In his producer's
perspective, Will Ackerman (williamackerman.com)
writes:
"I get a lot of emails. A lot of them come from people who talk of
their
dreams, but I know they will never have the guts to actually try to
live out
those dreams. Jeff is the very rare exception."
I think it's safe to say that At Last is flugelhornist/composer
Jeff Oster's
dream come to reality. A reality that is, in many ways, equal parts
Jeff and
Will. As Jeff says about Will in our conversation: "At Last is OUR project,
not his and not mine."
Jeff also gives high praise to all those who worked on the record,
including:
Philip Aaberg (synthesizer), Jeremy Mendicino (guitar), Happy Rhodes
(vocals), Bryan Carrigan (engineering, drum programming and percussion),
Lindsay, Caroline and Lauren Doyle (themselves), T.Bone Wolk (guitars
-
acoustic, electric and bass), Charlie Bisharat (violin) and Will Ackerman
(parlor and acoustic guitars).
If you'd like to learn more about Jeff and his music, please visit
his website.
Jamie:
I don't usually start an artist-to-artist conversation discussing
album
art, but in the case of your new record, I think I'll have to make
an exception.
The cover art, which features a turtle, a flugelhorn and the title
At Last,
seems to me to perfectly tell your story -- that you've played trumpet
and
flugelhorn for almost forty years and that you're just now putting
out your
first record. As Will Ackerman writes in the liner notes for At
Last: "Jeff did
not leave his dreams behind and the proof of it is contained in
the passion
and brilliance of these pieces." I would definitely agree with that
statement.
How much of a challenge was it for you to keep that dream, and that
passion,
alive?
Jeff: The dreams and passion
were pretty easy to keep alive, it was the
believing that they'd come true that was the hard part.
I have always loved to play, and when I moved to Los Angeles to
play music
full time back in 1979, I really felt that if I worked hard at it
that it would finally
happen. For the first 10 years I lived there, I did the whole Top
40 and Vegas
lounge act thing, doing whatever it took to play music for a "living".
This of
course meant being a limo driver, selling office supplies, and all
the other
day jobs you do to actually survive making a living as a musician.
It finally got to the point where I just knew that I didn't want
to be 50 years
old playing "Proud Mary" in some dive bar in the Valley. So, I quit
the cover
band life, and found a day job that worked, as a financial planner
of all things,
and told myself that I'd save up the cash that way to hire the musicians
I
wanted, and the studio I wanted, to do original music.
And although its taken nearly 20 years to actually pull that off,
I have just
now begun to do it. The catalyst was when I bought a computer last
year
that came with Sonic Acid software on it. Once I figured out how
to actually
use it, the horn playing part was relatively easy. It helps a lot
that technology
has advanced to the point where I can create some beautiful sounds
and
loops with the click of a mouse, and that there are places on the
web to
share what you create with people all over the world. The immediacy
of all of
it is pretty amazing.
Looking back on this all now, it really has taken me this long to
really find
my voice as a player. I still play a lot of Motown and Tower of
Power horn
music, just like I did 20 years ago, but now, instead of trying
to be a hard
bop jazz player, or a lead chair high note player, because that's
what I was
SUPPOSED to be, I now know that all I have to do is do what I love,
what
feels good to me, and that people will respond to that.
And what I love is a rich smooth tone, mixed with beautiful chords
and
melody. I don't have to scream, I don't have to play a million notes,
I can just
play exactly the way I like to, and that's enough.
There's a quote from Dizzy Gillespie that says, "I've spent my whole
life
learning what notes NOT to play". I love that, and it's been true
for me.
Maybe that's what Will heard when he finally listened to my demos.
Jamie: Well,
I can't speak for what Will heard in your demos, but what
comes through to me on At Last is sincerity. Playing
what you feel, believe
and love is a lot harder than it sounds. I think Dizzy's right,
you have to learn
"what notes NOT to play." It can be such a challenge to step back
from
whatever it is that you're creating and say, "Did this section really
need that
64th note atonal run? Did it help (or hurt) the story that I'm trying
to tell?"
"Because that's what I was SUPPOSED to be".... really hits home
for me.
And "supposed to" can be deadly for musicians in general. Overpowering
every aspect of what a musician does and, in the end, defining the
music
that they make. It can be tough going following your own path, and
letting go
of "supposed to", but the rewards are immense.
To me, one of the great things about At Last is that
the synths/beats are so
beautifully integrated with the acoustic instruments and vocals.
Was this part
of your original conception when you started working with Acid a
year ago?
