Category Archives: Demos

This is the last of the demos I recorded with Steve Talaga on an afternoon in September. While most of these tunes fall under the umbrella of jazz, this one…doesn’t. And that’s okay. I just want to write good music, … Continue reading →

I have a certain ambivalence about this tune. It is So. Freaking. Happy. And happy can easily be trite. I will let you, dear listener, decide if this little bonbon of a tune is happy, trite, or both. (Or neither?) … Continue reading →

This tune has been reworked more times than it’s been played! It is named “Sehnsucht” (German: longing) for the yearning motif that begins the tune. I knew I had something good, but was never quite able to bring the tune … Continue reading →

This one’s a keeper. I’ve used it on a number of gigs since I wrote it back in October and each time it casts a special spell. Indeed, that’s the magical thing about jazz: a perfectly good song may never … Continue reading →

This happy-go-lucky tune positively sparkles under Steve Talaga’s fingers. Listening to this after a while away reminds of of something one of my composition teachers used to tell me, “When you’re young you have lots of ideas; when you’re old … Continue reading →

I’ve written about this song previously, so I’ll let this newer, cleaner recording speak for itself. For the record, I’m not entirely sold on my own voice. However, it is what I had available at the time.

It is unfortunate that we couldn’t record “8 Lives” with a full band. It is a jazz fusion tune that would really have benefited from drums. Indeed, we were prepared to play it with full band at an Outside Pocket … Continue reading →

“Slowly” (the song) has slowly (the adverb) been making its way into Outside Pocket gigs. I thought it was time I made a clean recording of it–though this is by no means anything fancy. This is a love song, but … Continue reading →