Tag Archives: jazz

Gratitude List 1877

(1) I had the intriguing experience of having an MRI for the first time in my fairly long life. It lasted 35 minutes and was fascinating. They had given me an anti-anxiety medication which helped, and also some injections, the combination of which had me batty for the rest of the day. Grateful I not only made it through but actually enjoyed the experience.

(2) After the MRI, I shook hands with the radiologist and told him I was very impressed with their expertise. I mentioned I’m a guy who hasn’t really hung out in doctor’s offices or hospitals, so this is all very new to me. He said he found that amusing since they all see me sitting at the same table in the hospital’s Courtyard Cafe every day, and have all enjoyed hearing me play the piano as a hospital volunteer. (Incidentally, they keep the piano in the radiology room and wheel it out for me to play in the lobby.)

(3) About that table in the Courtyard, it’s tucked into a nice corner where I have a lot of privacy between 10 and 11:30, when neither breakfast nor lunch is being served. They serve unlimited free coffee, and I’ve actually taken to giving my singing lessons to my student Tessa on Zoom there. The lessons have gone better there than either at my apartment or at the church. It must just be a good karma table.

(4) About Tessa, this has got to be one of the most thrilling reconnections of all. She was my award-winning voice student for years in the early 2000’s, and her singing has only matured with age. You ought to hear her sing “Midnight Screams” someday. She’s so good it made me rewrite the lousy lyrics in the third verse. It’s a joy to be working with Tessa once again.

(5) About singing, Keva and I are officially meeting at 10am this Saturday to record the three tunes “Love for Sale,” “Now That There’s You,” and “Mean Ol’ Moon.” I’m grateful for the aura of professionalism and mutual respect that pervades our sessions. To be honest, I’m grateful for music in general, especially now. In many ways, music is seeing me through one of the most stressful times of my life.

“Music is indeed the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.”
— Ludwig van Beethoven

Gratitude List 1870

(1) Thanks largely to the spirit of love and good will in the community of Moscow, Idaho, I have almost raised enough money to afford the deposit and last month’s rent on a new apartment.

(2) Due to record sales of piano CDs this month, I have finally been able to replace the 12-foot long makeshift power cord & wired mouse & keyboard for my MacBook Pro.  The new wireless keyboard/mouse combination and power cord from the Apple Store is much better. Grateful that I no longer have unravel all those cords  every time I pull them out of my backpack, and that I am no longer tripping over said cords every time I leave my desk.

(3) Ran into the main guy at the Jazz School yesterday, back from Seattle after a lengthy hospital visit. He gave me a big hug and told me to send the performance tracks and the rest of my Act 1, Scene 1 package to his email.  He also asked if I would stop by his office and discuss the possibility that some of his students might do the Finale formatting for college credits.  In a spirit of increased motivation, I dove into the Scene 2 work–and may even finish it by tonight. 

(4) A Zoom connection with a former singing student, now in Los Angeles, is exciting.  Tessa is 30 now, and she was singing like this (and winning awards) when she was only 14.  I’ve not taught singing on Zoom before, and am looking forward to the brave new world thereof.

(5) Many of the professors were on vacation for Spring Break last night, so out Theology meeting was a bit more intimate. I really enjoyed discussing the theme of the “journey of life.” I must say it’s been quite a journey so far–and the sunshine is bright on this gorgeous day, in the city where I was born.

“His way had therefore come full circle, or rather had taken the form of an ellipse or a spiral, following as ever no straight unbroken line, for the rectilinear belongs only to Geometry and not to Nature and Life.” — Hermann Hesse 

New Album: “From a Distance”

It’s been about a year now since I’ve released a piano album.   From a Distance reveals the best of what I’ve been able to produce throughout the year when we’ve been social distancing and sheltering in place.   Unlike previous albums – which were recorded either with a Motorola or a Samsung smartphone, all selections were recorded with either an iPhone 11 or an iPhone 7.  The result is a much higher sound quality.  I listened last night, and it really gives the listener the feeling that they are attending a private live piano concert.  

Here are the twelve selections on From a Distance:

The Letter – Wayne Carson
Desperado – Glenn Frey & Don Henley
The Way We Were – Marvin Hamlisch
We Three Kings – John Henry Hopkins Jr.
In the Bleak Midwinter – Harold Darke
Be Thou My Vision – Traditional (Irish Origin)
All the Things You Are – Jerome Kern
Somebody Loves Me – George Gershwin
I Get a Kick Out of You – Cole Porter
I’ve Never Been in Love Before – Frank Loesser
Never Never Land – Jule Styne
From a Distance – Julie Gold

So far the album is available only on CD.  If (like some of us) you still have an affinity for that particular medium, why don’t you leave a mailing address in the Contact form, and I’ll pop one in the mail.  I do request a $15 donation.  (You can make that where it says “donate” below the page here, or get back to me if you don’t use PayPal.)

I really think you’ll enjoy it.  (I’ll also be posting my version of “In the Bleak Midwinter” in about an hour, and “From a Distance” next Friday.)

Please donate to Eden in Babylon.

“Sirens of Hope” – Completed

In case anyone’s been wondering where I’ve been, I’ve been working on putting together the full accompaniment score to my musical, beginning with the opening number, “Sirens of Hope.” I posted a portion of it a week or so ago, and here it is, a finished product. The tenor line replicates the solos of Winston Greene, the main character, and the Three Girls who sing back-up are referenced in the siren-like string sounds throughout. Hope you like my work.

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Hermit

I believe that we who write lyrics and music tend to remember the music we write better than we remember the lyrics.   At least, that is true of me, and especially if the song was written long ago, and then more-or-less abandoned.

The song that is featured today is something I wrote in April of 1976 in an effort to come out of a long period of isolation and creative famine.  I remember it took me a month to write the song.   This was also the first month of my now 42 years as a long-distance runner.  Writing this song was part of a complete lifestyle change.

Since it took me so long to squeeze it all out of me, I remembered the music very clearly, and continued to remember it over the years, even though I hardly ever played it.  But I forgot a lot of the lyrics, which I never sang.

At some point in the 42 years since I wrote the song “Hermit,” I forgot all about it.  But this past week, the song for some reason resurfaced in my consciousness.  This time, it had been so long, I didn’t even remember some of the music.   But as the week progressed, I remembered more and more of it; and I practiced it several times on the piano.

As for the lyrics?  Here are the ones I remember:

Shifting back and forth
Between one reckless thought and the next,
Trapped inside a rented room
Behind a world that’s too complex.

And later:

Your life is just a rented room!

Still later:

We all need our time to think –
But how much?  That’s all I ask!
You could spend a lifetime claiming you’re close to the cure,
But when life itself is such a task,
You’re never sure . . .
Never sure . .  .

Interesting.  I was 23 at the time.  I wonder why the song came back to me this week?  I hadn’t thought about it in years.  Here’s what it sounds like.

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Anything Helps – God Bless!