THE SHORT VERSION
Passage, my debut album, has been recorded...we just need some funds to finalize/perfect the recording, make physical copies, publicize it, tour it, and shop it out to you, hopefully in FEBRUARY 2019! If you support this project now, you get a bonus track (not available to those who wait until February), and other cool perks found on this page!
Listen to some samples below! AND check out the debut single featuring Chris Potter which was already featured by Nextbop ("the next generation of jazz")!
THE LONG VERSION
Twenty years, folks. For the past twenty years I have been plugging away, working at this great and crazy thing we call "music": writing pieces, working on my craft, entering (and sometimes winning) competitions, moving to NYC, studying at Juilliard, then being asked to teach at Juilliard, playing lots of hotel and wedding gigs, also playing some really great gigs (several weeks at Jazz at Lincoln Center, a US State Department tour of Honduras, the Tokyo Jazz Festival, etc.), and then suddenly being appointed to a full-time piano professor position at University of North Texas and moving across the country to help students begin this very same journey.
All of this and I NEVER RELEASED AN ALBUM!!! WHAT?!
No longer. I bring you Passage, my very first musical offering with some real heavy-hitters on it. It will be released, with your help, in February 2019.
THE MUSIC
Chris Potter, perhaps one of the most widely known saxophonists of the last quarter-century, joins the trio on a very special track, and MacArthur "Genius Grant" awardee Miguel Zenón joins me on a duo track. Not to mention the core band of Kush Abadey (drums) and Tamir Shmerling (bass), and a brief appearance from my good friend and Juilliard classmate Marty Jaffe (bass).
This album is the literal passage of my musical career to this point. There are tunes on this record from 2008, and from 2018. You can hear everything on here: my classical influences, my love of jazz luminaries like Thelonious Monk and Jaki Byard, and my time spent playing in church. There is something for everyone!
THE COSTS
The album is all wrapped up- but I have incurred near-crippling costs to produce it.
Do you know how much it takes to release an album? And I did it on the cheap: negotiating prices down at every turn (hire me Priceline, I'm better than William Shatner), finding those quality engineers who don't charge exorbitant rates, and most of all applying for funding at every turn....I got some, but not quite enough.
In the coming months, I will incur the following expenses and I need YOUR HELP to cover them in this FINAL PUSH:
$2000 - Final Editing and Making Physical Copies (aka FINISHING THE ALBUM)
$3500 - Postage and Publicity (#peopleneedtoknow)
$500 - Album Artwork (#makeitlookpurdy)
$500 - Press Releases and Biographies
$???? - Tour Expenses for 2019
AND Kickstarter will take a cut for their services...so we are hoping to exceed the goal if possible.
This is all in addition to the money I have already spent to record, edit and produce this thing. The cost is REAL. But it is worth it everytime I listen to the tracks, and I hope you will feel the same way.
I sincerely hope you will support this project! ALL KICKSTARTER BACKERS GET THE BONUS TRACK! I'm NOT giving this track to the people who wait until 2019...truly. It's just for YOU!
Risks and challenges
This project is almost complete. It's happening. I'm not buying a boat with your money.
There is no risk here- you'll get your copy in February if we make this happen!
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Funding period
- (45 days)