A New Musical Landscape
So right now I’m doing something that I really rarely do. I’m listening to my second album, Of The Air, released on Random Chance Records in 2005 ( I can’t believe this album will be 20 years old next year!). The personnel for this project featured Lisa Mezzacappa on bass, Shelley Doty on guitar and vocals, Micha Patri on drums, with special guests Dimitri Moderbacher on saxophone and clarinet, Dana Leong on cello, Ryan Scott on guitar, and Myra Melford on harmonium.
It’s not often that I listen to my original music, unless I’m needing to relearn a song for a particular performance. But it’s interesting to listen to something over nearly two decades old because I can appreciate what I was reaching for as well as my musical influences. I remember touring this project with the musicians mentioned above and the challenges I felt being a young mother creating a home away from my beloved NYC. Years later, I feel a little less critical of my singing and also deeply appreciative of where I am now as a vocalist and composer. So it kind of feels like the best of both worlds to be bringing some of this music back for my upcoming audiobook!
One of the exciting and unique things about designing an audiobook with music is that I get to build a totally new take on my music! Of course when I first thought about this project I imagined I would try to combine newly composed music for a new album along with my voice over for the book. But that would be a little too much (which is my tendency) and these days it seems people are overwhelmed with information as it is. So thankfully I had the insight to bring in the technical expertise of composer, bassist, and producer Alexis Cuadrado. That’s when he had the suggestion to actually remix music from my prior releases to create something new and fresh to uplift the text from Lost & Found: Finding The Power In Your Voice. Yes! Great idea! This is why collaboration matters.
You can hear my conversation with Alexis and more of our process in the coming months on September 13th on Lost & Found: Behind The Book. But in the meantime, you can learn more about the makings of my memoir by listening to my most recent conversation with writer, educator, chef, and one of my beta readers Alicia Hines. And if you don’t yet own it, grab a copy of Of The Air today!