Here are a few items spanning from early 2009 to early 2010. During this time, I had only recently begun to add singing to my repertoire. My voice was rather thin and nasal (think Jerry Lewis or SpongeBob SquarePants), and lacked resonance (think of Nat King Cole singing a slow song). What I did possess, though, was joy, and thankfully I still remain joyful when the occasion calls for it! I had so much fun “singing” that the things I learned from Kevyn Lettau’s one-on-one voice lessons were a revelation to me (and still are), namely the constant dropping of the jaw in a slow song. These entries may be somewhat frivolous and juvenile in a good way, but they at least provide the listener with what my voice sounded like before I started the lessons and recently afterwards. It never really changed that much, and it’s remarkable that it’s taking four years and counting for it to change (this even goes for my speaking voice!).

So without further ado, here’s more music!

You’re Gone, But That’s Okay

For my Poway High School senior project, I chose to learn about the recording studio environment, specifically the technical aspects of what goes into the audio portion of an album before, during and after recording. Jazz guitarist Peter Sprague, a San Diego favorite, has a neat studio which he calls Spragueland (see the picture posted on this site). I visited it in March 2009 and recorded the instrumental rendition of an original tune, “You’re Gone, But That’s Okay,” based on an idea from a friend formerly of Poway High School, Kim Monroe. The song is written for a musical theater project which is still in the works. This jazz rendering features me on Peter Sprague’s grand piano, and the bass, drums and clarinet from my Yamaha Motif 6. While the bass and drums you’re hearing are sounds that already came with the keyboard, the clarinet sound comes from a piece of additional software that Uncle Pat got for the keyboard which emulates real instrument sounds. Pay particular attention to three aspects of this song: the drum track, which had some editing work done on it using ProTools, listening especially for the cymbal crash which kicks off the piano solo; the piano solo also had some editing done because my improvisation didn’t follow the form of the tune; finally, the ending features the piano and clarinet doing a simultaneous “tweet.” This also had to be edited because originally they didn’t come in on time.

Cole Porter at Exum

While this was a fun experience, I didn’t quite learn all I wanted about what truly goes into the audio engineering aspect of recording. So, a month later, in April 2009, I visited Scott Exum Recordings in Escondido and focused on the work of composer-lyricist Cole Porter, whose life and work I studied intensely on my personal time. A warmup medley, featuring me on Scott’s Baldwin piano coupled with my vocals, consists of “I Get a Kick out of You” (from Anything Goes), “Do I Love You” (from DuBarry was a Lady), “We Open in Venice” (from Kiss Me Kate), and “Anything Goes” (from Anything Goes). (Check back for updates regarding this item; it doesn’t want to upload!). Following this, I did a fully-orchestrated, improvised, big band arrangement of “Do I Love You” featuring Baldwin piano and vocals recorded separately, and then from the Motif 6, bass, drums, saxes, trombones, trumpets and strings! Scott had to use AutoTune to adjust some of the pitches on a few spots in the vocals; this was the wake-up call that I needed singing lessons if I wanted to continue doing vocal numbers! Scott also had an applause sound handy from a sound effects disc, which we decided to tack onto the end for comic effect. While Scott Exum’s mix is nice to listen to, not every instrument can be heard. So, after Scott gave me a CD with each individual track as wav files, I imported each track into GarageBand at home and created a mix of the tune where every instrument is heard; this is the mix I used for my senior project, and it’s the one you’ll hear right now!

Me and My Shadow

I made this in January 2010. Most of my GarageBand projects take 4 to 5 hours, and are usually spread out over a few days. This one was created and finished in 67 minutes. This 1920s standard, written by Al Jolson, Billy Rose and Dave Dreyer, received a swinging update from Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. when they performed it as part of the Rat Pack’s early-‘60s nightclub shows. Specialty lyrics were added for Sinatra and Davis by Sammy Cahn, which I slightly reworked in places to make them fit my world. I had never done a re-creation of a vocal duet with myself before, so this was my first informal experience trying it out in GarageBand. A rhythm section of piano, bass, drums, guitar and vibraphone is the foundation for two separate tracks of my vocals, that of “me” and “my shadow,” so to speak. So which voice is me and which is my shadow? You decide!

Check back for updates to this post – I have a few other projects to add here!

