It was twenty years ago this month that I drove up Route 95 in Maine to pick up my first CDs in all of their boxes. "Postcard" is its name, and I've been listening lately. Who wrote that stuff? I've been enjoying the music as if it belongs to someone else. I remember fun little details about the recording, mixing, mastering, graphics, manufacturing. The music is deeper than I had remembered. I'm not sure why. I haven't exactly moved in a backwards direction, but it hasn't been a rocket blast upward or even forward, either. I've been moving musically in different directions all around what I've been doing for a long time: playing changes, writing and arranging changes, taste changes, and certainly changes in accepting what I do as my own, along with who I am. It's as if the past twenty years has been a giant editing session. I've pared down. I've grown, too, which is probably what allows me to be looking back and appreciating my younger self and her work. The guys in the band were outstanding, and they still are; all in their own ways, too.
I hope you'll join us at the Acton Jazz Cafe on November 22 to celebrate the music from "Postcard." My new self is learning from my old self. I'll be opening the show at 7 with a solo set featuring music from my new solo guitar CD "Three Sides To A Story." No reservations needed for that early set, but I suggest making then anyway because you'll need them for the second set, which starts at 9:15 or so. Settle in for a nice dinner and stick around for the show.
I'm looking forward to playing and seeing lots of you there.
http://www.actonjazzcafe.com