JAMES GEDEON

MyGen Profile GeneratorSinger / Songwriter James Gedeon has been performing his brand of music throughout the New York City area since the late 1980s, where he began to peddle his craft on the Greenwich Village music scene with Mark Pohl in storied venues like The Village Gate, The Back Fence and The Red Lion. By the time he began performing at Wilsons on the city's Upper West Side in the mid 1990s, James had developed a reputation as a singer and songwriter who was able to make even those individuals in the farthest reaches of a venue feel as though they were right up front.Since those early Greenwich Village days, James has performed in many of New York's most historic rooms, including The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center and The Waldorf Astoria Grand Ballroom where he was part of the opening act for Dan Aykroyd and the Blues Brothers. The opportunity to meet guitar great Steve Cropper and keyboardist Paul Shafer from the CBS Orchestra (David Letterman's house band) at the Waldorf proved to be a highlight. Since then, James has been able to take his music to areas outside of New York City and the United States. He has performed in Washington D.C. at the Smithsonian; The Harvard Club in Boston; in West Virginia at the world renowned Greenbryer Resort, the Rocky Mountain resort of Flathead Lake in Kalispell,Montana; Mauna Kea Resort in Kailua Kona, Hawaii, The Ocean Club (twice) on Paradise Island in the Bahamas and even performed for the King and Queen at the Royal Palace in Morocco in 2005. He has also accompanied singer Jenny West in Raleigh, NC while the Fall of 2006 had him flying to the left coast to do a private event in Pebble Beach, California with New York's highly acclaimed Stingers Band (www.stingersband.com). The Pebble Beach gig had James providing an acoustic opening set for comedian Jerry Seinfeld. James has also performed for a wide variety of audiences at events for ESPN, CNN, WPLJ Radio in New York, WABC, The Alzheimer's Foundation and The American Cancer Society.2007 provided some high notes as well. Jazz fusion-great Dave Weckl (formerly of Chick Corea's Elektric Band) sat in to play drums with James and the guys at New York's Prohibition on the city's Upper West Side. In July, James also shared the stage in Vermont with Harry Connick, Jr. at the wedding of Broadway actress Kelli O'Hara and Musician/Actor Greg Naughton.While James looks back to each of his experiences as opportunities for which he is tremendously grateful, he points to having the chance to accompany Billy Joel on 3 songs at Howard Stern's wedding to Beth Ostrosky as a pinnacle moment in his musical journey. In a completely spontaneous moment, Billy got up and walked over to James' mic as he was performing James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" and jumped in on the chorus. Billy then took the next verse and it was off to the races. The duo followed up by performing Billy's "You're My Home" from the 1974 Piano Man album, and finished with another JT classic when Billy suggested "You Can Close Your Eyes". James describes the moment as "The closest thing to an out-of-body experience I've ever had...Billy was absolutely great, and the chance to share that moment with him is an honor that I'll not soon forget. It was truly humbling".In fact, it was a busy night for Gedeon at Stern's wedding. He started the night by accompanying Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks (whom James referred to as a complete pro) on acoustic guitar for the song "When I See Beth Smiling" at the beginning of the ceremony, and was part of the house band that performed "Drops of Jupiter" and "Calling All Angels" with TRAIN frontman Pat Monahan, with James providing backing vocals and playing rhythm guitar on both songs. That band (featuring Tony Ormond, Gedeon, Tony Stevenson, Skip Brevis, Carla Scott, Robbie Gonzalez and Danny Atherton) also provided accompaniment to vocal great Phoebe Snow on a host of motown classics at the reception. But the road to that night has not been a short one for James, as he has spent more than half of is life paying his musical dues.With the release of his own self-produced CD "This Is Me", Gedeon introduced a selection of songs that dealt with love lost and found. A strong first effort, This Is Me has gained critical acclaim among his loyal fan base. Fortunately for those fans, James is currently working on the follow up CD to be entitled "My Saving Grace". That collection will feature the musical talents of some of New York's finest musicians, including: Glenn Schloss & Lou Gioia on Drums, Robbie Gonzalez (Al DiMeola, James Brown, Chick Corea, Gato Barbieri) on percussion, Dan Schloss and Tony Ormond (Gavin DeGraw) on guitar and a host of others including former Chicago lead guitarist Chris Pinnick. For now, fans can see James Gedeon performing with his band (of which Ormond, Gonzalez, Gioia and guitarist Marc Daine are all members) regularly in New York.Covering "Use Me" by Bill WithersCovering "Babylon" by David Gray This layout was handmade with love by the folks at My space or yours? using original artwork by Marah Johnson. Go get one!