If this were an ad for beer, it might say, “Cool, clean and refreshing!” This time, it’s a tribute to one of the most popular musicians of the swing era: trombonist, composer, arranger and bandleader, Glenn Miller! I recorded these using the GarageBand software on my mac. I used my keyboard/synthesizer, in this case, a Yamaha Motif 6, to play the songs, with each instrument sound recorded separately on one track in GarageBand. This long overdue project gathers together some favorite hits including “Little Brown Jug,” “American Patrol,” “Moonlight Serenade” and more. Here are the five songs I completed during the summer of 2012. Updates were made in 2013, but due to my extremely varied music interests, work on the album has now become an impossible Gilbertian battle between the size of my hands and of my orchestral mind. I can assure you, music lovers, that one of these years, the album will be completed! Here’s what I’ve done so far. Ladies and gentlemen, live from Poway, California, featuring the Yamaha Motif 6 Big Band, it’s Miller Time! Here’s hoping you’re all…

In the Mood (03:19)

Here’s my rendition of the Joe Garland/Andy Razaf tune, as made famous by Glenn Miller in 1939. Piano, bass, drums, trumpets, trombones and saxes; solos for a tenor sax, alto sax, and trumpet. Finally, you’ll be hearing two of my own ideas. First, I decided on the drum sounds to give my re-creation a rousing introduction. Then, for the call-and-response between saxes, I thought of the alto sax instead of the other tenor sax, since the alto sax would provide me the opportunity to improvise some new melodic ideas.

Little Brown Jug (03:57)

Joseph Winner originally wrote the music and lyrics for this tune in 1869. In 1939, 70 years later, Bill Finegan made his famous instrumental arrangement for Glenn Miller and his Orchestra. Here’s my version of this swing era classic! Piano, bass, drums, guitar, trombones, trumpets and saxes; solos for tenor sax, trombone, trumpet and piano (my idea; Finegan didn’t originally specify a piano solo in his arrangement).

American Patrol (03:22)

Originally a march composed by F. W. Meacham in 1885, Jerry Gray wrote this swing arrangement for Glenn Miller’s orchestra in 1941. Here’s my re-creation of Gray’s arrangement, with my own drum introduction. Piano, bass, drums, trumpets, trombones and saxes; an important part for baritone sax and a solo for trumpet round out the orchestration. Also of note is the use of mutes in the trombones for an airplane effect. I used the French horn part of a sound called “Action Flick” to re-create Jerry Gray’s idea by way of a few punch-ins on the trombone track.

A String of Pearls (03:36)

Composed by Jerry Gray in 1941, with lyrics by Eddie DeLange, Glenn Miller recorded his own instrumental arrangement of Gray’s composition in the same year. Here’s my re-creation of this popular swing tune with my own piano intro. Piano, bass, drums, trumpets, trombones and saxes, plus two tenor sax soloists and a trumpet soloist.

Moonlight Serenade (04:51)

The classic Miller sound (a clarinet lead with four saxes harmonizing underneath it) is associated not with the uptempo and mid-tempo swingers, but with the ballads. Emotionally, the ballads are the hardest for me to re-create: they take the longest because I’m thinking of phrasing and harmony that is so iconic that it must be treated with respect and love for his sound. I’ve never worked so hard in my life, and I’m proud, beyond mere words, of how this one turned out. Glenn Miller composed, arranged and recorded this song in 1939, with lyrics added later by Mitchell Parish (“Stardust” and many others). Here’s my heartfelt re-creation of Miller’s signature song, complete with the famous clarinet-led saxophone section. This will be the final song on the album. The introductory piano solo is my own idea. Piano, bass, drums, clarinet lead, two alto saxes, two tenor saxes, trombones and trumpets.

Another Little Brown Jug (03:15)

The tempo is a bit faster and it contains some sax and brass parts I missed in the version I made last year. Also I did a full track of rhythm guitar, something I hadn’t done in a GarageBand project before, save for a John Pizzarelli-inspired cover of “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home.” Here it is, with 12 tracks! Piano, bass, guitar, drums, two alto saxes, three tenor saxes, trombones (with a solo on the same track), trumpets, and a trumpet solo (on a separate track). This is the version I’ll use for the album.

Tuxedo Junction (03:49)

This song was originally composed by Erskine Hawkins, Bill Johnson and Julian Dash, with lyrics by Buddy Feyne, and first introduced as an instrumental by Hawkins’ orchestra. Glenn Miller’s arrangement was written and recorded in 1939, and released the following year. This instrumental version was one of Miller’s most popular efforts, and is one of my personal favorites. Here is my rendition of this swingin’ arrangement, with my own piano and drum intro. The brief piano solos weren’t written into the music, allowing for each pianist to improvise within their short time slots before the band would re-enter. In addition to these brief spots, The piano has featured much more prominently in this arrangement since the modern Glenn Miller Orchestra’s mid-1970s incarnations, under the musical direction of Jimmy Henderson and most famously Larry O’Brien. Taking after these leaders, I decided to feature more piano ideas than in Miller’s original recording; the piano solos you’re hearing are my own ideas. 12 tracks: bass, guitar, piano, drums, three tenor saxes, two alto saxes, trombones, trumpets, and a solo trumpet.