Category Archives: Jazz

Brush Your Teeth

On Thursday, I’ll lead an assembly called “Help Me Write a Jazz Song” at a local elementary school. I’ll tell them what a composer does and what it takes to write a song. Then I’ll tell them about my plan … Continue reading

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Psalm 28: My God, the Rock (tune: SANDY)

I asked Kate Bluett if she would be willing to write a new Psalm text on one of the Psalms I haven’t yet set to music. She came through with skill and style! Psalm 28 is a three-part prayer. It … Continue reading

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Judah’s Jam

In honor of Judah Guerra’s inaugural Jazz Jam at the Rez, I wrote a little tune called “Judah’s Jam.” As you can hear from this video, he assembled a stellar group of musicians who slayed it all night long! I … Continue reading

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Your Soul Lives On

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

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The Gospel Truth

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

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Sehnsucht

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

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Mysterious Lee

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

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Hotel Husband

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

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A Beautiful Delusion

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.

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8 Lives

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

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