Codename:
Codename was a three piece band based in Columbus, Ohio. The trio focused on combining their influences of funk, jazz, and blues into a free flowing musical experience.
Featuring:
Paul Graves (aka Wogg) – Bass
Keith Maxwell Button – Drums
Cliff Woods – Guitar
Keith Maxwell Button and Paul Graves started out as a rhythm section duo in The Big Creak from 2001 to 2004. Guitarist Cliff Woods is Maxwell’s brother and had been playing the blues circuit with the New Breed Gypsies in Sarasota Florida and Soul Satyr in Columbus.
Cliff Woods left the world suddenly in October 2015. He was an immense talent and a remarkable soul who never fully understood his own capacity. He likely wasn’t happy with his performance in many of these recordings, but I feel the raw talent he had remains on display in these improvised sessions.
We have a ton of recordings from practice sessions, thanks to the magic of digital recording and the wonders of computers. These are live tracked songs… 8 tracks at a time and all in one take in the Wogg studio. Sometimes the performances are less than super (at least to us), but we’ll share the bad with the good… because we can.
Here’s a selection of our play list using the best sounding practice session recording we could find.
| Title | Recorded Date | Original Artist |
Thank You to Hottentot
|
(10/15/06) | Sly and the Family Stone + John Scofield |
Night Bozo
* |
(10/15/06) | Chick Corea |
Blackout
|
(10/15/06) | John Scofield |
Chubb Sub
|
(10/15/06) | Medeski, Martin and Wood |
Sirus Chameleon
* |
(10/15/06) | Cyrus Chestnut, Herbie Hancock |
A Go Go
|
(10/15/06) | John Scofield |
Live Wire
|
(10/15/06) | The Meters |
Criss Cross
|
(10/15/06) | Jimmy McGriff |
Church
|
(9/24/06) | Galactic |
Go Go
|
(9/24/06) | Galactic |
Sabrosa
|
(9/24/06) | Beastie Boys |
The Red One
|
(9/17/06) | Pat Metheny, John Scofield |
Surf This
* |
(9/17/06) | Pipeline and Wipe Out combo |
Panacea
|
(9/17/06) | Greyboy |
Choad
** |
(9/17/06) | Codename: Original |
Ideofunk
|
(9/17/06) | John Scofield |
Tom Cat
|
(5/25/06) | Tom Scott |
Chowder Foot
** |
(5/25/06) | Codename: Original |
Tippy Toes
|
(5/25/06) | The Meters |
Easy Does It
|
(5/21/06) | Javon Jackson |
Is Chicago?
|
(1/29/06) | Soul Coughing |
Coffee!
** |
(10/16/05) | Wogg |
Mary had a Little Lamb
|
(10/16/05) | Stevie Ray Vaughn |
* – Original arrangement of more than one tune
** – Codename: all original tune
And here’s some live tracks from our performance at Workbook Studios on February 17, 2006. We played in honor of our friend Matt Ward and the good people at Workbook were kind enough to record it and get us a copy. These were captured with a pair of ceiling mounted microphones.