Ain’t Goin’ Backwards No More
Austin and I at Spannocchia
One of my greatest pleasures for the past 6 or so years has been playing music with my son Austin who is basically self-taught on the guitar. In 2017 when he was 18 he was awarded an internship in organic farming at Tenuta di Spannocchia in Tuscany, Italy. While there he wrote a song about turning of age, of moving on from difficult times and sent an audio file to us via What’s App. We were astounded and very moved by its gentle beauty and musical sophistication. I contacted a friend, Ross Levy, who knew Austin from our membership at Reform Temple Keneseth Israel where Ross’ wife, Amy is the cantor. He has a state of the art recording studio (Melrose Park Studios) and was able to clean-up the raw audio file sent by Austin to which I composed and then recorded a flute part at his studio. The result is an emotionally powerful and moving story of hope and love in the context of a guitar and flute duet. I never tire of listening to it…
Thank you Austin for this lovely musical gift.
Fortunately, he continues to write music and we have been able to play together on numerous occasions which always brings me great joy.
Melrose Park Studios
Tenuta di Spannocchia
Chingale (Austin's Bandcamp Page)
Drifting Out at Sea
The Halo Studio. - South Windham historic district of Greater Portland Maine
It is a state of the art studio within a meticulously restored New England post and beam barn from the early 1800’s. A relaxed atmosphere where Austin and I got to try out various renditions and interpretations of his song, Drifting at Sea. The engineer, Kevin Billingslea was impressed and touched by the way we played together and interacted musically. The result is a unique combination of singer-songwriter folk infused with jazz improvisation where the listener is taken on a journey through the evocative lyrics, melody and harmony as well as the improvisations and explorations of the flute. The way Austin works is quite remarkable: he sat down, started the song and didn’t stop until the very end. No breaks, over-dubbing, or working in sections - just a straight-through performance. Austin’s vocal style and guitar work is relaxed and soothing.
The journey begins with an instrumental exploration of the harmony to the song by the flute. The soothing voice and evocative lyrics of Austin begin soon thereafter with the flute adding musical commentary to the melody. The calm sea becomes more agitated and the lyrics and flute improvistions over the harmony reflect this as the vessel drifts further out at sea. This leads to a third transitional section leading us to a fourth section which finds us once again in calm waters but in a very different place of reflection and contemplation. Suddenly we are back drifting away (fifth section) which leads to an improvisational section that gets more intense, exploratory and adventurous until we are suddenly back where we started, drifting away, at the very beginning of the song but with an unexpected cadence.
It is a state of the art studio within a meticulously restored New England post and beam barn from the early 1800’s. A relaxed atmosphere where Austin and I got to try out various renditions and interpretations of his song, Drifting at Sea. The engineer, Kevin Billingslea was impressed and touched by the way we played together and interacted musically. The result is a unique combination of singer-songwriter folk infused with jazz improvisation where the listener is taken on a journey through the evocative lyrics, melody and harmony as well as the improvisations and explorations of the flute. The way Austin works is quite remarkable: he sat down, started the song and didn’t stop until the very end. No breaks, over-dubbing, or working in sections - just a straight-through performance. Austin’s vocal style and guitar work is relaxed and soothing.
The journey begins with an instrumental exploration of the harmony to the song by the flute. The soothing voice and evocative lyrics of Austin begin soon thereafter with the flute adding musical commentary to the melody. The calm sea becomes more agitated and the lyrics and flute improvistions over the harmony reflect this as the vessel drifts further out at sea. This leads to a third transitional section leading us to a fourth section which finds us once again in calm waters but in a very different place of reflection and contemplation. Suddenly we are back drifting away (fifth section) which leads to an improvisational section that gets more intense, exploratory and adventurous until we are suddenly back where we started, drifting away, at the very beginning of the song but with an unexpected cadence.