The Black & Blue Sessions, Vol. 1 was released today & I thought I'd write a bit about how it came about. I took a really bad fall a year or so ago that left me unable to use my left hand for playing my usual instruments. My left arm was black & blue from my shoulder blade to my wrist. (Hence the title Black & Blue Sessions). Unable to play or practice piano or drums, I turned to the computer & Apple's Logic program. (I was still able to point & click). It's a great program & includes tons of loops.
I started to investigate the loops & found some I liked. These became the starting points for the pieces on the album. In addition, I began to sample a bunch of weird things I found on social media posts as well as sampling things in my environment. I took the raw loops & samples & added some FX such as transposition, delay, overdrive, etc. Sometimes the loops themselves wouldn't make the final cut & the samples were featured more. At other times the opposite was true. All in all, it gave me a great creative outlet while my arm slowly healed. Plus, I was having tons of fun never having entered this zone before.
Regarding the pieces themselves, the only one that has any kind of a backstory was Setback. It began as an electric arrangement of Arvo Part's beautiful piece, Fratres. When trying to secure a license to use it I was informed that Mr. Part doesn't approve of any electric instruments being used in his music so I took out his melody & added things of my own. I actually think Setback is a better piece than Fratres was so thank you Mr. Part.
For the more adventurous listeners, I hope you enjoy this side project. There'll be a Black & Blue Sessions Vol,. 2 coming out in the Spring of 2023. For those that enjoy my more "normal" music, there's an album on the way titled The Unfolding slated for release in March.
Happy holidays & happy listening!