April 2020 News!

Well, perhaps one good thing that the Shelter In Place decree in Los Angeles has done, is that it has given me a rare chance to update the news area of my website. I’ve been very busy of late, working on a lot of great new records, and I’ll take a minute to talk about some of the things that I’ve been doing:

I’ve been working on a new album with the singer and songwriter Melody Gardot for Decca / Universal UK, which will be an album composed of newly written songs as well as some very original takes on some songs that one might call “standards”. We’ve been working at Capitol Studios and Henson Studios, doing rhythm tracks with a great cast of musicians. This album will also feature quite a number of tracks that will incorporate orchestral elements, and we are working with my old friend, and a person who I have done quite a bit of work with, the great arranger and composer Vince Mendoza. This album also marks the first time that I have worked with from beginning to end with the great engineer Al Schmitt. Al mixed the first album that I did with Melody, “My One And Only Thrill”, and is an engineer that I have greatly respected and listened to for my entire career and before. He is history-incarnate; a living legend who is still working at the top of this game.

Melody Gardot

I completed work on a new album for another artist that I have worked with before, the great vocalist and pianist Kandace Springs for Blue Note / Universal. I previously worked with Kandace on her album “Soul Eyes” in 2016, and she has continued to develop and grow into a major force as a keyboard player and singer. This album will be released on 3-27-20, and is called “The Women Who Raised Me”.

It is a collection of songs that represent the female artists who most inspired Kandace from her childhood on, and the songs that are characteristic of elements of their talents that shine the brightest in Kandace’s eyes. We recorded the album at one of my favorite studios, Brooklyn Recording in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn with some great musicians that I love working with. Drummer Clarence Penn, bassists Scott Colley and also Christian McBride, who is featured on one track, guitarist Steve Cardenas, saxophonist Chris Potter, and trumpeter Avishai Cohen, all incredibly gifted and perceptive players. Norah Jones actually appears in a duet on the song that represents her place among the women that Kandace wanted to spotlight, a stunning duet - reimagining of the standard “Angel Eyes”, on which Norah sings as well as playing acoustic piano on. I’m very excited about this album coming out into the world. Hopefully it will provide some beauty to distract people from the very tough period that we are making our way through now. I mixed the album with my frequent greatly talented collaborator Tim Palmer.

I completed an album of songs written by the legendary songwriter from Thailand Boyd Kosiyabong for new an artist new to those outside of Thailand, a singer named Natasha Patamapongs. Boyd is an incredibly successful songwriter in Thailand, and for this album we worked with songwriter David Baerwald on new English translations of Boyd’s songs on most of the album, while doing some songs that remain in Boyd’s native Thai language. I worked with many of my frequent collaborators musician-wise on this album; the great keyboardist and composer Patrick Warren, guitarist Dean Parks, drummer and percussionist Brian Macleod, and I played bass and some keys on this. Should be released a bit later this year on the LoveIs label in Thailand and other territories.

I recently tracked and mixed an album for singer and songwriter Sharon Corr, who has done a few previous albums on her own, as well as being a part of the family group The Corrs, who had many big hit records. This album is mainly an autobiographical album that Sharon wrote while going through a turbulent divorce, and cuts straight to the bone. All of the songs cut straight to the bone, and I worked on the album with a great crew composed of engineer Adam Greenspan, mixer Tchad Blake, and a great crew of musicians including Victor Indrizzo, keyboard player Patrick Warren, guitarist Tim Pierce, and I played bass. Release is still being worked out, but it is a beauty of an album, and Sharon is a formidable talent.

Another project that I have finished is an album for a new artist, Ugandan singer and songwriter Jon Muq. Jon is like a stylistic hybrid of Cat Stevens and Tracy Chapman. His story is remarkable, and his talent and songwriting syntax remarkably simple and direct along with being deeply emotional. A self-taught musician, his songs emanate from his courageous spirit and the circuitous and arduous path that has been his life story. I worked with mixer Tchad Blake on this as well as many of my frequent musician colleagues including Patrick Warren, Tim Pierce, Dan Lutz, and Victor Indrizzo. I’m very excited to see this music come out into the world! Jon is still busy getting his visa and immigration business finalized, but he is an amazing talent, and we have made a remarkable album.

One project that I am particularly excited about is a new artist named Cande Buasso from Argentina. She is a Decca UK artist, and we have been working on her first album, which will be composed of many songs that will be familiar to people in both English and Spanish, and taken into her world of darkly Brazilian and Argentinian informed jazz. She is a fresh voice, and I’m very excited about what we are making. We got caught with about 80% of the album completed by the Corona virus, and are anxiously awaiting the world getting back into a somewhat normal state to complete the album For now, you can hear the version of a great Argentinian song on this YouTube recording that was responsible for her being signed: