02.20.07
The Woodshed
Well folks, the time has come for me to begin a new era.
For those of you just joining us, a recap of my personal music history. I started out as a jazz guitarist, then a bass player in a few local Gainesville bands. All the while, I was writing and recording my own music, but I kept it to myself. It took a lot of nerve for me to go public, but I’m glad I did.
From Dark Side Summer (the summer of 2005) until October of 2006, I recorded the tunes that went on my first Jamendo album, evolution. However, as you can see from my performance in FAWM, I am a prolific songwriter — during this same period, I recorded 50 other tracks.
Now, by the time evolution was published, I had already changed styles — I had learned to play conga drums, and become much more proficient on the keyboards. This second period led to my next Jamendo album, handmade. However, while I was recording this, I didn’t want the 50 tracks from the evolution era to vanish into obscurity. So I chose the 12 best and released these as a compilation on DMusic: apocrypha.
But now I’m finished with handmade. There was a curious afterparty with FAWM, but I finished that a few days ago. Where to next?
The Woodshed.
My friend Henri Roger (on DMusic) just released two tracks that really got me to thinking. On the first, “Macca my dear,” he shows us the Henri we already know — a lyrical pianist with incredible chops and a deep feeling for musical composition. Then, in contrast, he released something unexpected: “Index,” in which he shreds on electric guitar like Hendrix.
One thing became obvious to me: this was a true musical master. And how did he get that way?
The Woodshed.
Charlie Parker once tried to sit in with a jazz band in his early days, and was so terrible he was laughed off the bandstand. He went out to his mother’s woodshed and practiced obsessively, performing songs in all possible keys at berserk tempos. When he came back, he was making the rules.
From then on, jazz had a pretty high bar. Parker and friends would toss out goofus wannabes who wanted to sit in with them by playing some tune like “Cherokee” (a fast tempo song) in a difficult key (for instance, E, which transposes to C# for alto saxophonists).
Well, when I was learning jazz, I did the same thing. I’d take a tune and draw a random card out of a deck I’d made, each having one of the 12 chromatic notes on it. Whatever it was, I had to play the tune in that key, transposing by sight at first then by ear later.
I developed everything this way except speed. Even today, one key is much the same for me as any other key — I have no favorites, not on bass, guitar, or organ (conga drums are a different story; I like the sound of the drums with the notes G, C, and D, but use other tunings many times to go with whatever tunes I’m playing).
Well, the time has come. I’m going to the Woodshed. There will be no new recordings, no new albums, until I gain some new skills. I’m thinking I will spend March, April, and May just learning new skills and practicing. When summer vacation comes, I will start recording again. Hopefully, by August or September, my next album will be ready.
And it will be fantastic.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress here.
01.22.07
Crumb
This is the twelfth and final article I’m writing about the songs in apocrypha, a compilation album I am publishing on DMusic. It is meant to complement my Jamendo album, evolution.
What a way to end the series.
Today, I am the featured artist on DMusic. I just finished publishing my second album, apocrypha, which I’ve been uploading a track at a time since December 17, 2006.
The completing piece was “Crumb”, my one and only cover song. As I mentioned in a previous article, I was a fan of a local band named El Robot. I’d love to be able to give you a web address or a site where you could download their music, but alas, years after their last show, no trace remains save their two albums. Well, “Crumb” is my tribute to that band.
The song was originally written by Morgan Caraway (of El Robot, now of Nim Sum), who also sang the lead vocals. Now, as I’ve mentioned before, Morgan is to bass as cornbread is to collard greens. He was my inspiration to put aside guitar as my main composing instrument and switch to bass–something I’ve come to see as a turning point in my life.
Now I find myself at another turning point. Stasis is stagnation; the world must change to truly live. For myself, I find my approach to music has completely changed since learning to play drums. For Morgan, well, he’s limited in what he can achieve as a musician staying in a small town like Gainesville, so he’s thinking of moving on, possibly to Seattle.
