good bye 2025

Highs and lows.

We lost our Cletones bandleader, and my pal of nearly 30 years, Cleto Escobedo III on November 11. The doctors and nurses of UCLA showed incredible grit and heroism, and we were there until the bitter end, rooting for our guy.

We miss him dearly. A loyal and true friend.

The Cletones will forge on and figure this out. So thankful for the crew of Jonathan Dresel, Rhonda Smith, Toshi Yanagi, Takeshi Akimoto, and our real champ of champs, “Cleto Sr”, who have been a musical force and shown up as a collective spirit in Cleto’s absence, as he would have wanted it.

I’ll be headed to Japan with Steve Lukather and Michael Landau (along with Keith Carlock and Tim Lefebvre) in mid January to the Billboard Live clubs. Check the live dates tab for details, if you’re planning somehow on heading to Japan. Luke and Mike have never toured together, and they’ve been close friends and colleagues since they were 12 years old. Obviously- they are THE LA session guitar legends, and total rascals. It’s an honor to have been asked to join them.

Steve Martin and Martin Short gear back up in late January too.

We’ll see what 2026 has in store for us. Until then, godspeed and happy holidays, and thanks for supporting music and musicians like me.

you still checking here??

First of all, thanks for looking at this website! As I’m off the socials, it’s a good spot to check if you’re curious what I’m doing. And hey- thanks for being curious!

Gosh- so bummed to report that my good friend Jazz FM Toronto on-air personality and program director Brad Barker is retiring this month. If you’ve been tuning in on Mondays for over 5 years, Brad and I have co-hosted a program called THE VIEW FROM L.A., where Brad has let me report on various goings on here in town, musically and in ‘the biz.” We’ve had a blast.

We’ve talked to Peter Erskine, Patrice Rushen, Josh Nelson, Bob Reynolds, Will Lee, Paul Shaffer, Martin Short, Rickey Minor, Paul Jackson, Jr, Rick Beato, Dan Rosenboom, Songa Lee, Sara Gazarek, Bob Mintzer, Russell Ferrante, Bernie & Jonathan Dresel, Margherita Fava, Luanne Homzy, Mark Guiliana, Tim Lefebvre, John Daversa, Cecilia Noël, Clarence Penn, Dolphin Hyperspace, Chad Wackerman, Ray Parker, Jr., Nathan East, Kirk Fletcher, the Sam First jazz club, record store owners, label runners, coffee makers, healers, and everything and everyone in between.

The good news is that we have some plans up Brad’s Canadian flannel sleeve to have a presence at the station in the future, so stay tuned!!

Other big news is that THE SESSION SYNDICATE featuring Steve Ferrone and Ready Freddie Washington will be BACK FOR MORE (!!!!) at Vibrato on July 1st. This band is FIERCE and the last show sold out, so we hope you’ll get tickets an join us, because you can’t have FUNK without FUN.

Session Syndicate @ Vibrato

more soon…

Jeff