‘Kodiak Shoreline,’ A Funky Jazz Fusion Portrait of Kodiak

Jay Barrett/KMXT

A Kodiak resident has just released his first album of jazz-funk instrumental music. Jay Barrett reached Frankie Barton in Hilo, Hawaii, where he’s spending the winter.

(music in)

That’s a few seconds of the title cut from Frankie Barton’s new CD, "Kodiak Shoreline," an album of 11 instrumentals that he recorded earlier this year while living in Kodiak. He said the community provided much of the inspiration for the songs:

— (kodiak inspiration 29 sec "The beauty of Kodiak … positive place, mentally.")

Growing up playing saxophone, Barton switched to guitar as a teenager. He performed in New York City with the Funky Blue Muskrats, and has lived in Kodiak off-and-on since the 1990s. Barton played ever instrument on "Kodiak Shoreline."

— (played everything 18 sec "Everything is real … and drum tones.")

He said the remoteness of Kodiak was a challenge, which prompted him to try playing all the instruments.

— (kodiak remote 25 sec "To be in a remote … my case, a musician.")

Barton recorded and mixed down all the parts on a portable Tascam 8-track digital recorder:

— (done digital 24 sec "The last thing I … started rolling from there.")

He thinks "Kodiak Shoreline" is probably the first jazz-funk instrumental album to come out of Kodiak Island:

— (enjoy jazz funk 37 sec "For me, the big motivation … to do just that.")

"Kodiak Shoreline" is available for purchase at CD Baby dot com, or for download on iTunes. Just do a search for "Frank Barton" on either site to find the album.

I’m Jay Barrett.

(music out)

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