BREAK AWAY!

I am pleased to announce the release of of my new CD, Break Away. It is completely different from anything you’ve ever heard from me before, and I think you’ll like it.

As some of you may know, I have played jazz professionally since I graduated from college—not long after jazz was invented or so it seems! I have played in many famous jazz clubs with many famous jazz musicians, as well as in many little dives with unknown musicians. (And I can let you in on a secret that is well known to all musicians—that it’s often the ones you’ve never heard of who are the real treasures. It’s true—and there are good reasons for it—but I digress.) The funny thing is that in 30 years of playing jazz and making recordings, I have never made a jazz recording—until NOW!

The new CD is called Break Away, and I am really proud and excited about it. This is romping, rollicking music that swings like crazy. I called together five of my most talented friends and we spent a few weeks together here on the coast, rehearsing by day and eating lobsters by night. Then we played and recorded a few concerts in August, followed by a few days in the recording studio. And voila—Break Away. I really can’t wait for you to hear it. If you like jazz, I guarantee that you will be delighted.

All the songs are my original compositions, so even though they are jazz songs, they still have my familiar “voice” running through them. And I even wrote four vocal songs for the CD—both music and lyrics. I was lucky enough to get the singer Theresa Thomason to sing them, and you won’t believe her singing. Truly, at our concerts, many people compared her to Ella Fitzgerald—and I think they were right. She’s not an Ella “wannabe,” but she certainly is in the same major league.

And she’s not alone. The other players on the CD are also stars. The bass player, Eliot Wadopian, is a two-time Grammy Award winner who, among many other things, was with us on the long march through Siberia. Another superstar player is Paul Lieberman, who has been one of my closest friends for almost 30 years. He plays four different wind instruments on the recording, and his playing is simply spectacular. One of his specialties is something I am almost sure you have never heard before—jazz piccolo! The band is rounded out with two swinging percussion players and good friends, Bill Friederich and Seth Kearns, who provide the elegant “motor” that drives the band. We call ourselves “PS Jazz,” and I am honored to play with musicians who bring such life and beauty to the music with every phrase they play.

“How can I hear this wondrous thing?”

“Where can I get a copy of this rare and marvelous CD?”

“It’s almost Christmastime. Is it possible for me to get lots of copies of Break Away so I can give them to everyone I know as presents?”

These are actual questions that we hear every day from agitated callers to our River Music Customer Care Center. So let me offer a few answers:

We’ve got your CD’s! More than you could ever dream of wanting. Enough to build a modest sized office complex with. And we are poised and eager to fire them off to you at the slightest hint of interest on your part. Here’s how to get them:

1.Order it from this website

2.Give us a phone call. (207) 359.8432

We accept checks, credit cards,cash, casseroles, and whatever other interesting barter offers you might come up with.