Into The Studio

I will be recording new tunes on Thursday March 31.

This will be a trio with Mark Rehder on drums and Mike Tremblay on sax.

There will be four tunes available soon for $4.00.

Watch this space for more details.

Into the Woods

Into the woodshed for the next Orpheus musical. The music is by Stephen Sondheim and there are many time signature changes and more arco work. This will be my first time as part of a 'string section', should be fun.

A new axe.

I have made the first step into having a new instrument made for me.

A new Baliset is what is required and I have contacted the 12thFret in Toronto about this. Many moons ago they (Grant MacNeill) built a six string fretless bass for me and before that had done numerous repair and setup work on my instruments. Needless to say they have my confidence and I look forward to working with them again.




These images are what my current axe looks like. It was made by Peter Tamas and has served me well for many years.

Annie

Started rehearsals for the Orpheus production of Annie this weekend.

Looks to be a good show. The singers are strong and the band is tight.

The run is from November 12 to 21 with Monday November 15 being an off night.

Show starts at 7:30 PM on weeknights and 2 PM on Sundays.

Work In Progress pt.3

Wow time flies. It has been a while since I last posted but not for a lack of activity.

I recorded a bunch of tunes with my group (Mike Tremblay - sax, Mark Rehder - drums) and just posted a tune from that session on MySpace. It is called "30202008". Don't ask me where the titles come from just trust me that the music is better.

More soon.

Work in Progress Pt. 2

Here is tune number 2.

It has a title.

Smoke.

A little explanation about the title. My children were making their first attempts at playing something coherent at the piano a few years ago and they had both picked up the riff from 'Smoke On The Water'. Now this a fine tune but, after the nth time hearing it thrashed out by an over enthusiastic child something had to be done.

I sat at the piano one afternoon and came up with a raft of alternate changes and after a while a melody presented itself to me and I was off to the races. Through in some bars of 3/4 and hey presto a new tune. Easy, no?

Work In Progress

And so begins the road to another CD release.

The first order of business is to demo tunes. This allows me to sit back and, with a critical ear, hear what I have written away from my instrument.

The first tune up has no title yet (you'll see that phrase a few times) so it is numbered 11112007.

This could go a few ways. It could be a solo piece, with drums (percussion?), or include a horn (sax? trumpet?).

There are artistic and financial considerations at play.

I'm projecting either a fall release or next spring.