Media

Thanks for checking out my media page.

My debut CD (as a leader) has just been released for 2007!!  It is titled "If And When" and you can check out some clips here. There are short bios for some of the tunes as well.  Enjoy.

Tracks

1) Intro - The intro was actually much longer, but many close friends convinced me that it was too long, so I decided to concentrate on the part that would set up the title track.

2) If And When - As we were recording, I began to think "What have I done? Will I ever finish this?"  We were in the middle of a take and we talked about being able to take a break "If And When" we ever finished the song!  Hence the title of the song and subsequent CD... It's not glamorous, but that's how it came to be... The chord progression for the solos was tricky, and Zen Zadravec did a great job navigating through them.  I solo until the song fades out.

3) I Remember -  The trick to writing this tune was that I wanted to write something in an odd time, but still have the tune flow.  The intro is in 7, but the melody is all over the place!  I think the melody makes one forget about the time signature.  I wanted to scale back on the guitar solo and go for more feel and melody, rather than technique and speed.  Scott Winchell played drums and Greg Novick bass on this tricky tune.

4) Swunk - A combination of swing and funk??  Sure, why not?  I wanted to write something that had the funk back beat thing, but a melody that was reminiscent of an older Jazz head, but still melodic.  The solo section was originally written to have a bass solo, but I replaced it with a Keyboard solo, and then guitar.  Zen Zadravec plays keys.

5) Up And At 'Em - This is what my father used to say when he wanted to get our attention (like at 6:30 when it was time to get ready for school!)... The main theme had a "take charge" kind of feeling to it, so the title seemed appropriate.  The B section is done with my Roland GR-20 Synth.
Bernard Davis played drums.  We did three or four takes, and this one was the best.

6) Curious, She Waited... - Curious is the "jazziest" tune on the CD.  Zen Zadravec took a beautiful solo on piano... I thought it might be nice to do a call and response type of thing with acoustic and electric guitar.  Originally I was going to do the solo with Sax and guitar, but I didn't want sax on the melody, so I felt it would be out of place on just a solo section.

7) Interlude - Zen just jamming.  He took about five takes, and I honestly could not pick the best one.  They were all that good.  I had to make a decision and this was it.

8) Growing Pains - This was the last tune to be recorded.  Ingo Marte played drums and did a fantastic job in a very short time... I had a lot of fun with this one.  The beginning of the melody is an arpeggio that I play over Dominant 7 chords, but never though it would turn into a main theme!  I love the results.

9) Heroes - The title just seemed to fit.  This one practically wrote itself.  Two parts that repeat and then a short solo to end the tune... written to be an introduction to "Breathless."

10) Breathless - Probably the most straight forward rock tune on the CD... I wrote this one a couple of years ago and have been playing it live for a while. This one goes over well at live shows.