Jeff: I
suppose every musician has their own process of creating, much of
which I'm sure is influenced by the tools they use. Once I got familiar
with
the Acid software, I used it to build up the basic song structure,
and then
lived with it for a while. I'd burn a CD and play it in the car,
and at home,
letting it sort of sink in, until a horn line came to me that seemed
to fit.
I have a polyphonic Toys-R-Us piano that my 6 yr. old boy plays
with, and
I'd use it to lay down some scratch (VERY scratch) melody and harmony
lines in Acid, so I could get an idea of how it all fit together.
Then I'd lay
down the actual horn tracks, (usually at 3 a.m. while my kids were
sleeping,
which accounts for the fact that many of the early demos were done
with a
Harmon muted trumpet!) and process them with the software to get
a
balance between the electronica and acoustic that I liked.
At Last was truly a collaborative effort. Before I
got to Imaginary Road, Will
Ackerman's studio in Vermont, we had basically decided to use two
of the
songs I had created here, "Matt's Mood" and "Big Sur". We had also
decided
to create two other songs, one from just a drum track which became
"Haleakala", that features Happy Rhodes, the amazing and otherworldly
vocalist you hear on three of the four tracks on At Last,
and one that I had
hoped to create with Will, featuring his guitar and my flugelhorn,
which turned
out to be "At Last", the title track of the EP.
Will recommended Bryan Carrigan, who had worked with him previously,
to
engineer the project. Bryan, in addition to being a master of all
things Pro
Tools, is a phenomenal drum programmer. He created the drum tracks
for
"Matt's Mood", "Big Sur", and what became "Haleakala". I really
had not paid
much attention to that aspect of the tracks up to that point, and
what Bryan
created added a whole new dimension to the music.
Will's choice of musicians really transformed this into something
quite
beautiful. Phil Aaberg's work on "Matt's Mood", and what he did
on
"Haleakala", which was to create the entire bed from which Happy
and I
played off of, is just incredible. When you fall off of the cliff
in the middle of
"Haleakala", Happy's voices are like sinking into a bed of feathers
- we left a
space of pure silence in the middle of the drum track, and had her
fill it. Just
amazing.
T.Bone Wolk's work on "Big Sur" and "At Last" adds a feel, matched
with
precision, that makes those tracks come alive. And when you add
the young
blood of Jeremy Mendicino on guitar on "Matt's Mood" and "Haleakala",
and
the melodic sensibilities of Charlie Bisharat's violin on "Big Sur",
it all adds
up to this rich blend that I still listen to over and over.
Sounds like a Colombian coffee commercial, doesn't it?
I think a good producer is like a master chef; they combine the
right
ingredients, in their own unique way, to create a signature dish
all their own.
I bet Will has never been compared to Wolfgang Puck in all the years
he's
been doing this!
Jamie: HaHaHa...
well, no one has ever brought up Wolfgang Puck's name
in any these artist-to-artist conversations either!
One thing that I am getting better at (or at least trying to get better at) is
giving up a certain degree of control in what I do. You seem to
have a real
handle on it -- giving people who are excellent at what they do
the freedom to
create great music. I imagine there was quite a difference between
your
demos and the tracks we hear on At Last -- which can
be a challenging thing
for some artists, particularly if they're inflicted with "demo love".
Clearly,
you're pleased with the performances and production on At
Last, but did you
find it difficult to let go of your demos? And just to add a second
somewhat
related question, has working with Will changed the way you currently
approach your compositions and music in general?
Jeff: The
demos were recorded in my office at home, on a Sony Vaio
desktop, using the tiny little mic that came with it to record the
horn tracks.
One of Will's first comments on the demos were that they lacked
dynamics.
I didn't argue, as you might imagine. On top of that, as I mentioned
earlier,
the horn tracks on "Matt's Mood" were Harmon muted, because as I
said I
played them at 3 a.m. while everyone was asleep. My office isn't
at all
soundproofed, so that's the only time that it's quiet enough to
record anything
acoustic.
Now, all of this didn't stop "Matt's Mood" from being #1 on the
Ambient
charts on MP3.com for three straight months, so I did feel that
there must
have been SOMETHING about the demo that people related to. Will
told me
toward the end of the sessions, after we knew that what we had been
working on was sounding pretty good, that there is always a risk
that you
don't capture the magic of the demo in the new recording. Pretty
smart of
him to tell me that at the END of the sessions, eh? But I knew that
what we
had done had really transformed them into something much deeper
and
complex, and I was and am satisfied with the way they all turned
out. It's
easy to let go of the old when you love the new.
