New
CD
I am happy to report that at long last my new CD
Handwritten Notes is out on my own label Outer Bridge
Records and available for purchase via select websites
including
Amazon.com, CDNow and others and at my shows (see tour
schedule below). It will soon be available at select retail
outlets as well. Handwritten Notes is an all-solo
guitar project containing fourteen original, "live in the
studio" compositions with no overdubbing. The total running
time is fifty-six minutes. Included below is an "artist's
notes" blurb about the project.
Handwritten
Notes Artist's Notes
I h a
v e t r i e d to accomplish several things
with Handwritten Notes.
F
i r s t, I wanted to satisfy fans and audiences who have
been waiting far too long to purchase my newer material on
CD -- tunes like "First Summer Without You", "Shinkansen",
"Along The Perimeter" and others that I have been performing
live for several years but for various reasons have not been
able to release until now. These long-awaited compositions
are finally available on the new cd.
S e c o n d, the overwhelming
response from audiences over the past several years to my
jazz ballad "First Summer Without You" mandated that I place
much more of an emphasis on melodic, emotional compositions
in this recording. As a result, I have included six new
melodic and/or mood-intensive pieces in addition to "First
Summer Without You" -- "What You Don't See", a fingerpicked
ballad..."Lost Time", an intimate, minimalist minor blues
with jazz harmony extrapolations..."Love In The Old
Country", an unabashedly sentimental, European-influenced,
cinema-inspired composition..."Crossing Open Water", a
hybrid-technique piece in 7/8 time that is full of
surprises... "Night Ride", a two-part piece with a moody,
traditional blues-based first part...and "After A Rain", a
composition played entirely on the neck with frequent shifts
in tempo and dynamics creating an ebb-and-flow feel.
T h i r d, I wanted the sound on
this record had to be the best of any of my recordings. I
challenged Paul Baron and Bobby Schnitzer at the beginning
of the project to "beat" the sound of any acoustic guitar
records they knew of...to make my guitar "huge", but at the
same time intimate and lyrical. I believe we surpassed our
goal. The sound and sense of space on this CD is tremendous.
Bobby said at one point during a mix playback, "It's like
you're playing a twelve foot guitar."
L a s t but not least, I
wanted Handwritten Notes to be a musically and
compositionally challenging record. As with all of my
recordings, I have continued my explorations and innovations
in technique, rhythm, texture and composition. I have also
taken up some new creative directions, one of which is
integrating fingerpicking with some of my most extreme
two-handed percussive techniques within the same
composition. You will hear this hybrid treatment in
"Crossing Open Water" and "Night Ride". Another new
direction was a return to my blues roots. I had a blast
writing and recording tunes like "Lost Time", which offers a
wide array of my favorite nasty, ironic blues licks and
stylings.
A l l in all, I believe
Handwritten Notes to be my most beautiful, personal,
entertaining, accessible, musical, compositional and
challenging record to date. Check it out. I think you will
find it was worth the wait.
Order
direct from this
site or available in the U.K. from Virgin and from Borders
high street shops
Tower
Records voted
Handwritten Notes one of the top 10 CD's for the year 2000
in their January 2001 issue "TOP OF THE POPS"