O Christmas Tree
Each year around this time, I arrange a Christmas carol. With Thanksgiving less than a week away, I found myself in the spirit to arrange something for this year. As I did last year, I asked my friend Richie Beirach if he would be so kind as to create for me a reharmonization of a […]
A musical remembrance to a unforgettable Bahamian vacation
I returned home last week from two wonderful relaxing weeks in the Bahamas. I brought back home with me not only a painful bout of COVID that began the day after landing, but more importantly, a collection of photographs, video, and drone footage documenting our once-in-a-lifetime Caribbean experience. I combined these assets into a 2 1/2 […]
Salsa with Caribbean Express
I recorded an interview last week with the great trombonist Conrad Herwig. If you don’t play trombone, and don’t know Conrad, he is one of the very few trombone players who has played with Miles, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Richie Beirack, Dave Liebman, the Brecker Brothers, Jack DeJohnette, and a long list of other true […]
An electronic orchestration of The First Noel
Knowing Christmas was coming, the time when I annually reach inward to give birth to a new rendition of a holiday tune, I first bought a couple of interesting synths for inspiration. One was Straylight by Native Instruments, a sample-based granular synthesizer. I’m a sucker for the X-Y modulation matrix. The other is Trailer expressions […]