If you are at all familiar with Will's music, you'll know that Imaginary
Road
has some of the best mics and mic preamps in the world. I'm not
sure how
many trumpet/flugelhorn sessions have been done there, but I knew
that the
lack of dynamics, especially in the horn tracks would disappear
pretty
quickly once we began recording.
When we recorded "Matt's Mood", we laid down the horn tracks with
Harmon
mute, just like the demo. We thought we were done with them, until
near the
end of the sessions when Will suggested that they sounded kind of
thin
compared to the rest of the tracks. Having Phil Aaberg's chords
and melodic
style will do that to you, I guess. So we overdubbed open trumpet
over the muted lines, and that's what you hear today. You know,
it's funny how many
people tell me that they sound like bagpipes, or that they are electronic,
not
acoustic. The combination of the open and muted trumpet sounds rather
unique, I guess.
Charlie Bisharat's violin on "Big Sur" completely took that song
to another
level. Both Will and I, after we finished the nine days recording
there in
Vermont, felt that "Big Sur" needed something more. So, Will had
me call
Charlie to see if he'd want to contribute to the track. He lives
in Los Angeles,
so he downloaded the demo at his home, and Will and I called him
up on a
conference call one night and listened to his ideas as he played
the violin on the phone.
Bryan Carrigan also lives in LA, and has a wonderful studio there,
Hyperion
Sound, where we mixed a lot of the tracks. Charlie came down and
we
recorded him there, and began to integrate his work into the mix.
It added so
much in terms of counterpoint, and harmony with the flugelhorn,
and that of
course took it way beyond anything the demo had originally.
One of the coolest parts in creating "Big Sur" was when we were
doing
some additional mixing at Spark Studios, up here where I live in
San
Francisco. Will and Bryan came up to finish off most of the mixing,
and as
we were working on "Big Sur", Will had the idea of pulling out the
tracks
Charlie had done and putting them together as the intro you hear
today.
That string intro you hear was never played as such, but was basically
created by us out of the tracks in the body of the song. When I
played the
final version for Charlie, his comment was something like, "Wow,
I didn't
remember playing that!" Ahh, the magic of Pro Tools and a good producer.
Working with Will has changed a lot of things for me, as a musician
and as
a human being. You have to understand that I had listened to this
guy's
music since 1979, and had spent countless hours playing along with
his
records, and just listening as I drove up Highway One to Big Sur,
or late at
night in LA.
So, after I had created these demos and had seen 40,000 streams
and
downloads in three months, and these songs were charting like they
were, I
felt compelled to see if I couldn't get some record company attention.
I was on the Windham Hill website, and I surfed over to Will's site,
and saw
that he was offering his services as a producer. So, I sent him
an email, out
of the blue mind you, talking about how I was this trumpet player
in San
Francisco, and how I had this music on MP3.com, and how I thought
it
would be great if he produced my music, etc. etc. etc. You can only
imagine
how many of these he gets.
And two minutes later, he wrote back . Something like "What are
looking for
in having me produce your music?" I couldn't believe it really.
Just sat there and stared at the screen. Now what?
So I answered with the whole it's time for me to do this, that I
told myself that
I would 10 years earlier, and that now was the time. The whole story
of At
Last, really.
He writes back, "So how can I help?" I gotta tell you, I sat there
staring at
that question for a half hour, even brought my wife in to help me
answer it.
Such a simple question. I finally decided that it deserved a simple
answer -
"I want you to produce my music." He writes back, "I ain't cheap"
to which I
responded, "Cost is an issue only in the absence of value."
And we went from there. I have a place in Vermont, about an hour
north of
Will's. I find it very strange that, after beating my head against
the wall in LA
for nearly 20 years, trying to "make it", that the answer was an
hour south of
my cabin in the woods.
Will has taught me the value of silence. These words are in the
liner notes of
my CD, and they echo Dizzy's words I spoke of earlier. Any time
I played a
solo during the sessions, he was always asking me to play less.
Longer
notes, notes that you could feel. We spent at least 45 minutes on
getting
the last five notes of the muted solo in "Matt's Mood" to end just
so.
The fact that we created the title track together still blows me
away. The
validation that came from creating something that beautiful, with
an artist
like Will, has given me a certain confidence that I will carry with
me, in my
playing and in my life, forever.
It's kinda like getting called up to the majors in baseball. It's
nice to know
you can swing with the best of 'em once you get there.
