Looking forward to the 30th

I hope you’re able to come out to the Black Fox Lounge on March 30 to hear what I’m calling the “Dupont Jazz Project” perform an evening of standards and original tunes.

Percy White and Will Stephens are joining me in the rhythm section, to play a variety of standards and original tunes and arrangements. In addition, I’ve invited several of my favorite vocalists to sing some of my original songs and their favorite standards.

Black Fox favorites Aaron Myers and CaShandra J will be in the house, along with Jeff Weintraub and Jason Mendelson (of MetroSongs fame). I’m looking forward to helping Jason explore the jazz side he may not have known he had!

In the Lounge

I just posted another original tune to the Original Music page, this one called “In The Lounge,” a somewhat-jetlagged reaction to too many overseas trips and too many airports. I haven’t recorded this one yet, and would be delighted if any singers out there would like to have a go at it.

Speaking of which, the band is coming together for my March 30 gig at the Black Fox Lounge in Dupont. Hope you can join me there!

March 30: save the date!

Hope to see you on March 30, when I will be leading the band at the Black Fox Lounge in Dupont Circle. I’m looking forward to a fun evening of standards, originals, and (I hope) a few surprises. Still putting together the program; watch this space for more info.

Stand Right!

We had a great first show of 2012 last night at the Black Fox Lounge in Dupont Circle, which included a rousing performance of my tribute to DC Metro etiquette “Stand Right”. The response from the audience was very enthusiastic, so I’m hoping that Aaron will make this part of our regular set list.

I didn’t record last night’s performance, but here’s a recording of a previous rendition of this number:

The lead sheet is available on the web site as well, in case you’d like to try out the tune for yourself.

MetroSongs: Cleveland Park

I’m happy to report that Jason Mendelson recorded and posted my modest contribution to his ongoing MetroSongs project, a song about Cleveland Park (on the Metro Red Line, in upper Northwest Washington). The song is about holding on to your history in the face of change, a theme that seemed appropriate to this neighborhood.

For more information on that history, you can try some sources that I found useful: Wikipedia (of course) and the local historical society.

Photos by KCIvey and M. V. Jantzen from Flickr

[updated the link to the Cleveland Park song & MetroSongs project Jan. 4]

Getting ready for Hanukkah

In preparation for Hanukkah, I recorded a quick demo of “Hanukkah Light,” my contribution to the American Hanukkah repertoire.

I was inspired to write this in 2009, after reading that Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah wrote a Hanukkah song, in collaboration with Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic. I thought, if a Mormon senator can write a Hanukkah song, then certainly a Jewish jazz pianist can write one as well.

The result was Hanukkah Light; the lead sheet is available on the Original Music page, and you can find the recording over at Soundcloud (and in the sidebar of this page).

As a reminder, Hanukkah starts on December 20. Enjoy!