As for me, I’ve found a new world–online music. And, thanks to DMusic and Jamendo, I haven’t bought a commercially produced album since last summer. Odd to think that, because I don’t miss it–I actually have to remind myself there was a time that having Music Choice was a big deal on cable because I could listen to tunes that weren’t crap. And now? Typically I listen to 20 to 30 new artists a week, all doing new and original material.
Looks like the People’s Glorious Revolution is sneaking up on the mainstream.
01.19.07
Downburst
This is the eleventh in a series of articles I’m writing about the songs in apocrypha, a compilation album I am publishing on DMusic. It is meant to complement my Jamendo album, evolution.
Yesterday I posted “Downburst” to DMusic, track #11 on apocrypha. There’s only one song left to post, so I face the situation of being almost finished writing this series of articles.
Of course I have many other projects to occupy my time. But releasing an album a track at a time has been an interesting experience. Jamendo and DMusic differ in their presentation of albums; on Jamendo, you upload the entire album at once. So I’ve been experiencing “the best of both worlds.”
I believe that both of these sites are the future of music–independent, interesting, and free. For too long our musical world has been choked by the corporations into committee-approved focus-group-tested bland bits of mediocrity. Time for the revolution.
Now, “Downburst” is a musical metaphor for a thunderstorm. The rain starts pounding midway through the song, but only for a short while–a downburst, an all too common phenomenon here in Florida.
I recorded this tune on December 3, 2006.
01.18.07
Almost there
With the publication of “Downburst” today, my DMusic album, apocrypha, is one track away from completion. I’ve been serializing it over the past month, releasing a track at a time.
Further, I’m within a few tracks of finishing my next Jamendo album, handmade. More on that in a later series of posts.
Right now, it’s off for another night of recording.
01.09.07
Dangerous Medicine
This is the tenth in a series of articles I’m writing about the songs in apocrypha, a compilation album I am publishing on DMusic. It is meant to complement my Jamendo album, evolution.
“Dangerous Medicine” was recorded July 13, 2005. You know, I like the Blues, but every time I compose a blueslike tune, I feel an irresistable urge to alter the chords and change the progression in some fundamental way. So here’s what I did with this song:
| Ab7 | % | % | % |
| Bm7 | % | Ab7 | % |
| Eb7 | Db7 | Eb7 | Db7 |
| Eb7 | break (Db7) | Ab7 | % |
The key alterations:
- Substitution of Bm7 for the traditional IV chord, Db7, in bars 5 & 6
- The “Watermelon Man”-like last 8 bars, complete with break.
01.06.07
Tabasco Road
This is the ninth in a series of articles I’m writing about the songs in apocrypha, a compilation album I am publishing on DMusic. It is meant to complement my Jamendo album, evolution.
“Tabasco Road” was recorded August 26, 2006. Now, if you’ve been following my articles, you know I keep a fairly detailed notebook about each song that I do.
Well, there are always exceptions.
For all I know, this song dropped out of the sky. Clearly that’s me playing–I hear that keyboard phrasing I was working on over the summer, and that strum / single note pattern as well. Probably the most distinctive trademark of mine is the bass line.
I can sort of remember recording this one–especially the keyboard part, since its fairly intricate. But evidently, I just didn’t get around to writing anything down that day.
It happens.
Now, why is it called Tabasco Road? Well, it had something to do with the trip I took with my parents to Louisiana back in 1991. As for the lyrics, I’ve lost them also.
Since I do instrumental work, you might be wondering why I even have lyrics. Simple; its how I remember the melody for the songs I create. My favorite jazz musicians–for instance, Chet Baker, Miles Davis–always did memorable improvisation because they concentrated on developing interesting phrasing. Making up lyrics helps me maintain “the flow”, and also helps in creating new, spontaneous lines in later sections of the song.
As for this one–well, the original is gone, but you’re free to develop lyrics for it as you see fit 
01.03.07
The Island
This is the eighth in a series of articles I’m writing about the songs in apocrypha, a compilation album I am publishing on DMusic. It is meant to complement my Jamendo album, evolution.
