Professor Louie & The Crowmatix - Jam - © 2000 - Breezehill/Woodstock Records

Produced by:Aaron L. Hurwitz
Executive Producer: Quentin Ryan
Engineers: Aaron Hurwitz & Dave Cook
Second Engineers: Danny Sheehan
Recorded at: NRS Recording Studios - Hurley,New York
Mixed By: Aaron Hurwitz & Dave Cook
Mastered by: Brian Lee - Gateway Mastering - Portland,Me.
Design & Art Direction - Marie Spinosa
Photography: Jeff Wignall
Compugrafix: The Turning Mill Studio, Palenville NY

How beautiful is the concept of the Jam! For a Jam explores the very essence of human freedom and creativity. It's a difficult art form- this jamming. It's not so easy to be spontaneous and brilliant at the same time. But when it's good, it's really good. For instance, the great jazz movement known as Bebop was born in the 1940s when players in popular swing orchestras would hang out together after hours in Harlem for spontaneous jams after their regular gigs were done. At 4 am they would try new techniques, hear each other's licks, and then do back-and-forth cycles of lick and answer lick. The result was to shake the roots of music.

The goal in the Philosophy of Jam is to perfect those magics that only get perfected by standing together and getting inspired from the talent in the room- coming up with ideas, freezing some for repeats, rejecting others, and getting "Out there." These Jam moments can be captured now on tape with startling fidelity, so that each player can stand out in the mix, and with the traditional "muddy" quality of taped Jam sessions gone forever.

The musicians in the Crowmatix- Aaron "Professor Louie" Hurwitz, Mike Dunn, Mike DeMicco, Gary Burke and "Miss Marie" Spinosa were born for a Jam record. You can tell it by the exuberance and verve of the arrangements. Their performing is very well organized, yet they're an ensemble of many moods. They're not afraid of being "larger than life," and to seize the moment before it's gone.

A guiding spirit in all this was the impact of master-level musician Rick Danko, who was a big, big inspiration to musicians in the Hudson Valley and all over. The Crowmatix, under the inspiration of Professor Louie, otherwise known as Aaron Hurwitz, have leaped forward on their own, and are ready for a powerful future. They can really play, their tunes remain in the mind, and too use the jazz term, they really can wail!

-Ed Sanders