Debut album scheduled for release in early 2025.

About Me

“Music is the best!” is something I have been saying for as long as I can remember. However, it is Frank Zappa who famously immortalized that expression in the lyrics for Packard Goose (Joe’s Garage, 1979), a connection I only made recently. Yes, I am passionate about music. And I enjoy its expression over a wide range of styles. I especially appreciate live music and supporting the live music scene and its virtuosos is important to me. If you know me, none of that is new.

What’s new is that I reconnected with my own creative side – something I’ve left dormant for many, many, (did I mention it’s been a long time?), many years. And recently, following a catalytic discussion with Markus Reuter, I gave myself the freedom to create again. There is so much to explore in music, and my creative journey is now sampling many of the flavors I’ve tasted over the years. My compositions are inspired from an amalgam of jazz, pop, rock, fusion, prog, funk, ambient, lounge, electronic, and other styles. Each piece follows its own path, spurred by a snapshot in time within the mind. A memory, a thought, an emotion, a color, an equation. I am an equal-opportunity creator: any nucleator that sparks an idea is fair game. And the joy of creation is exhilarating.

As of Summer 2024, I am working on my first album of original compositions and expect to release it in early 2025.

Creating Music

The Process

This first album features my original compositions. I have always “heard” music in my head, at least from about 3 years old or so, hard to tell, but as soon as I started touching the piano in our family room, music creation became a part of my daily life. Like many thoughts though, it mostly remained hidden in my secret garden. It has certainly evolved over time in the range of instruments and orchestrations I hear. It may start with a bass riff, a percussion rhythm, a lyrical melody, a chord progression. I then let the creative juices flow and imagine various instrumental overlays by listening to that loop inside my head. When I set aside focused time for music, I isolate myself to record a piece. I use my trusted 1988-vintage Korg M1 keyboard and record the various tracks using midi instruments with a Digital Audio Workstation. These instrumentations are a rendition of my creative vision and usually include drums, bass, organs, pianos, flutes, brass, synthesizers, you name it. Sometimes the piece is instrumental, sometimes I record the lyrics I envisioned. In all cases, the piece tells me what it wants, then I record and produce it.

I have played piano and electric bass in the past, but I let those music performance skills dormant for a long time. Yet, music is human, and I prefer to hear real instruments played by musicians than my midi renditions. Hence, for this first album, I have the immense pleasure to work with amazing people who bring these compositions to life. People I admire for the soul they bring to music, and for the beauty of their souls themselves.

Musicians

• Christine Goulet on midi instruments and keyboards, vocals.
• Joe Travers on drums.
• Tony Levin on everything bass: electric, Chapman stick, electric standup picked and bowed.
• Mike Keneally on electric guitars, additional bass and keyboards.
• Billy Hulting on percussion.
• Ramon Yslas on percussion.
• Jim “Kimo” West on Hawaiian “slack key” guitar.

Production

• Mike Keneally: co-producing with me, he is the bearer of wisdom and fun.
• Dennis Moody: recording engineer and mix master extraordinaire.