A one man band in the tradition of Beck, Prince, Van Morrison, or Stevie Wonder. From stripped down acoustic compositions in a lo-fi wash...to reverb heavy r&b that rolls by like D’Angelo, and on into sweet funk, jar-e’s debut album “Heartache” is a journey through the blues.

An experienced multi-instrumentalist, proficient on upright bass, trumpet, piano, and guitar, jar-e opted against jazz school and attended college in Asheville, North Carolina. There, he began playing with current label-mate J DiMenna in a five piece jazz-hip-hop outfit named ooloo orchestra. The group would regularly invite poets MCs and others to improvise in genre-defying live shows around the Asheville area. After college, now a fixture on the eclectic Asheville, NC scene, jar-e formed North of Cuba (NOC). The group peaked the interest of CT based label, Exotic Recordings who invited the group to New York City for their first artist showcase.

The show gave birth to a marathon 28-hour recording session which resulted in a scorching three song demo that recalled everything from early Bob Marley to Rhodes-heavy soul-rock like Medeski, Martin and Wood.

Determined to pursue his own path in life and music, jar-e left Asheville and NOC to spend six months in Europe, absorbing and making sounds from Spain to Greece. Finding what felt like true love (or something of that nature), he eventually set up shop in London and asked the folks at Exotic to send his 8 track so he could begin tweaking the tracks to complete his debut album, Heartache. They complied immediately. But immediately turned out to be too soon.

Unfinished business soon sent jar-e to packing, leaving his love in London and crossing paths with his 8 track in the air. When the deserted love was presented the package, she refused it, sending his precious songs on a 3 month, untraceable journey back to the States.

After much deliberation, Exotic decided to do an exclusive digital release of Heartache with the tracks in their original form, capturing the essence of the bedroom genius, while Jar-e bought a 16 track and began recording his second album.

Now, a performer at Asheville venues like Tomato, Akumi, Westville Pub, and with a host of upcoming shows in the region, jar-e is growing his hometown following and gearing up for a tour and sophomore release on Exotic in 2005.