JoJo Styles Indie Instrumental from AMERICA NORTH: USA: California (CA)

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Artist - JoJo Styles

JoJo Styles

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Last update: 05/04/10 12:47:20
Account: Record Label

Location: AMERICA NORTH: USA: California (CA)
Signed up: 20 Mar 2008 04:21 PM
Members:
Genre: Instrumental
Influences: Hendrix, Santana, Wes Montgomery,
Website: http://casagranderecords.com

Biography

JoJo Styles Bio JoJo Styles was born in Chicago and moved to California when he just 2 years old. The young Jo Jo lived in Los Angeles until he was 11 and then moved up the coast to Berkeley, where he has been based since, with the exception of the recent transition to a part time stay at the island of Roatan in Honduras on a yearly basis. JoJo was in his first band in High School. The band played soul music with a focus on the music of the Ohio Players, Earth Wind Fire and similar bands of that era. The singer would pick up JoJo in a Cadillac and drive him home after the gigs or rehearsals. In his early teens, the blues, an extension of the British invasion bands, notably the Beatles, Stones, Clapton, Freddie King, and Magic Sam became favorites as well as jazz such and the cool jazz of Wes Montgomery to the progressive groundbreaking music of Coltrane. Today influences include Classical, Spanish Guitar, Bossa Nova, Blues, Beatles, Hendrix, Clapton, Wes Montgomery, Santana, Allan Holdsworth, Freddie King and others. . JoJo recalls the development of music in the late 60’s and how the San Francisco Bay Area was a catalyst to everything that happened during that era, noting how there was music everywhere. Latin rock quickly became a favorite genre for him and there was there was a lot of international influence as well, so much so that he believes the label “World Beat” got its start in the musical melting pot he was right in the middle of. Every Sunday during the summer there were bands playing in the parks and small clubs for free in the area. JoJo had the opportunity to see Hendrix, Santana, Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and other luminaries of the day at the festivals and concerts going on regularly. During the 70s, he played in a variety of bands in the bay area and lived in Las Vegas for some years playing in bands and shows there and studying music at UNLV, participating in both the classical and the Jazz programs. From there Jo Jo went off to Phoenix, AZ to the school of Luthiery, building string instruments including his beloved guitars. The nylon string guitar paralleled his musical interest and coincided with the discovery of Antonio Carlos Jobim. JoJo equates that first listen of Jobim’s music to a warm wind blowing through his soul. Consequently, he took his first lessons studying classical and Spanish/Flamenco guitar and that is when the conflict of playing the electric and acoustic began. While at home he instinctively would reach for the acoustic, but the electric was what he used to play in bands and make a living. For years, JoJo went back and forth between the two instruments as if he had a dual personality. He also started writing completely different music with each of the guitars. Although he had been writing songs from the age of 11, it took years to feel ready to release a product of all those years of work. JoJo also decided that it would be best to release the instrumental albums first with the intention of melding the styles of Spanish and Brazilian guitar together with a Rock sensibility, to create a sound that was perfect to have on as a background to people talking, drinking, and eating. He decided to call the music Bossa Nuevo as a combination of the Bossa Nova and Nuevo Flamenco. After completing his education in the desert, JoJo returned to the bay area and started to play in several power chord rock original music bands opening for shows like Joan Jett, Cheap Trick, Huey Lewis and the News, and others. Unfortunately none of the bands that he was involved with ever got signed and after about 6 years of hoping for a break it was time to make money so he got off his desired path and began to play in various Top 40 bands. As the 90s began, JoJo diversified his professional portfolio and started to work a lot as a mobile DJ, and derived a lot of satisfaction from that gig due to his desire to be interactive with the audience and a never-ending frustration with bands that just seemed to be playing for themselves and not for the audience. As a DJ JoJo found he had the ability to become mobile by grabbing the wireless mic, jump out into the crowd at will, dance, and run around. With a lifetime of various experiences behind him, JoJo now finds that he has come full circle and once again has the desire to focus on his writing and recording. He is partners with an excellent Brazilian percussionist in a recording studio called Moondog, located in Alameda, CA. The men built it together. JoJo also records in his home studio called 3 Palms Studio. JoJo Styles has two instrumental releases, Bossa Nuevo Vol. 1-Light of Love (Cool Groove, Hot Guitar) and Bossa Nuevo Vol. 2-The Offering. He is currently preparing the release of a new CD titled Back to Monterey (which contains Spanish and English lyrics) that he produced and co-wrote with a singer named Rosanna Rainz. He is also working on his third instrumental album, and then plans to release a few albums of his own rock songs soon that have developed over the years.