Madre Vaca Records brings you the unfiltered vision of eccentric artists, composers and improvisers. Go down the rabbit hole with us.

Madre Vaca Records is a home base for creative music. From ancient songs to psychedelic rock operas and free jazz adventures, the music we support ventures deep into the forest of musical exploration. We champion improvisational music, original composition, and unusual arrangements that bend our expectations of what music can be. We make warm, high-fidelity recordings that combine adventurous performance with striking composition and improvisation.

Madre Vaca is our homegrown ensemble, a collective of wizard musicians. Out of sound, they weave fantasies, nightmares, seductions and hallucinations. Listen at your own risk.

History:

Madre Vaca was brought to life in 2005 by a quartet of teenagers in Jacksonville, FL. The magic first began when recording engineer JeanCarlo Mendez and drummer/composer Benjamin Shorstein recorded improvisational and experimental music with pianist Jonah Pierre and guitarist Jarrett Carter. JeanCarlo had a humble mobile recording setup back then which featured a milk crate equipment rack and a microphone collection from a pawn shop. The gear was nothing special, but the love… now that was very special. These simple recording sessions planted a seed for our budding artists. Within that seed was the love and excitement of crafting something new and different with friends, exploring terrains of the sonic world together through recorded experiments with improvisation and composition.

Madre Vaca Records:

Artists - Madre Vaca, Andre Gruber Trio, Bold City Contemporary Ensemble, Thomas Milovac, Rebecca Shorstein, Alden Gatt, Steve Cohn, Lucia Luque, Marcelo Balat, Backdoor Stompers, Charlie Shuck, Benjamin Shorstein, Jennifer Shorstein

Executive Producers - Benjamin Shorstein & JeanCarlo Mendez

Engineers - JeanCarlo Mendez, John Medico, Jim DeVito, Dan Moore, Moe Ricks

Writers - Charlie Shuck, Jennifer Shorstein

Director of Visual Art - Andre Gruber

Photography - Charlie Shuck, Jenn Veal, Nicole Nissim Shorstein

Media & Science - Nicole Nissim Shorstein

Associate Producers - Jarrett Carter, Nicole Nissim Shorstein

Producers - JeanCarlo Mendez, Benjamin Shorstein, Jennifer Shorstein, Rebecca Shorstein

Madre Vaca Collective:

Founding Members - Jarrett Carter, JeanCarlo Mendez, Jonah Pierre, Benjamin Shorstein

Musicians - Jarrett Carter (guitar), Jonah Pierre (piano), Benjamin Shorstein (drums), Rebecca Shorstein (voice), Thomas Milovac (bass), Mike Perez (bass), Milan Algood (percussion, drums), Juan Rollan (saxophone), Steve Strawley (trumpet), Lance Reed (trombone), Ty Christian (violin/bass), Andre Gruber (guitar), Abigail Gruber (violin/viola), Daniel Shorstein (bass), Murphy Griffin (guitar), Molly Sweet (clarinet), Monica Pasquini (voice), Mike Emmert (woodwinds), Eric Riehm (saxophone), John Medico (percussion) Franz Schubert (composition)