Bent Reed & Co.

Hello all you music lovers out there! My name is Sheldon Ziro, and I've been playing the harmonica and singing since 2002, and it's literally changed my life. I absolutely LOVE to sing and play! I grew up singing in church. I played clarinet in Jr. High, Highschool, and eventually, in church too. I really enjoyed it and it came fairly easy to me. Unfortunately, I stopped playing music all together for over 18 years (which is a whole 'nuther story all together!). Then one day, I thought, "Jeeze, I really miss music"! Soon after mentioning that to my mother, she sent me an acoustic guitar the following Christmas. A few YEARS later, I went online to sign up for a college beginners guitar class. Long story short: it was full! But, listed right below that, was a Harmonica class, with an emphasis on the blues. So I thought, "man, that sounds like fun"! So I went to that class every week, for an hour and a half, for 8 weeks. I started going to local jam sessions before that was even over, and BOOM! Life hasn't been the same since! I eventually formed and fronted a band, that I loved to play with, called "Bent Reed & Co." Bent Reed is a name my father came up with after hearing me bend reed, after reed, after reed, after reed! It seemed to fit well, and I like it! I thank God for the musical gifts He's blessed me with and I plan to take it as far as He allows. Keeping a band together and running smoothly is definitely something I need His help with! Actually, it all started like this. 5 years ago, right after I started singing and playing the harmonica, I met several local musicians at one of the coolest little jam sessions on the north end of Seattle, a little place called the Plaza Broiler. Unfortunately, the Plaza Broiler nor the weekly jams there no longer exist. But the relationships with many fine musicians that I met there, do. I played at several local jam sessions and eventually hooked up with a couple of guitarist that I met at these places. We started off doing duo's at local dinner house's, small clubs, and private parties, building our repretiore to somewhere between 50 and 100 songs. Seattle Guitarist Dan Baker and I played as a duo for over 2 years before we finally added a drummer and then finally (after several tries) adding a bass player too. We eventually built a solid 4 piece band that included some of the best musicians that we could find in the Seattle area, that blended well with what we were creating, as you can hopefully hear in the 6 tunes I have posted here. The musicains you hear on the tracks posted above are: Dan Baker on Guitar, Billy Spaulding on Drums, Jeff Davies on Bass, and myself on Vocals and Harmonicas. Forming and fronting a band is no easy task! But if you play your cards right, (and the stars align just perfectly!) eventually, what you get, like myself, is a dynamic 4 piece, rythym & roots band that has a lot of fun playing the music we love. We played a lot of our favorite tunes, and tried to put our own flavor into each. We played blues, old school R&B, old school country, a little old school rock & roll, a few standards, and some originals too. We always tried to live up to the promise to play "Music you can Feel". Because, if you can't feel it, what the hell's the point!? Music has been a life changing experience for me and I'm so thankful for that. It truly is the universal language. I don't think I've ever met someone who didn't love at least some form of music. And if there is someone out there like that, I feel for ya man! Music is the one thing that invades our senses without our permission. It's just like a drug! It can create so many different feelings in us. It's definitely my passion. I've been doing magic, close-up sleight of hand to be exact, for over 20 years now. It also was a life changing experience for me. Not to mention a whole lot easier than this whole "band" thing! When I did magic professionally, all I did was show up with a deck of cards, a little change in my pocket, a pack of smokes and I was good to go! With a band you have to make sure that 4 people get there, on time, bring tons of equipment (instruments, amplifiers, P.A.'s, microphones, mic stands, gobs of cords, etc.) entertain the crowd and have a good time doing it, split the money 4 ways, then pack it all up, head home, and wonder how in the hell you just pulled that off!?! Doing close-up sleight of hand was a little easier! The same amount of money that I made in just one hour as a magician and kept to myself, I ended up splitting between 4 guys that I just spent 5 hours with trying to pull off a real miracle when I had my band! But, music is my passion! So I'll keep going through the things that we musicians go through, because I love the music. It's just something I have to do! I'm currently on the road to Music City USA. For those of you who don't know, that's Nashville, TN. I plan on making many stops along the way and meeting as many new people, and playing with musicians in new and different cities along that path. If you happen to see me in your town, please don't hesitate to stop me and say "Hey, I read your story on MySpace! My Name is...." And if we don't have a chance to meet in person, please drop me a line right here. I do my best to answer every comment or message that I get. And if I know that I'm heading to your town, I'll be sure to drop you a line to let you know I'm coming. Because you KNOW I'm gonna want to sit in on at least a few tunes on that big Friday night show you have coming up! Then later you can say, "Hey, I know that guy! He came to one of our shows and insisted on sitting in. He was really good!" Then, when you come to my town, I'll be sure to do the same for you! So until then, may music fill your lives with the same joy that it's filled mine with, and hopefully much more than that. Music is a wonderful thing. And you can do so much with it, the possibilities are endless! Hope to see you real soon! Sincerely, Sheldon ZiroAKA Mr. "Bent Reed"