“The Island” was recorded June 16, 2005. It’s a happy song, which is weird, because this was one of the darkest and most depressing times of my life (the full story is serialized in the notes for “Song for Hannah” from evolution, see the complete track list and discussion series here).
The real story of this tune is in the chords.
The main part is a series of major seventh chords, a constant structure modal jazz composition:
Cmaj7 | % | Abmaj7 | %
Abmaj7 | % | Cmaj7 | %
Bbmaj7 | Abmaj7 | Cmaj7 | %
If you looked at that and thought, huh, he based that on the blues progression, you’re right. Take three giant steps forward.
Anyway, the reggae inspired part at 1:27 borrows a familiar chord progression. I’ll just let you jazz cats simmer on this one awhile, until you figure out which jazz standard inspired this series:
C#maj7 | % | F#9 | %
C#mMaj7 | % | A9 | %
DmMaj7 | % | Bb7 | %
Em7 | A7 | Dm7 | G7
When you know, just drop me a comment. The second time the reggae break comes, at 2:33, I used the maj7 progression from the head, so the above break is more or less a one shot deal.
01.02.07
r-u-n-n-o-f-t
This is the seventh in a series of articles I’m writing about the songs in apocrypha, a compilation album I am publishing on DMusic. It is meant to complement my Jamendo album, evolution.
If you’ve seen the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, you know where the title to this song came from. It was recorded July 21, 2005, and has more to do with the 1970s than the that movie. Still, when I composed it, the sound of it made me think of someone running away through a bunch of obstacles.
The real story of this song is the keyboard work. I practice my tunes and refine them before recording them. There’s this weird “red light effect” where, once the recording button comes on, suddenly things that were simple and easy get difficult and start causing stumbles.
I say that because, on this one song, I practiced, set up the recorder, then nailed it on the very first go. Even the ending, that cascade of notes at the end, was improvised–but came off perfectly. I was so happy I actually leapt off my bench and started chugging around the room like a locomotive (which earned me a barkdown, as my dogs tend to regard that sort of behavior as playing, as opposed to sitting in front of some object tapping keys, which is not).
12.29.06
La Sequía
This is the sixth in a series of articles I’m writing about the songs in apocrypha, a compilation album I am publishing on DMusic. It is meant to complement my Jamendo album, evolution.
“La Sequía” translates to “The Drought” in Spanish. You know, a lot of the music I write has lyrics; problem is, some of it is profoundly depressing and I’d really like people to be able to interpret the music for themselves. But, since you’ve bothered to come to this page and read about my work, I’m going to let you into the inner circle, at least for the first part of the song.
The rest? Use your imagination.
The (phantom) lyrics:
Surface of the sun
Land cracked and desolate
Fires beginning
And smoke stings your eyesNever comes the rain
Ever the dust and dying fields
Lost is our land,
The place we called home.Bound–
Taken from our land
To a place which they said
would always be ours.Now there’s not even half a chance
Of eating our pride
Starving in a prison without walls
And perish the child . . .
12.28.06
In Studio
I’ve made it a policy to write at least an entry a day on my blog. Today, however, I spent most of the day recording. I expect to release my next Jamendo album, handmade, in early 2007; I want to have at least 20 tracks ready so I can pick the 12 that go together the best. As I said two days ago, I have 8 recorded, and five still in development. I finally nailed the organ part on one of the five today (practice makes perfect) and will mix it down tomorrow with “fresh ears.”
Upcoming articles [this is as much to remind me as inform you ;-) ]
- Reviews of DMusic artists DeadraveN and Henri Roger.
- Reviews of Jamendo artists Maya de Luna and Bruno Stimart.
- French translation of the article I wrote for “Jennie Haniver” (track #2 on evolution).
- New article about “La Sequía” (track #6 on apocrypha).
I’m doing all that? Good thing I’m still on vacation.