Now, it ain't all peaches and cream working with him, mind you.
He likes
what he likes, and doesn't like what he doesn't, and lets you know
it. I find
that refreshing, actually - you always know where you stand with
him. I found
myself surrendering to a lot of what he asked for in the studio,
and rightly so,
but also found that I stepped up and asked for what I wanted when
I felt
strongly about it. And he respected that.
At Last is OUR project, not his and not mine. I sure
hope we have a lot
more where that came from. I know we do. He's a good friend, and
that's one
of the very best parts of this whole experience.
Jamie: Every
instrument has its strengths and weaknesses. The guitar, as
great an instrument as it is, doesn't allow for many of the possibilities
that
the trumpet does. I'm thinking specifically about long tones and
the use of
breath in general. You said earlier in this conversation that "what
(you) love is
a rich smooth tone" and I definitely think that your sound on At
Last is
superb. Could you talk a bit about how you get that great tone?
Jeff: If
you listen to a lot of trumpet players, it's pretty amazing how
different
they all sound. I suppose this is true with all players and instruments,
but in
the brass world, to me you can really hear major differences. A
lot of high
note players can really give you that brassy intense sound, and
a lot of
technical bebop players can blow long complex lines, but you don't
hear a
lot of rich tone. There are exceptions of course, Marsalis for one,
but all in
all players seem to fall into certain niches that way.
A lot of trumpet players are VERY into the technical aspects of
their
instruments. I know many who can go on for days about the bore size
of
the lead pipes they have, the various models of trumpet they use,
the
mouthpiece they use for different types of music, etc. Maybe I'm
missing a
lot here, but I have never been that much of a student of all makes,
models
and sizes. I feel a bit like the emperor without clothes here, for
the brass
players reading this, but it's true. I play the same flugelhorn
I bought, through
the mail from Yamaha in 1978. Bought it without ever trying it out.
I'd have to
look at it to tell you the model number. OK, I looked - it's a YFH-731.
After
20 years, I recently changed the mouthpiece from the one that came
with
the horn to a Warburton 3 FLX. It really darkened the horn, created
a way
more mellow tone. I did sacrifice some high notes though, but with
a
flugelhorn, and for my personal taste and style, it's fine for me.
I play a Bach
Stradivarius trumpet as well, it's a Model 37. I use a Purviance
6 C 3 /Bob
Reeves custom mouthpiece for the trumpet.
The source of my tone really comes from the type of music I played
growing
up. My father, who was a great singer, really liked the standards
- "Poor
Butterfly", "Stardust", that kind of thing. I have several songbooks
of those
types of tunes, and he'd ask me to play them every time I'd practice.
Every
song included the lyrics along with the music, and in addition to
that, my
Dad would sing along with my playing. From that I learned to "hear"
the
lyrics as I played, and would shape my phrasing as if I was a vocalist
singing
the words. If you listen to most vocalists, other than those who
scat or
maybe Bob Dylan, they tend to sing in long flowing phrases in most
cases. I
think that I have developed a style of playing that mirrors a vocalist
singing a
beautiful ballad, and that this has carried over into all of the
types of music I
choose to play.
I like playing the flugelhorn more than the trumpet. The warmth,
fullness and
richness of tone, plus the relative ease of playing it, fits me
better. I know
that when I pick it up to play, that I can fill a room with a rich
tone, and that
to me, most importantly, it's one of the most beautiful sounds in
the world.
Recording at Imaginary Road really helped capture the true, full
sound of the
horns. Because of the solo guitar music that Will records, the mics
and
preamps are essentially without ANY noise, hiss or distortion, no
matter
what the level. You can really hear that on the finished product.
Jamie: Gear
can make dramatic changes to the effect a record has on a
listener. I like to think that a great musician can make great art
with
whatever tools are at hand -- maybe that's naive and probably somewhat
untrue. For me, "better" tools allow me to concentrate more on the
artistic
and less on the technical and help me to come closer to the music
in my
head. I'm still undecided as to whether or not more tools
are better, but it
sure would be fun to try out having 50+ guitars for a while!
Just to carry on a bit with the tech talk... The net has made a
huge number
of changes in the way I work and do business. And I think probably
the
same can be said for you. The fact that you've had such success
with your
web site (especially in terms of downloads) and the fact that you
first
contacted Will via the net are just two examples of what I'm thinking
about.
Certainly the net is not everything to everyone -- will it ever
be able to
replace the feeling of seeing a great band in a live setting? Still,
clearly
there have been huge changes due to the net's influence on how some
musicians create and how some listeners access music. What importance
do you feel the net has for you from an artistic and business perspective?
