For those that know me personally or kick it with me on the various social networks, it’s no secret I’m a huge J. Dilla fan. I’ve written about him several times on my blog and I often post Music by him on Facebook and Twitter.

Shortly after our piano player joined our band back in February of this year, he composed a song and sent us the melody. After reading the title and hearing just the keys, I knew I was going to love playing this. The song is called D.D. (Dear Dilla) and it’s our dedication to the late Detroit genius, James Yancey aka Jay-Dee aka J. Dilla.

I’ve decided to post a couple of versions of this. The first version is from one of our studio sessions earlier this year. The second version is us playing live at  Dolce Vita in Tokyo, Japan. Hope you like it.

RJ Bass

Noah Studio, Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, Japan – March 25, 2011

Dolce Vita, Okubo, Tokyo, Japan – August 6, 2011

March 11, 2011 will unfortunately be remembered as the day both an earthquake and a tsunami devastated Japan. As I began to type this post (around 12:40PM, March 22nd) I felt another aftershock (or earthquake). No, Life is not quite back to normal yet and it’s going to take a long time before things are back to normal for the people in the hardest hit areas.

I’ve had several people ask me how can they help with the relief efforts. There are many charities through which you can donate clothing, money, etc.  (including my good friend Glen Onodera’s charity here) but another way you can give is through Music.

“Sendai Selections” is a collection of 21 tracks by the Canadian / Dutch duo Stone Detectives. The asking price for this release is $5 (about 406 yen) but you can give more if you choose to. All proceeds will will go to the Japanese Red Cross and UNICEF.

Peace.

RJ Bass