Bartman to release ‘Jersey Shore’
Former PHS grad sets concert date
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| Princeton resident and Bradley student Jared Bartman will release his first full-length album “Jersey Shore” Sept. 25. The release of the album will follow a concert featuring Bartman, his band and a group of Bradley University musicians at 7:30 p.m. on the Bradley campus. (Photo contributed) |
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PEORIA — For Jared Bartman, it’s always been about the music.
“I grew up playing music and listening to a lot of oldies music, specifically the Beatles with my dad,” he said.
Now that little boy is all grown up. He’s still playing music and will release his first full-length album, titled, “Jersey Shore,” on Sept. 25.
Bartman, son of Dennis and Debra Bartman, grew up in Princeton and graduated from Princeton High School in 2006. One constant through those years was his interest in music.
Bartman started playing both the guitar and piano when he was about 8 or 9.
“From a fairly young age, I was always interested in music, especially in rock and roll and in folk music,” he said.
Sometime in the fifth or sixth grade, Bartman began playing music together with his close friend, Tom Beneke.
“He and I and a couple of guys had a band together,” Bartman said.
High school brought an interest in classical music, and Bartman became more serious in his piano and guitar. He decided to attend Bradley University in Peoria and is currently a senior majoring in music and English.
While Bartman’s first full-length album will be released later this month, it wasn’t his first time in the recording studio. In 2007 he released a five-song EP, and last year he released what he calls a four-song “conceptual” EP titled, “I Refute Technology.”
Bartman sings and plays guitar, piano and accordion in his group which is appropriately named — Jared Bartman. His bandmates are Erik Juhl, who plays bass guitar and clarinet, and Aaron Kavelman, who plays percussion.
“The reason the group is called Jared Bartman is because the songs, the core of all the songs, the words and melody, comes from me,” Bartman said. “I usually come in with a song, and then we kind of flesh it out with their arrangements.”
Bartman said “Jersey Shore” is very structured and designed to be listened to in one sitting in a certain order.
“It’s not really falling in line with the iPod generation of singles and downloadable cuts,” he said with a laugh.
Bartman said the album has an overtone of Eastern European folk music, and includes a few songs with the accordion and klezmer music.
The album was recorded at Pogo Studio in Champaign, and the band made use of much of the vintage gear available.
“We do a lot of different studio arrangements,” Bartman said. “We really try to make a really vivid sonic picture.”
The album will be released following a concert at the Dingeldine Music Center on the Bradley campus. The band and 10 Bradley musicians will perform all of the music from “Jersey Shore,” as well as a few other favorites. The free concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Bartman is currently applying for graduate school and hopes to eventually earn a doctorate in ethnomusicology. In the meantime, he plans to keep on writing music and playing as many shows and concerts as possible.
“I feel that writing these songs and practicing my instruments and performing is what I always wanted to do,” he said.
Bartman said, as a boy, he always most admired musicians who were performing and writing songs about exploring human nature, and dealing with the problems of people in general. He said his decision to do the same sprung out of partial necessity.
“If I’m not working on some kind of music project, a part of me would not be happy or fulfilled,” he said.
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