Jeff: I
look at the Net as the great equalizer. It's been phenomenal for
exposure, for tools to create, for instant feedback on my music,
for CD
sales, for reviews and exposure throughout the world. I could go
on and on.
Look at what it's done to the record industry. Sure, it's a double-edged
sword,
in that the health of the labels affects signings, amount of time
they nurture
a new act, etc., but musicians no longer are dependent upon them
to get
heard. They still control distribution, and certainly this has been
one of the
challenges I've had to face with my latest release, but how cool
is it that I
can get 40,000 streams and downloads in two months, from people
all over
the world?
Record deals are now at the point where an artist must actually
BE a record
company up until the point where a major can run with what's already
in
place. The only reason for an artist to sign with a major is to
get the
exposure and reach that they can't get themselves.
Every day I open my e-mail box is like Christmas or Hanukkah! I
never know
what will be waiting there. I have collaborated and released music
with Chris
Bishop (Project Overseer) in London, been interviewed on Radio Nonbiri
and
Love FM in Japan, seen streams and downloads in Vietnam, China,
Zimbabwe, all over the world. How else in history would I have been
able to
do that?
I am able to research markets, reach out and contact people like
Will and
you through a medium that allows for instant, anonymous response,
on
THEIR terms. Imagine if I had left Will a voicemail or sent him
a letter. Never
would I have made contact, been able to send links to my music,
all of the
things that led to this record. It's probably not unreasonable to
say that this
entire project could not have happened with out the Net.
It's also NOT a lot of things. It will never replace live performance,
it has the
ability to rob a musician of income they might otherwise receive
from their
music, it's massive and unwieldy and has a way of living up to the
name
"web" when you are trying to get something done.
I never forget that the Net is used by, and IS, people. People who,
if you
could connect with all of them, could love and buy your music. That's
the
key - how do you connect? I have done a lot of marketing in my life,
and I
know that I am just beginning to tap the true potential of the web
in terms of
building a fan base.
That's probably the most exciting aspect of my musical career, next
to
actually creating and playing the music. I actually feel like I
have control over
my destiny - and I still own my masters!!!
Jamie: And
owning your masters is no small matter. Now, if only
independent musicians could have the same control over mass media
and
touring, we'd be set. I can dream, can't I?!?!
And speaking of touring, any plans to take your music out on the
road?
Jeff: I
play here in the Bay Area with a 10 pc. band called the Bob
Claire
Orchestra. We do a lot of Motown, Steely Dan and some rock,
with a jazz
set or two thrown in. We do a fair amount of parties, weddings,
concerts and
things like that, but it's mostly local stuff. While this is a lot
of fun, it really is
separate from what I'd like to do with the music I've created on
At Last.
Creating music from loops presents some interesting challenges and
possibilities when it comes to live performance. Do I bring a laptop,
live
overdubbing hardware, and my horns, and become the 21st century
version
of the one-man band? That certainly prices right in terms of touring
expense,
and would be a close to the recording as possible in terms of "live"
performance, but where's the interplay, the surprises that can come
from
the interaction you can have in a band? Some of my best moments
have
come from playing in a band where there's that moment when you all
play
as one and ALL of you know it. It doesn't happen often, but when
it does, it's
just magic!
I think that a combination of the two is the way that I want to
go. It would be
fun to work with selected loops, mixed with some good live players.
So that
way, when the hard drive crashes we'll still be able to keep the
good music
flowing.
At this point in my life, I like to play music for the sheer joy
of it. It is
liberating to know that next month's rent doesn't depend on me selling
CDs
out of my trunk. At the same time, record companies want to see
you out
there on the road building a fan base and selling your CDs. Again,
another
fine reason for owning your masters! You get to call your own shots
in terms
of your pace and style of marketing.
I have had some pretty interesting conversations with my wife about
how
we're going to spend our retirement years. We both like the idea
of concerts
in Positano Italy, Lucerne Switzerland, Paris France, then moving
to Red
Rocks, The Greek in LA, and Central Park here in the states. Any
suggestions for some Canadian locales? In the summer, please!
Jamie: Well...
even though I'm a Torontonian, I'd have to say that Vancouver
is just beautiful. And if you liked to go a little further west,
try out Tofino --
definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been!
You say that your work with Bob Claire Orchestra is "separate" from
your
own solo music. Do you feel there's any crossover between the two
projects?
