Newsletter updates

Aug 11, 2010

Hola a todos!

Album update

How is everyone! I am doing absolutely great and wanted to share my excitement! About 10 days ago, we wrapped up the first major step in the Orchestrotica recording project - 23 songs in 3 days of recording at Futura Productions! The Orchestrotica exotica quartet sounded great; Geni, Noriko, Jason and special guest Tev put up with a lot of very intense preparation for some hard repertoire which we recorded in a live setting, giving the music an almost chamber-like feel. Currently mixing that record are the Br. Cleve and Ducky Carlisle team, and soon, we will move on to the Esquivel big band recording mixes which I am now reviewing. That happened on Monday, Aug 2 and as stressful and laborious as it was getting 23 musicians together, maxing out the studio's resources, and moving B3 hammond, marimba, drumset, timpani, 5-oct marimba, etc. up 3 flights of stairs, turned out to be awesome. We got lots of photos and some video (even more here) which you can see on the album/pre-purchase page. More media to come when my Flickr account frees up ;-) I lost a couple pounds that weekend which was also nice. Special thanks to Joe Ranft for his generous assistance, and Kathy Chapman for shooting photos at the big band session.

Album pre-sales

I normally don't like to ask people to buy stuff, but your pre-purchase of the record(s) can still help the Orchestrotica out with all the upcoming post-production and duplication costs ($$$$!). You'll get the album sooner than everyone else, and there are special prizes and contests for things like free tickets and cocktail parties ;-) Most likely, there will be 2 albums coming out under a single exotica set: 1 big band record, and 1 quartet record. Still working out the details on this and the title will be announced soon! Our Facebook page also has photos and the latest discussions and contest announcements.

Performance update

I've been enjoying a rather slow August and with vacation coming up, I will be on even more of a hiatus this month. That said, I do have a large event coming up with La Tuza - a headline show at Club Passim, which is below. I'm also working on CD release dates with the Orchestrotica and have just confirmed an Oct. date back at the Fireplace. Later in October, I'll be back with the Klezwoods and some other bands as well. Until then, hope you can come check out La Tuza - we're working on new repertoire (lots more huapanguera for me!) and are looking forward to a more intimate performance next week: