CD track info

Britten:
 I played this piece solo on the C neck of my Franklin. It’s a transcription of the opening movement to the first solo cello suite by Benjamin Britten. Its always been one of my favorite cello pieces and it lays pretty nice on the C neck. It was recorded live at eonta sound on a sonic solutions system in the big room at a church in Westchester, NY.

I Remember:

 This is another live solo recording at eonta sound. This piece has a video that goes with it using the same underlying concept. I took an old melody I wrote when I was a kid and harmonized it in order to accent the difference tones creating the sub harmonics. The video by Seouing Ho Cho was made from my families old home movies. It is about the undertow that lies beneath pleasant childhood memories. The original recording and video was paid for by a grant from the Jerome foundation through the American Composers Forum.

Click here and scroll down to "I Remember" to see low res version of the video.

Duet for cello and pedalsteel:

 This again was recorded live at eonta. Jane Scarpantoni is playing cello. I wrote this piece originally as a solo for classical harp then I broke it down into a duet that would be a starting point for improvisation. It is a real joy to play music with Jane. She has such a wealth of creativity and musical empathy.

Juliet:

 I wrote the melody for this tune quite a while ago when I was coming out of a pretty rough scene. It turned into a Cajun tune years later when I wrote the chorus. Jon Sherman wrote the lyrics and we recorded a version with the first band I played steel in called the Zephers. In this version Doug Weiselman plays bass clarinet. This was also recorded live at eonta. Doug is one of my favorite musicians ever. No matter what sort of music you throw at him he will find the perfect way to compliment and enhance it. Another deeply empathetic player. (MP3 of original Juliet here)

Understanding Desire:

 This piece was written by David Simons who also plays dumbec on the track. David is an amazing musician and composer. It was a real honor for me to play his music and work with him. He had a profound influence on how I perceive music. John Convertino plays string bass. He was a great friend and ally while we were going to Purchase together. This was recorded at home with my home computer set up except for the percussion which was recorded by Justin Asher at Purchase.

Wolfrun:

 This piece was written by JA Deane and recorded by Cookie Marceno. It was originally recorded as a part of a soundtrack to an ill fated Sam Shepard movie. This was one of the first recordings I ever did on the pedalsteel. For this track I improvised openly. Dino and Cookie did some random editing of my playing. Then Dino added some percussion and acoustic guitar samples. I was in the band “Indoor Life” with Dino. When I was young and dumb he showed me what it meant to be a musician.

Guardians of the Human Race:

 This music is from a series of live improvisations I did in David Simons loft in Brooklyn when I was first playing. Dave would play samples and percussion and I would whack away at my steel. I was into my ring modulator at the time. We also ran through a very impressive collection of fine wines I had left over from a previous life.

Duet for Dancer and Pedalsteel:

 When I was going to Purchase College I spent quite a bit of time working on music for dance. My favorite project was working with Joslyn Stewart. We would go into one of the big dance studios at night and freely improvise. I would play and she would dance. This piece is a collage of recordings from some of those improvisations. I learned more about my own voice as a musician from these sessions than anything I have ever experienced. It was a beautiful and fertile time for me.