|
Musically, Gerard "Gerry" Duran began his adventures early on, learning a few chords on an old piano from a close family friend before he was even in high school. Gerry's influences come from all directions and genres of music. From The Band to Jeff Beck to the Staple Singers to Jaco to Hendrix to Johnny Cash to Johnny Guitar Watson to Donald Fagan to Joni Mitchell to Taj Mahal to Rage Against the Machine, if it's good music, Gerry listens to it. He has been a band leader and a band member for the last 20+ years, making a name for himself in the So-Cal area. Some call him "the godfather of soul" and some just call him funky, but everyone who experiences his music goes away knowing their perspective on how music should be has changed forever.
After playing almost every instrument under the sun in every different kind of venue, Gerry decided it was time to finally get some of his music down into a record so he could share his wonderful gifts with the rest of the world. Knowing only the best would do, he teamed up with a number of talented musicians to lay down some tracks of original and cover material. Gerry rounded up an all star cast to record his music for Los Duran, including Reeves Gabrels, Albert Wing, Ronnie Ciago, Andrew Jaimez, Doug Lunn, Dig Lewis, Gary Wing, & Richard Tyznik. Reeves Gabrels, legendary guitarist of Bowie fame, participates in all four albums, lending his style and flare without mercy on its lucky listeners. His creative contributions are easily appreciated throughout Los Duran's albums. Albert Wing is most well known as a session reed man, featured with such artists from Diana Ross to Frank Zappa. Ronnie Ciago was Berklee trained and is an amazingly talented percussionist, writer and producer. Andrew Jaimez is from a punk background, most notably from Fear, who along with Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, helped define the sound and style of L.A. hardcore punk.
Los Duran currently has 4 albums available. Reeves commented on them from his own website forum as read here (from 2/06 ):
"4 albums with gerry duran under the name "los duran". go to los duran.com. gerry, who has been a good and true friend and cohort/rgbandmember for the last 3 yrs is not only a keyboard player but a great singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist. plus, there is more guitar on those records than on all 4 of my solo records." -- Reeves
These compelling LPs will move you through a musical and emotional journey from start to finish. Volume 1 is a rock adventure, digging deep into your soul and making you remember why you fell in love with music in the first place. Volume 2 is slightly less intense in nature, almost pop-rock, but never gets annoying or cliched. Volume 3 is basically a jazz album that had a rock makeover. And Spirited Tales (known as Volume 4 or "The Brown Album") really is the culmination of all of these mini-journeys and brings home the message that all you need is love. Gerry has also recently embarked on an solo, acoustic journey that is captured in "Alone". He takes his songs and brings them home with simply acoustic guitar and percussion.
Gerry's music with Los Duran emerges as rock music that has done its homework. The disparate musical influences that Gerry has had throughout his musical career come alive in his music and somehow blend together harmoniously. His political messages are loud and strong when they have to be, revealing themselves as powerful struggles that we all have to deal with and be made aware of. I would highly suggest these Los Duran albums to anyone who is a student of human nature and has a love for anything musical. You will not be disappointed. And if you think you are starting to lose the magic of any song, just turn it up. Everything sounds better loud.
|
