Bluewater Road
It’s been a crazy spring and a bumpy slide into summer! So many things going on at once- wrapping up the winter performance and recording season, with Woolly Mammoth’s move from Waltham to Essex, Massachusetts; selling my beautiful Marshfield cottage; scouting new properties in Malibu; dialing back my work with RF Venue; and getting van Gogh Brothers’ band health issues back on track—that’s enough “life” issues for a few years at least! The lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer might have to wait until fall!
I’ll be spending half my time in Malibu through September and then it might increase from there, depending on how everything else aligns. With the van Gogh Brothers, my business, and some of my family in Boston, I will continue to split my time between coasts for the foreseeable future, which is OK with me. I’m a rolling stone, so the motion agrees with me.
Part of my time in Malibu this summer is being spent at Woodshed Recording, laying down additional tracks to add to the Belt Welt catalog. I’m thrilled to be back at Woodshed and to be immersed in the LA sounds as I continue exploring the jazz-infused soundscapes which are finding their way back into my palette at last. I am eternally grateful to Richard Gibbs for this incredible opportunity, borne of an early collaboration in our friendship.
The first two semi-complete songs from Woodshed are “Four Leaves,” a Nick Drake-inspired tome replete with a tabla loop and sitar guitar, and “Je ne Sais Quoi,” another Bossa-infused track which will feature trumpet and saxophone (and possibly trombone) from both east and west coast players. I am booked to perform in Malibu at our Composers Breakfast Club meeting on August 24 to test drive these tracks, as well as a Belt Belts selection and the van Gogh Brothers’ crowd pleasing “California Redux.” I’m hoping for a 9-piece orchestra for this performance, which is a developing goal of mine as I stretch musical boundaries. I must say, the phrase “Je ne Sais Quoi” literally came to me in a dream one night and I went straight from my bed to the writing table for this one. It was delightful, and I think the song is too.
Well, that’s enough out of me for now. I hope you are all enjoying the summer and staying cool enough as we head toward the “dog days” on the east coast, and warm enough as we emerge from “June gloom” on the west coast. See you all soon.
Love,
JC