with Arnie Ginsburg (as Jan & Arnie), Jan stepped into a new partnership with old friend Dean Torrence, and Jan & Dean [...]
Back from New York City . . .
Dave Marsh and I had a blast putting together the new two-hour Jan & Dean episode of “Kick Out the Jams.”
The show will be a mixture of music and talk. We recorded the interview in Eminem’s “Shade 45″ studio at Sirius. The producer was Jim Rotolo and the [...]
Co-producer Mark Moore will be in New York City June 12 for an appearance on Kick Out the Jams, a popular Sirius Satellite Radio program hosted by legendary music journalist and author Dave Marsh. The two-hour show, on Jan & Dean, will air later in June.
Dave Marsh co-founded the influential CREEM Magazine in 1969. As [...]
GOLDMINEMAG.COM
How strange it is that it takes a tribute album, of all things, to reveal the true artistry of Jan Berry, a primary architect of the West Coast sound who just may have been Brian Wilson’s equal as a songwriter and arranger.
The funny little ditties about little old ladies, cars, girls and superheroes that Jan [...]
LUXURIAMUSIC.COM
On March 18, 2009, producer Gene Sculatti spun a couple of cuts from Encomium on his radio show, Atomic Cocktail (Vic Tripp).
The songs were “Ace of Hearts” and “Fan Tan.”
But let’s step back and remember that Gene was writing about Jan Berry and Jan & Dean in the early ’70s. During the “Surf Revival” period, [...]
ARTIEKORNFELD-WOODSTOCK.COM
“I will probably call 32 times today. The Jan Tribute made a tear or two come to these eyes that have seen soooo much.”
Artie Kornfeld
Co-Writer of “Dead Man’s Curve”
2009 is a big year for our friend, Artie. It’s the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock, and a number of projects are in the works.
Barbara Koppel is producing [...]
GENESCULATTI.COM — DJ Gene Sculatti (Vic Tripp) will play a track from Encomium on his radio show Atomic Cocktail — from Luxuriamusic.com.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
6:00-7:00 p.m. (Pacific) . . . 9:00-10:00 p.m. (Eastern).
Tune in online . . .
Gene is a rock journalist and veteran writer for Mojo, Crawdaddy, Creem, and the Los Angeles Times.
Gene has [...]
DR. DON ALTFELD
“I spent hours and hours listening to your masterpiece [Encomium] . . . and want you to be certain that I really appreciated what you’ve done to honor Jan.
Hearing those songs really took me back to the days . . . and you should be really proud of the excellent job that you’ve [...]