Bonus MP3 Files...
The following tracks are MP3 versions of songs I have recorded but not released. As with most things I do, they are wildly divergent in sound and character. I hope you enjoy these "extras"! If you don't have an MP3 player and you have a Windows PC, you are in luck! I have put Winamp and Music Match Jukebox on this CD.
This piece was recorded around the same time as the first song on Singularity (Prelude). It has a similar feel, although I chose to improvise it in a more organic way. This song could have been on Singularity, but I forgot that I recorded it, and found it months after the fact! Realistically, I think it is too similar to Prelude to reside on the same CD.
[ Ornettethology ]
Ornettethology is a major departure from the kinds of music I normally do. This song is freely available on MP3.com, however the real story behind the song is here... During high school in Portland, I used to go to a jazz jam session at a restaurant called the Hobbit. This jam featured an absolutely stellar lineup including the late, great Leroy Vinegar on bass, Mel Brown on drums, and Eddie Wied on piano. One of the regulars was a sax player named Jay Collins who now resides in New York. So what does this tune have to do with any of this? Well, I was listening to the local jazz radio station, KMHD, and one of Jay's new songs came on.. I was inspired and thought "hey I can play jazz!" So I did... sort of. The result is my "attempt" at jazz, and probably makes purists retch uncontrollably. Another bit of lore about this song: the original title was "Cat Yarp." The larger of the two cats, Simba (featured on Singularity track 12), puked all over the floor immediately after I recorded this song. I'm not sure what that meant, but I'm basically happy with how this tune turned out, whether Simba likes it or not.
[ Opening ]
I wrote this song for an independent film from Australia called "God Zone" which has not yet come to fruition. For kicks I am also including the one video segment that features this music. I have composed a good deal of music for theater and dance productions, and this one is a loose example of that kind of work.
[ Space House ]
While on the subject of "God Zone," here's a little techno music I arranged for an intergallactic dance number. I know it is a cheap imitation of real music. I know, I know....
[ Collage ]
Sometimes interesting pieces create themselves. That was the case here. I got some great shortwave radio sounds, threw in some DAT captures from around the neighborhood and added some bass clarinet for color. The resulting mix is a stew of sound colors surprisingly melodic in nature. I might add that this is the only piece I have playing bass clarinet. I sold the sucker and am not planning on buying another one.
Ok, I know I do a lot of sax quartets, but this one is different than the others! For one, it's short. For two, it's not 60 bpm. Enough said.
[ I Thought you were someone else... ]
This is a basement tape. Plain and simple. It is single-mic DAT recording featuring a (mediocre) progressive rock/fusion group called Fiction, of which I was a member for almost a year (1998-1999). You can tell that I listened to David Sanborn in my younger days! This piece is interesting if for no other reason than it is in 19/8 time (most of the time).
[ Generations ]
This is another basement song recorded with the above band. This was my favorite song we did, and I had the task of playing both sax and Rhodes piano, often at the same time! I chopped the end of it off, since we screwed it up, so that's why the ending seems a bit abrupt. Hey, what do you want for free, anyways?
[ Trainharmonics ]
Trainharmonics happens to be another gift from the universe. I happened on this soundscape shortly after moving to an apartment complex in Northwest Portland (Oregon), 29th and NW Wilson to be exact. Across a gravel parking lot, right in front of a seedy little grocery store is an infrequently used rail spur. There are two rails joined a few inches apart, and when a train rolls across them, they simpathetically vibrate! The result is a piercingly beautiful and striking sound that literally fills the air. Luckily the trains only ran during the day, because it was LOUD. This recording is not doctored in any way. As far as I know, trains still pass on this rail almost daily, so I recommend a trip to the industrial edge of Portland to experience this rare and beautiful phenomenon!