I.   2018/2019  ·  Instrumentals / Demos
 

 Camel Isle · 6:01

June 2019 · Funk-jazz tune (inspired in part by the 1988 David Sanborn tune Camel Island ). Key: G major. 96 BPM. Current version: 4.2.

 My Heart · 4:05

March 22, 2019 ··· Piano-led ballad for my son. Version 3.3 ready for mastering soon. Key: Eb major. 110 BPM.

 Tumble · 5:34

Spring/Summer 2019 · Composed Dec. 2018 ··· Contemporary jazz tune. Acceptable demo quality. Current version 12.0. Key: G major. 90 BPM.

 Flow · 4:33

24 July 2018 · Composed/arranged early July. Pop-jazz tune in C Minor. 90 BPM. Key: C minor. 90 BPM. Submitted to Broadjam for placement Aug. 2018. v11.2

 Riptide · 5:32

2018 – 2019 Rippingtons-style pop-jazz composed May 2018, "released" in September. Extensively remixed during Spring and Fall 2019. Key: F major. 94 BPM. Final v15.

II.   Seeds  /  In Progress

June 2019: Came across this free loop yesterday and created this somewhat repetitive ambient track around it as a test. Who doesn't love the sound of a didgeridoo?! Special thanks to Planetjazzbass for the excellent loop.  Didgi v0.3

 My Beautiful Girl · 5:47

July 29 ⇢ August 19, 2018 ··· To my daughter when she was a child: "There's my beautiful girl!"  Leaving for college she was the last chick to leave the nest; this was a going-away gift. Key: D major. 66 BPM. Version: 6.7 (8-Sept). July 2019: Tempo upped to 70 BPM.

 Funk #51.5

Updated May 14 ⇢ July 26, 2018 ··· A short proof-of-concept created in April 2018. Unfinished: needs arrangement, B/C sections, bridges, etc. Testing wah on solo guitars. • Inspired by an instrumental jam played live by Bobby Caldwell's band as the singer sat on a tall stool basking in the groove*. That night the band featured saxophonist Andrew Neu. Video clip is Bobby's classic hit and includes footage of Neu (instrumental jam not in this video). Title is a reference to the James Gang's Funk #48 (1969) and Funk #49 (1970).

*note to self: Ideas captured in 2015 and 2017 via smart phone voice memo app.

 Ripps Orphan Chorus

updated July 16, 2018 ··· A repetitive ("lazy layering" technique) orphan chorus created on Sunday July 8. Remixed and cleaned up 1 week later. I put this on hold when I realized it was too similar in feel to the chorus in Riptide. There's still good stuff here so I'll rework it someday.

 Dark Action-Adventure Movie Theme

April 18, 2018  A fun headbanger. This proof-of-concept could be developed further; perhaps add a guitar solo? Vocals (now slightly muted) added because: Track was repurposed for a Pro Wrestling theme song

IV.   Other things

 Highway Cruise

Updated May 23, 2018. Originally recorded on 15 March as "Synths Test" while learning LPX.

 Tim's Dream

Recorded April 18, 2018, added to this page the following day ··· Composed more than 20 years ago for my old friend Tim in York, UK and written in Bedford, MA on grandmother's baby grand piano. The basic idea and chord progression were captured on old-school cassette recorder on April 9, 1996. Barely 40% complete, this employed "lazy layering"* to create a rough demo for quick evaluation of a decades-old idea. 

*Lazy Layering is duplicating a piano, synth, or other keyboard track to add a new keyboard part instead of playing the new part live. It's a quick-and-dirty method of building up layers so the music can be evaluated and critiqued immediately. Lazy tracks must be re-recorded later to retain a human feel.

 Not Quite LC

April 13, 2018  First test live mic-ing guitar (for now guitars mostly recorded direct). My Line6 M13 was having technical issues so I used a Zenkudo (set to Dumble of course ;-) to get the tone and played a 335. Earlier in the day I had listened to Russian virtuoso Andrey Korolev playing a sweet root-to-relative-minor thing, so this simple, repetitive throwaway also began with similar chord changes. It highlights the guitar melody in a tribute to Mr. Carlton, a favorite guitarist.

 Ballad ending w/ sax solo

June / July 2018 ··· A very simple repeating figure created as 3 tracks: piano, bass, drums. Added sax test on 16-July-18 — learning how to make MIDI sax sound more realistic.

 Sweet Driving Beat

July 17, 2018 ··· First beat test, sung into smart phone as a voice memo 16 July, 2018. Created in LPX the following day. A little too fast and frenetic at 94 BPM, it's been slowed to a nice, crisp 92 BPM. Update: 11 months later this ended up being used under the 'crazy guitar solo' in the middle of Camel Isle.

 New Orleans Stomp

July 18, 2018 ··· A bass line that came to me randomly after dinner on Tues. 17 July, 2018 and kind of demanded to be recorded. (This version is just a tad fast at 87 BPM; the current LPX project seems better/more relaxed at 86 BPM.)

 Hypno-Funk 1.0

July 24–25 ··· A simple repetitive groove in the key of G. 104 BPM. From a July 18, 2018 smart phone voice memo.

below:  Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 direct input box, Beyerdynamic open-back headphones (for mixing)