JEFF BABKO

keyboardist/ pianist/ studio manager/ producer/ composer/ arranger/ apologetic trombonist

Jeff Babko is:

Keyboardist/composer/arranger JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE for 21+ years

Session keyboardist on records (Frank Ocean, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Smokey Robinson, Larry Carlton etc)

Session keyboardist on movies (Encanto- “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, Superbad, 40 Year Old Virgin, Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, Killers of the Flower Moon, Tenet, etc)

Touring keyboardist (Sheryl Crow, James Taylor, Toto, Steely Dan, Steve Gadd Band, etc)

Music director/touring pianist STEVE MARTIN & MARTIN SHORT (& Netflix special)

Guy with a studio full of synths and organs TUDORTONES STUDIO in LA, CA

EL MUSICO is in the world!

BUY VINYL OR DOWNLOAD MP3s HERE!

Justin Stanley did a beautiful job recording much of this record (I recorded the rest here at TudorTones) with the brilliant Abe Rounds delicately pounding the skins, Kaveh Rastegar on the basses, Tim Young on guitar, Artyom Manukyan on occasional cello and myself. Another revelation this time around was the (pun intended) “masterful” job of Caspar Sutton Jones from Gearbox Records UK who indeed mastered the records, with Gearbox pressing the vinyl, which is incredibly high quality and gorgeous.

This record was the culmination of a year of writing new songs for gigs at ETA coupled with a lot of studio twiddling at TudorTones. I did not intend on making a new record, but it seemed really organic to have this music just flow out naturally, and after some time opened up at Justin’s studio and I met Caspar, it seemed this music of 2018 was cooked and ready to get out into the world. I hope you can give it a listen and enjoy. Let me know what you think!

-jb

2019

hi!

a few exciting things going on…

new 17th (!!!) season of Jimmy Kimmel Live just started! we’ll be traveling to Las Vegas, Jimmy’s (and Cleto’s) hometown, for a week of shows in April. how lucky am I to have been on such a long lasting “job” with such a kind and funny host.

wrapped my second episode of the incredible https://www.livefromhere.org/ radio program for MPR (NPR), with mind blowingly gifted and exuberant, lovely (not enough superlatives to describe this human!) Chris Thile. I’ll be doing a handful more episodes this season, including Detroit in a couple weeks. I can’t share enough how proud I am to be a part of this show and house band.

I’ll be in the orchestra with my lovely wife, master badass violinist Songa Lee for the Grammy Premiere show this upcoming weekend. I did it for years in the past with the great Larry Batiste at the helm, and this year my old pal Cheche Alara will be the musical director.

very exciting news: producing trumpeter/composer Dan Rosenboom’s cutting edge new album. we’ve finished tracking the basics, with some “heavy hitters” for sure (Vinnie Colaiuta, Zach Danziger, Gary Novak, Tim Lefebvre, Jimmy Johnson, Jerry Watts Jr., more!) and Dan wrote some super bonkers music that will hit you like a freight train. working on production elements and overdubs now— look for it soon.

my album “El Musico” is in the can and vinyl being pressed as we speak! features Artyom Manukyan on cello, Abe Rounds on drums, TIm Young on guitar and Kaveh Rastegar on bass.

check for dates with Steve Martin & Martin Short as well…

thanks! bye for now.

jb