I recorded a bit of improvisation around some familiar Christmas tunes for the holidays. Enjoy!
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I’ve been using pieces from Off the Path and Dry Hot Long Ago as soundtracks to YouTube videos I post for my wife Deanna, such as this one:
Visit http://deannamarsh.com/category/video/ for more videos. I’ve also started getting requests from other artists for licenses to use the music in their videos. Such as this one from Grant’s Pass artist Randy Johnson:
More about Randy at http://www.johnsonartworks.com/. I think the character of the music fits really well with art videos – adds some gentle emotion but doesn’t detract from the art. Artists should be well versed with intellectual property (as they create it every day) and it’s wise to have permission to use the material you publish – even background music. So contact me if you’re producing a promo video – I’m much easier to deal with for a license than a record label ;-).
This album continues the solo piano improvisation tradition started in my first album Off the Path, but for me evokes not just the natural world, but the landscapes of memory, nostalgia, and change. It represents continued growth in both the sophistication, and the simplicity, of my work. I’m sure you’ll like it! Please leave a review or rating on iTunes and spread the word! Publishing a simple song that’s been sitting in my inbox for many weeks, as the fall flurry of activity has ruled out any attempt at quite creative time. Finally finished this one only by getting out of town for a few days! Jason and I will again be playing a half hour of music preceding Placer Nature Center’s great 4th Friday Lecture series. It’s tomorrow, 23 October, music starting at 7PM followed at 7:30 by a speaker from the California Environmental Legacy Project. Our set will include our eclectic selection of tunes spanning rock (from Jean-Luc Ponty), jazz (Pat Metheny), and contemporary bluegrass (Ira Stein, Darol Anger), but also will be heavy on our own material. We’ll play a duet version of Off the Path from my album of the same name, and engage Jason’s new looping system for some unusual time-shifted improvisation on Girl That Broke My Heart and other spontaneous melodies. I’ll contribute a copy of Off the Path to the raffle, so with luck you can fulfill your aural, environmental, and charitable senses all at one place. Join us! I realized as I was saving today’s podcast to a file that this date one year ago marked the first entry in my Spontaneous Reflections podcast. Nice to look back and see regular progress and variety in the 35 improvisations I posted in the first year. Off the Path, the album collecting the best of the fall 2008, continues to be dear to my I’m almost ready to start collecting them into album #2 – watch for it, and grab the free versions off my podcast while they are still available! Most of my song names relate to a feeling or event in my life at the time I name and save the file (how’s that for a hard deadline!) and today’s was no exception - “A Year Gone By” fit both the occasion and the tone of the piece. Enjoy! P.S. keep those comments coming! Each one motivates me to share more… Experimental improvisation with looping, with guest artist Jason Marsh, using his new hardware/software system for multiplying the sonic presence of a solo violin into an orchestrated live performance. Played on the first scorching day of summer, harking back to the sweltering days of years gone by, and to the hope of the heat breaking under a late August thunderstorm. This track is the title track of my second album.
Have a gallery or other outlet near you that you think would be an appropriate retail outlet? Let me know, I’m looking for more ways to share! Starts as a great conversation should - with a simple question.
I even have an introductory offer for you – for a limited time I’ll ship it anywhere in the US for a penny. (That sounds generous but I really just have yet to determine my actual shipping and handling costs…) Off the Path makes a great gift, especially in CD form. Many people find it a more tangible, and more widely accessible format than MP3 downloads. If you have any questions or problems, don’t hesitate to let me know!
If you purchase, or already have my album or podcast and like it, I strongly encourage you to leave a review or rating on one or both of these sites, which will help raise my profile and help me gain a larger audience. And tell your friends too! Still working on providing direct sales of CDs from this site – stay tuned. I’ve volunteered to play some live music for the popular Loomis Art Loop, Sunday afternoon 10th May starting after noon sometime and continuing for a couple of hours. A perfect time to bring a picnic, enjoy the music, acres of blooming iris gardens, and see some of the new work created by local artists (including new tapestries by Deanna Marsh and jewelry by Doug Horton). Prelude to the Easter service, contemplating the renewal of hope that accompanies the season. A combination of a rising ostinato paired with a vaguely middle-eastern pastoral melody (recorded 12 April 2009.) This song appears on my second album. |
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heart, but I think there are some real gems since then as well. You might detect a bit more rock influence lately in some of my favorites such as “
Off the Path
My first album 
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