Anything you've learned from playing jazz and Motown music that
you can
apply to your own records?
Jeff: Most
of my professional career as a working musician has been
playing funk, jazz, Motown, Earth Wind and Fire, that type of music.
I did a
lot of work in Vegas, Tahoe and Atlantic City casino lounges, and
all of it
was in that genre. And in the VERY beginning, it was all about Chicago,
Blood Sweat and Tears, and KC and the Sunshine Band (am I dating
myself,
or what!)
It's the type of music I like to listen to, as well as play, and
certainly the horn
charts in these songs have helped me get a better understanding
of arranging
for horn, as well as the basics (and more) of melody.
With the Bob Claire Orchestra, I'm involved in a pretty unique situation.
Almost all of the players have families and substantial income aside
from
music, and do it for love as opposed to only for the money. Seems
kind of
utopian, but it actually is true.
It's fun being in a band where we put all of the gig money into
a bank account,
and spend it on limos and Steely Dan concert tickets for the band
and our
wives. Pretty cool. Plus, we get to play some really fun songs,
Steely Dan,
Marvin Gaye, Aretha, all of that.
Really from the beginning, for me it's always been about making
the horn
sound "pretty". Big tone, full sound, not a lot of fluff. All of
that is essential in
good horn section and solo playing, and really comes through in
the kind of
music I am doing on my own.
The ability for me to create these wonderful lush loop tracks, and
to come up
with melodies and harmonies that fit is just an incredible gift
for me. I just
work toward something that just makes me FEEL, and that inspires
horn
melodies to hopefully match.
Another great advantage of playing and rehearsing every week with
BCO is
that it keeps my chops up to some degree. It's sure nice to have
a few days
a week where it's a real workout for four or five hours. Believe
me, Tower of
Power and Earth Wind and Fire horn charts put the old embouchure
to the
test.
Jamie: That
really does sound fantastic... Pretty much an ideal situation --
playing music that you love with a great band and you get to ride
in limos!
So what's up next for you? Have you started working on a follow
up release to At Last?
Jeff: As
you know, At Last is an EP, with four songs in total,
about 20
minutes of music. The only negative feedback I've gotten, if you
can call it
that, is that the EP is too short. While it's always good to leave
'em wanting
more, I have found that a lot of distributors and reviewers are
used to an
entire 50-60 minutes worth of music.
One of the purposes in releasing At Last as an EP
was to get some
feedback from reviewers, radio and most of all from the listening
public. And
what I've received so far tells me that I am on exactly the right
track.
Of course, no matter what ANYONE says, my music is what it is...
I can
only be true to myself, to what I love. I really MUST continue to
write and
record for my own sanity and fulfillment, so that's what I'm doing.
I truly
believe that the minute you change that, and start doing it for
someone else,
that you are on the way to lost.
I have three new songs in various stages of development, one of
which,
"Final Approach", is up on my site.
I have talked to Will about going into the
studio again in the fall, to polish off these and a few others yet
to be created.
By far the most popular track of At Last is the title
cut, which is basically a
duet between Will and me. We have discussed creating a few more
of these
as well, in addition to the more complex horn and loop tracks I
have been
working on so far.
One of the things Will and I have talked about is that on a record,
it's good to
have some space, some more sparseness musically in between the more
heavily layered tracks. I would love nothing more than to release
a record
with a nice mix of these quieter, more acoustic songs mixed with
some rich
well orchestrated tracks.
My thoughts are to continue to let the world know about this EP,
work
towards getting some of this music into film and/or television,
to continue
working on these new tracks, and then re-release this as a full
length album.
This way I'll have some new tracks to share with the radio stations,
reviewers and listeners that have already embraced my music, to
be able to
approach the distributors that are asking for a full length release
and build
this beast from there.
There's a long road ahead, one that I am SO looking forward to traveling.
At
Last is really the first... the first step in what I am
hoping to be a long and
lovely journey of musical discovery, fulfillment and joy. So far,
so good!
Jamie: Jeff,
what a positive outlook! I sincerely hope you have the longest
and loveliest of journeys. Thanks for doing this artist-to-artist
conversation
and please stay in touch!
Jeff: And
thanks to YOU, Jamie. Very few performers, especially those of
your calibre, take the time to branch out beyond their music the
way you
do with these conversations. I for one appreciate it very much,
and I am sure
that your readers do too.
I look forward to YOUR next release, and perhaps at some point you
can
get all of the artists you've "conversed" with to get together for
an All-Star
jam session! Now THAT would be interesting!!!
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