There's an article in this week's People mag about child prodigies and what they're doing now that they've grown up. The first section is about a drummer named Jacob Armen. In the article it says at 10 he signed a seven year $190,000 contract with Prince. It goes on to say, Musically, Armen hit a wall, in part, he says because Prince restricted his appearances.(Prince declined to comment for this article). Who is this kid? I've never heard of him being in the Prince camp--anybody??

positivity said:

Wasn't he one of the artists on the first or second audio show?

Google search came up with:



Jacob Armen - Drum Fever

Gothic Metal 02:49
El Mambo Tigre 04:57
Jungle Jazz 04:56
Crazy Fingers 03:55
Nowhere To Be Found/Rainbow 04:13
Leias Dance 03:50
Armenian Spice 06:35
Salsa & Peppers 04:46
Giant Steps 08:32
Crash Of The Planet Earth 03:22



Another display of the amazing diversity and daringness and eclectic nature of the Paisley Park label. This is an hybrid of Jazz/Rock/Latin instrumentals with Jacob's flashy (sometimes overbearing) drumming on top. Imaging a Sheila E drum solo lasting 48mins, with backing from a heavy rock band in the first half and a big jazz band in the next...is the only way this reviewer can describe this album. Don't get me wrong, Jacob's an amazing drummer. This album shows off his talents and does have some inventive moments... but at the end of it all I just needed an aspirin for my pounding head...!

This has the accolade of being the last ever CD issued on the Paisley Park label before Warners pulled the plug and officially closed it down in Feb. 1993. Few copies escaped onto the market before being withdrawn, making this the rarest and most sort after item to be found on the Paisley Park label (it was then later re-issued on the NPG label in 1995 with limited distribution by German company Edel to parts of Europe only).


(taken from http://www.thedawn.freeuk.com )
[This message was edited Mon Feb 10 11:01:32 PST 2003 by yamomma]

From http://grammy.aol.com/fea...music.html

Armenian Music Awards Honor Diverse Array Of Artists

"Renowned pianist/composer/professor Robert Amirkhanian received a lifetime achievement award and a standing ovation after his emotional performance. The finale featured virtuoso rock drummer Jacob Armen. The 21 year-old Armen, who appeared on "The Tonight Show" at age 5, impressed with a skillful and versatile mastery of his 21-piece (and still counting) drum kit."

Interesting that (in the 90s) Prince would sign somebody to a long-term-contract.

yamomma said:

***It almost has that Danny Terrio "Dance Fever" vibe 2 it...I never heard of this cat~

A friend of mine has got that CD. Didn´t know it´s
that rare. As far as I know you can see and hear him
playing "All Jazz" along with the one and only Eric
Leeds in the "Beautiful Experience" film from 1994.
...gotta check that one out again, haven´t watched it
in a long time.

I'm surprised so few die-hards haven't heard of Jacob Armen. There was mention of him in the early 90's and I knew he was a drummer but that's all I knew. Then poof, I heard nothing else until reading this thread. But I know Uptown must've covered the story. What's freaking me out though is that the article is saying the album was later re-released on NPG records. And there's just no way this album was ever made available publicly. Maybe he was shoping a Demo for distribution, but it wasn't for sale.

I think Jacob was probably collateral damage from the WB falling out.

Would be cool if he could get something going with this kid again though.

Would love to hear this album too.

ah, this must be the same Jacob Armen from theh first edition of the NPGMC..."gothic metal" was on the first ahdio show. NIce to know.

Jacob Armens record was never on Paisley Park..

The VERY lst record from Paisley Park was the Belize record which was all ready to go and suddenly Paisley Park was scrapped.

The Rosie Gaines record was also slated for release but was canned along with Paisley.

Jacob Armens record was not "officially" released on NPG either... I worked there in 1995 and I was sent a copy of Jacobs record from a friend in Germany... As soon as I got it I called out to the studio and asked what the deal was and they had no clue that the disc was released, seems Edel had a Prince fan working for them and pressed up a few Promo discs (Come (Poem), House Of Brick, Get Wild (Money Mix), Exodus In A Can (2 Versions), etc) and Jacobs record was one of them. All these discs were pressed to only feed a small number of collectors which is why it is so hard to find all of these.


One more thing.. Sheila E had recorded a new album also called "Fe" in Puerto Rico which was being shopped to Warners but she didn't really want it to be on Paisley. That record never saw the light of fay either. Very cool record, mostly consisting of Afro-Latin jams with 3 or 4 EXTREMELY radio friendly Latin driven pop songs (As well as "La Vida Glamorousa", The Glamorous Life in Espanol, a COMPLETELY reworked version of the song done in a traditional Latin vibe)... If this would have been released Jennifer Lopez wouldn't be living the life of the "Queen Of Latin Pop" right now.

T

KoolEaze said:

Armen IS in this tiny clip from the Beautiful Experience - right before the video for 'Acknowledge Me'. He's playing with Eric Leeds and i think it says 'Armen' on his drum kit or something...

I remember the fuss about how young this drummer was and that he'd hooked up with Prince - but then i didn't hear anything after that.

Strange...

TheMEssage said:

How is her unreleased album? I don't think I've ever heard any of these songs, besides the prince song that showed up on her Motown album.

I saw Jacob Armen on the Tonight Show sometime in the late 80's or early 90's, when Johhny hosted the show.

He was like a little kid drummer prodigy, and I being a drummer me self, was BLOWN away!

He would have given Sheila a run for her heels!

Interesting that he would have hooked up with Prince, I think he would have been a great Prince drummer when he was a kid, just imagine that in your band.

He also did a Jazz show at the Palladium in Los Angeles sometime in the mid 90's after that Beautiful Experience appearance.


Check his website, his Bio explains a little about the Prince connection.

http://www.jacobarmen.com

(Note the Johnny Carson quote there! I wish I would have recorded that performance!)







...
[This message was edited Mon Feb 10 22:26:20 PST 2003 by FlyingCloudPassenger]
[This message was edited Mon Feb 10 22:27:50 PST 2003 by FlyingCloudPassenger]

XNY said:

I believe MOST of the tracks were released on the record she came out with eventually... (Do a Google search, a friend of mine is a big fan of Rosie and he compiled all the track listings from my tapes and all the info I had on them and made a website about it all). There are like 4 different variations of In House cassettes of the album from Paisley and two seperate In House "EP's". Heck, I have three different In House versions of the George Clinton "Smell My Finger" album too. None of this is uncommon at Paisley Park, just look at how many changes a Prince record goes through before it's finally released.

I've got the Jacob Armen CD. I bought it in a regular record shop in the Netherlands in 1995. It doesn't look like a promo. It looks official, with different distributers for different European countries mentioned. It was distributed in Scandanivia, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg an the Netherlands. In the Netherlands it was distributed by Edel/Sony. Looks like it was only released in a part of Europe. Eric leeds co-wrote, produced and played on the track Nowhere to be found/rainbow. Musically no Prince involvement is apparent. It's released in 1995 on NPG records and it has number 0061462. It's made in Germany.

hjd said:

I should have been more clear on that part.. It WAS released to the public, but in VERY limited numbers.. Which is the same thing as the promos. That is what I meant.
NPG Records had no idea the record was released.

It´s very hard to find his album. I only know one song from one of the Ahdios. Prince isnt credited as a player as far as i know. Does somebody know more info about it?