I meant to write a post on Father's Day, but hopefully this will count as Father's Month, sneaking in here as we say farewell to June today...
P.S. I Remember is a "virtual" duo with my Dad, Leslie. He enjoys playing jazz piano, and was interested in recording a duo when I was working on my first cd project. Well, he was interested in recording until we actually got into the studio! Will Dowd, my wonderful recording engineer at Spikehaus, had a digital keyboard, which is of course much different than playing on a grand piano. I think my Dad felt agonized by the experience, which certainly can be stressful. Recording in the studio is like looking at your reflection under a microscope--a humbling feeling. The piece we recorded, written by my Dad, had a very different feel than the rest of the material I had recorded, so ultimately it did not feel right to include it on Bow and Cello. Also, I had tried to play along with the melody line in unison with the keyboard, and it didn't seem to be the best way to use the cello voice. So, the recording lay dormant in the digital ether.....
Waves Wash Over Us has a lot more variety of feeling in the collection of pieces I recorded, and as I was in process, I realized my Dad's piece could make a nice PostScript. Will Dowd was able to work with the piano sounds available digitally, and I brought the files to Tom Stiles at Jack Straw. I practiced playing along with the original recording, which is somewhat free in time, creating a duo. I would play my ideas for my sister Natasha, and she would give feedback. I didn't tell my Dad I was doing any of this, just in case it wasn't working! Happily, I felt pleased with the result, and was glad to bring this duo to life after 10 years of resting. Sometimes it is good to "sleep on" an idea--I love getting new perspectives after stepping away. I do remember.