Pro Tools
I have finally gotten on the mainstream digital music production bandwagon. I am in the process of converting my home recording studio to Digidesign’s market-leading Pro Tools.
Add comment June 14, 2009
Rufous
This is the title of my latest tune and recording. As with all of my recent material, it is a strict guitar, bass drums trio with no overdubs.
1 comment June 1, 2009
My First Music Videos
The first five are tracks from my soon to be released album, “Just the Three of Us”, which features all trio performances. I have previously posted all of the tracks as audio here on the blog. (more…)
1 comment May 16, 2009
Fretless Bass
A couple of years ago I decided that it would be preferable for me to actually play the bass parts on my recordings instead of simply programming them and letting the computer play them. I purchased at that time a short scale P-Bass from Rondo Music in New Hampshire. This has worked out very well and I played all the bass tracks on my commercial release from last year, (could be) *LIVE* (but isn’t). (more…)
Add comment April 23, 2009
What Inspires You to Play?
A day or two ago, this question was posted on a listserve to which I subscribe. My response was so lengthy it reminded me of a blog post. So here it is:
3 comments February 28, 2009
More Trio Recordings
These are the tracks now in my current project. Some are new, some are repurposed from previous uses, and some are older trio compositions. This is the current list:
| Stream | MP3 |
- 4/23/2009 — updated “Bright Size Life”, “Bovanosa” & “Way Out Willie”
- 4/18/2009 — updated “Hoppin’”
- 3/30/2009 — added “Bovanosa”
- 3/22/2009 — added “Bright Size Life”
- 3/20/2009 — added “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”
- 3/16/2009 — updated version of “Double Nickels”
- 3/15/2009 — added “Way Out Willie”
- 3/8/2009 – added “Pipeline” (yes, the surf classic)
- 3/7/2009 – revised version of “Don’t Say” and “Hoppin’ “
- 3/5/2009 — revised versions of “Just the Three of Us” and “Trio on a Riff”
- 3/2/2009 — revised version on “My Down Time”
- 2/7/2009 — added “Hoppin’”
- 1/27/2009 — added “Double Nickels”
(I will keep adding songs here as I finish work on them rather than starting a new post for each)
Add comment January 24, 2009
New Guitar :: New Song
I really want to get in a groove with a fusiony, rock-toned guitar in a jazz trio setting. Coming from a classical background, my guitar concept is such that I think I shouldn’t need a keyboard or rhythm guitar behind me to handle the harmony. I think my vintage instrumentals are a good illustration of this — doing Ventures and Shadows stuff (successfully I hope) without the rhythm guitar one might think is essential to that material.
I am trying to be both original and traditional at the same time — I’d hope it sounds a bit unlike anything you’ve heard while still sounding familiar. Perhaps that is too ambitious a goal.
The song is named “Starfire” after my latest guitar acquisition, and is the guitar used. The influences are many, but certainly Johnny A is a major inspiration for me here.
I actually played the bass and used edited drum loops.
I really am interested in how well you think this works.
Add comment January 10, 2009
A New Guitar — Guild Starfire III-90
The Guild Guitar Company is a USA-based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952. The first Guild workshop was located in New York City, but production was later moved to Westerly, Rhode Island. All Guild production was moved to a factory in Corona, California after Guild was purchased by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 1995. In 2004, FMIC acquired the assets of Washington-based Tacoma Guitar Company and all American Guild acoustic production has since been moved to Tacoma, Washington, while production of Guild electric guitars was discontinued.
1 comment December 17, 2008
More Holiday Music Favorites (2008)
Add comment December 8, 2008
Holiday Music Favorites (2008)
Every year I try to make at least one new arrangement of a holiday/Christmas song. This year the first new arrangement is of “In the Bleak Midwinter”, which has music by British composer Gustav Holst of “The Planets” fame. This year is the first time I became aware of this hymn, so it seemed an appropriate choice.
The style is based on my “Vintage Instrumentals” approach — a guitar, bass drums trio with a rockabilly guitar sound and something of a reggae feel.
Click to stream “In the Bleak Midwinter”
Click for MP3 of “In the Bleak Midwinter”
The second arrangement is a flat-out rockabilly version of “Angels We Have Heard on High”. Instrumentation is also guitar, bass drums trio.
2 comments November 25, 2008
Smooth Jazz Origins: George Benson’s Breezin’
In prior posts I have tangentially noted my increasing dislike of recent Smooth Jazz releases. They have seemed ever more mechanical, formulaic, and lacking in musical depth. This has been frustrating, as the genre has been one that I work in myself, and I have listened with much pleasure to many different artists that have helped define the genre over the past thirty years or so.
I therefore decided to revisit some of the albums in my vinyl collection and see if I still found them to be as compelling now as I did in the past. While this certainly cannot be an objective review – the music is in most cases far too ingrained in my long term memory – I still think this will be a worthwhile listening project.
Add comment November 8, 2008
One More Vintage Instrumental
“Wonderful Land”
This tune was a hit for Hank Marvin and the Shadows in 1962. It was written by Jerry Lordan, who also wrote “Apache” and “Atlantis” for the Shadows. More about the Shadows in my post here.
Much like the other two, this is a very evocative tune. My arrangement follows the same approach as all the others in the Vintage Instrumentals series — a guitar, bass, drums trio with no overdubs.
Add comment August 16, 2008
New Recording with a New Guitar
I haven’t done any recording for awhile, having recently wrapped up my revised fusion project and released a CD on CD Baby with those tracks.
CD Cover
Add comment August 2, 2008
New CD Released: (could be) *LIVE* (but isn’t)
available from:
Nowadays, most recordings are created in small studios using computers to both record and generate the music. This has freed us from the tyranny of the big music companies that care only about profits and little about art.
(more…)
Add comment July 9, 2008
Revisiting Some Jazz Fusion Tunes – Part III
These three numbers, the second of which I posted some time ago, constitute something of a memorial “suite” to my father, as I wrote all three during the months he was dying of congestive heart failure.
“Barebones”, the tune I’ve posted previously, was written when I realized he was not going to survive this time, as he had many times before when hospitalized with heart problems.
“Homecoming” was written when –as the result of a new type of pacemaker — he temporarily recovered much of his strength and was able to go back home with my mother. The day he did was a very emotional one for me. Unfortunately, his homecoming only lasted about four weeks.
“Forever in my Heart” was written shortly after his funeral.
| Homecoming | Stream | MP3 |
| Barebones | Stream | MP3 |
| Forever in my Heart | Stream | MP3 |
I think they are best listened to in the order listed.
Add comment June 3, 2008
