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    with Canadian folk icon Valdy at the Belfry Theatre           at Victoria Jazz Fest with Edie Daponte,        with Maureen Washington,
       used with permission                                                                      photo courtesy Michele Alger                                Alix Goolden Hall
                                                                                                                                                                                                      used with permission

Gigs and Events

Live gigs are back! Several to report, including playing both solo and with Joey Smith at the Riva in Sidney, and concerts coming up with Dan Lapp, Maureen Washington, Edie Daponte, and Kim Greenwood. Details for all gigs on my calendar page.
The onset of isolation in March, 2020 caused my calender, and that of all performing musicians, to clear rapidly, and for well over 2 years. Early on, my attention quickly turned to how I might be able to connect with other musicians and audiences in those circumstances. And very quickly I found a free application called Jamkazam, originated by 3 brilliant Texan engineers, David Wilson, Peter Walker and Seth Call, working in their spare time and building the necessary infrastructure with their own funds. The app allows musicians all over the world to play together in synchronization, and with all the sudden demand, quickly turned into a vehicle with which to stream live concerts. The very first time I hooked up on Jamkazam with Joey Smith, a bassist from England joined the session and we were able to play in sync! I have persuaded many Victoria performers to sign on, and I've been doing online gigs solo, and with Joey Smith, Maureen Washington, Edie Daponte, Maria Manna, and Susannah Adams on Facebook and Youtube. I also performed online with the Wilds (Holly Arntzen and Kevin Wright), Kim Greenwood, Diane Pancel, and Valdy.
My enthusiasm for the programme got the notice of Jamkazam founder David Wilson, and the Jamkazam team has been following these gigs with interest, in order to improve the software. Jamkazam invited me along with 5 other bands from across the continent to their very first Jamkazam Music Festival, an online event scheduled for Saturday, May 30th, 2020 and I invited Edie, Maureen, Susannah and Maria, with bassist Joey Smith to join me. Our set starts at 2:29:20.
On June 19th, Jamkazam invited me, Joey, Maureen, and Susannah to perform in the very first Jamkazam Juneteenth Festival. Susannah's set begins at 18:13 and Maureen's at 26:10.
I've been following another program called Farplay, created by piano and technical wizard Dan Tepfer in New York. The latest version of the program (which I beta tested last spring) allows more than 2 remote locations to join and play together, and it is truly amazing! Latency is very low and can be adjusted, and the sound quality is truly great! This week I did a jam session with Dan, and though we are on either end of the continent, the experience was truly wonderful! Part of the session is posted on the Dan Tepfer's Facebook page. Farplay invited me to do a promo session, which I did with Joey Smith, soon to be released.

If you'd like to receive updates and details of where I'll be performing in the next little while, send me an email and I'll put you on my list.

Recordings

My latest solo CD birdsong in the parkade is available on Itunes, Spotify, and many other sites. The album was recorded on a Steinway grand in the lowest level of Victoria's View Street parkade, with music based on bird songs collected on a cross-Canada camping trip Brin and I took in the spring of 2016. Copies are also available from me directly, or at Ditch Records, and can be taken out on loan from the Greater Victoria Public Library.
During the pandemic lockdown I did piano tracks for Garnett Betts' new CD, now just released. I've also done arrangements and piano tracks for Valdy, singers Alan Roy and Malcolm McKenzie and songwriters Barry Swanson and Robert Morrison.
In 2019, recorded tracks for 2 albums by Edie Daponte, one of her Edith Piaf repertoire and the other in several languages.
In the fall of 2014 Maureen Washington and I produced her Christmas CD "Christmas Is" (available at CD Baby), with eleven terrific Christmas tunes that you don't hear very often. Joey Smith and Damian Graham rounded out the rhythm section, and there were special appearances by Dan Lapp, Al Pease, Larry Miller and Duncan Meiklejohn. Definitely worth checking out. CD release concerts were held in Prince George and Victoria, and we played a few gigs in Calgary before Christmas as well.
Fall of 2011 I worked with Valdy on his new CD, available for download at his site. I produced the CD and played keyboard tracks, train whistles, and fauxbro (that's our name for a synth dobro) tracks. When we started the project in August, Valdy said "I'll be playing in Ontario and have a week free, so let's drive up and down the 401 and find studios and musicians." So that's what we did, and everyone Valdy phoned that week said "Yes, I'd love to play on your CD!" We've recorded in Vancouver (rhythm section #1), Crofton (rhythm section #2, background vocals, Valdy's guitar, mix), 3 different studios in Ontario (Valdy's vocals, bassoon and trumpet, electric guitar, and pedal steel guitar), and Victoria (trombone, organ, piano, accordion and additional tracks). The choir tracks were recorded at the historic Victoria Synagogue. We finished the mix in November, and the CD was released early in 2012.
In 2011 I wrote a piece for a concert and recording for Gord Clements on bass clarinet accompanied by strings. Other composers, including Don Thompson and Tobin Stokes also contributed original pieces. You can hear mine, entitled Current, here. The CD is available on iTunes.
Downloads of cuts from previously released CDs Cat Fud, my Christmas CD (retitled Ave Maria because Do You Hear What I Hear is not public domain), and public domain and original cuts taken from Blue/Green (now called Monday's Child) and Sweets are now available at iTunes. You can also find recordings of earlier CDs (Thinking of You, Orca Suite, Piano by the Sea, Classics for Relaxation) there.

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