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Hello and best wishes,
I hope this letter finds you all well. I know that most news
these days is hard to take, but I promise to keep this newsletter
upbeat and positive, and to stay away from the doom and gloom
words we hear so much of lately - like "global",
"economic", "downturn", "bailout",
"crisis", "credit crunch" - OOPS! I already
broke my campaign promise, sorry! But from now on, I assure
you, the only time you will hear the word "slide"
will be in reference to a trombone ;-)
The big news for me right now is the March 24th release of
my new CD Between 2 Worlds.
My second project for the Heads Up International label, it
marks a brand new direction for me, and I am very excited
about it. For the first time in my career as a recording artist
I went with a guitar trio format as the basic foundation of
the recording, adding other instruments in 'guest' slots,
but with no keyboards at all. I think it brings a fresh, open
sound to the music. This is by no means a knock on all the
great pianists I have had the pleasure of collaborating with
over the years, but actually it is a challenge for me as a
guitarist, because all the elements of harmony have to be
created by me alone, a role that is usually played by keyboards.
I am lucky to have some stellar guests on the CD, some you
might be familiar with from my other projects: Will Lee, David
Charles, Wolfgang Haffner, Till Brönner, Nathan Eklund,
Phil Magnotti, and Carmen Cuesta, of course! But some are
joining up for the first time. After several years of touring
with Eric Marienthal I am convinced he is one of he very best
saxophonists ever (and I've worked with some great ones;-)
- so I am very happy to have Eric on two tracks on the record.
Through Eric, I was able to get in touch with pianist, producer
par excellence Brian Culbertson, and asked him to utilize
one of his other many talents on a track—his great trombone
playing. Check this guy out on the track "Let's Play"—he
ROCKS! Also, Bashiri Johnson adds great percussion to the
mix on a few tracks.
As the title Between 2 Worlds
suggests, there is something geographical about this project.
Over the years of touring to play music, and by virtue of
my marriage to Carmen I have spent a lot of time in Europe.
In the last several years I began a series of engagements
in Berlin, Germany each summer at a terrific club, The A-Trane.
It was a chance to play guitar trio with my old friend and
Metro band-mate Wolfgang Haffner. For another new addition
to the mix, we tapped the German bassist Dieter Ilg, who I
had played with in the Thomas Quasthoff project. The experience
of these trio gigs was what sparked the idea to make the CD
this way and Wolfgang make up one of the "2 worlds".
We recorded at Till Brönner's Berlin Studio (thanks,
bro!) after a week at the club and it came out great.
Then while I was back in NYC performing with Metro Special
Edition with Dave Weckl and Gerald Veasley we went right into
the studio and did the other "world" of the CD.
My old friend, bassist to the stars, Will Lee was in town
and jumped in for a few tracks too! There is even one track
with both Will and Gerald on it! (Bass
Player Magazine, are you listening?)
In addition to the geographical aspect of the title, I want
to point out that there is a musical reference on Between
2 Worlds as well. As most of you know, I was lucky
to have come up playing with some of the greats of jazz: Stan
Getz, Chico Hamilton, Hubert Laws, Freddie Hubbard, Dave Liebman,
Tom Harrell, and others. But I have always tended towards
contemporary or "smooth" jazz as a composer and
recording artist. Lately, though, the purist in me was calling
out for attention, and as you listen to the CD I think you'll
hear these two sides of my musical personality blend into
one another. One might say that it is the difference between
the American session and the German sessions, but actually
it is across the board.
I dedicate several songs to other guitarists on this project.
The song "Hiram" is for the great guitarist and
dear friend Hiram Bullock, who passed way last year. "The
Great Hall" is for guitar legend and poet Jim Hall. "360"
is for Pat Metheny, and "Let's Play" is for Mike
Stern, both constant inspirations to me.
In any case, I still think music should speak for itself,
and although labels are necessary for marketing purposes,
the main idea is to share a feeling - so I'll just say that
I hope you enjoy it!
2008 was an amazing year in terms of touring, and 2009 started
out even more so. I found myself on several different continents
and many far flung countries and cities: India, Europe, Africa
and exotic New Jersey!
Metro and Metro Special Edition visited Spain, including
The Canary Islands (off the coast of Africa), France, Germany,
Holland, Finland, Mumbai and Bangalore, India, and a little
known places like Los Angeles and New York City.
With my own band I played at The Greek Theater in LA for
the first time and as far away as Marciac, in the south of
France. Needless to say, my frequent flyer accounts are fairly
healthy;-)
I just came back from my first visit to play in Jakarta,
Indonesia, which was an amazing trip! The Java Jazz Festival
was host to a host of incredible musicians from all over the
world and I was blessed to have been able to collaborate with
a lot of them! My good friend Everette Harp put together an
outstanding line-up, which included Kirk Whalum, Rex Rideout,
Rayford Griffin, Melvin Davis, Mitchel Forman, Hans Zermhuehlen,
Lil' Jon Roberts and many others. I also got to meet and play
with singers Ledisi and Oleta Adams, and I got to jam with
The amazing New York Voices on a song that I recorded with
them last year, "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing".
It was simply a great experience.
Please take a look at the picture at the airport below (courtesy
of Mitch Forman):
In April I will begin touring with the trio format
in support of the new CD as well as with Metro and other projects.
Below is a list of shows and the line-ups in various places.
Please keep checking the 'Show Schedule" page on this
website and MySpace and Facebook for updates and added shows.
I look forward to seeing a lot of you at one of the upcoming
shows and thank you once again for all your support, encouragement,
and love.
Wishing you all the very best,
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