Paul and Susan hosted a concert in their home, and I brought a stand-alone digital recorder. Back in the studio I added a little reverb and let it roll unedited. You'll hear the applause and little side comments here and there. As always, such a pleasure to play together. We're doing a fully improvised concert on the 14th as part of the Hastings River Arts Festival. Kinda gettin' out there!  

Hmm. I seem to have not uploaded the last episode or two. If you see the dates out of order that'll be why. My friend Paul came with his flute again tonight, and will come next week as well. We do have a sympatico vibe. I lean towards more chordal playing to allow space for his melody, but we are always listening to each other and adjusting moment by moment. A couple nods tonight; opening of Sound of Silence and a little Charlie Brown. Enjoy.

Thank goodness the piano was tuned! The cold and dry weather wreaked havoc, and my tuner said the pin block was at risk if I didn't get humidifiers going. Humidifiers are now going... Small crowd tonight, more snow is on the way. My friend Paul Harris joined again, and I tried to give him open-ended accompaniments. We got into the groove right away, and danced around little motifs as we improvised. Such fun. Enjoy.

ooohhh, so sorry; I'm posting this, but damn is it out of tune! I didn't realize it was so bad. I'm grimacing as I'm playing, but the music had to happen! There was a variation on a Chopin Prelude in there; see if you can find it. 

Whoops. I didn't turn on one of the microphones... I mixed it in mono, added a little gain, messed with EQ and crossed my fingers. Good crowd tonight, who wanted to clap, so I left it in. Went to some pretty lush romantic harmonies, and did one atonal piece (which always sounds like there is more tonality and shape when I listen back!). I think I quoted the theme to All Things Considered in there. One piece went sort of Musical Theater, Pippin style? You be the judge.

I was away for a few weeks without a piano, and once back still didn't have a chance to do much playing, so, interestingly, I thought I may feel rusty. But in point of fact I felt fresh and renewed! I paid a little more attention to the sound of the notes, and just enjoyed the harmonies as they rolled along. As a consequence, the music felt very organic and 'in the flow'. If you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving me a review!

Paul Harris and his magic flute joined us again this week, and it looks good for more guests for next week as well! I have long wanted to share these evenings with other musicians, but like any relationship, sometimes there's more "chemistry" than others, especially when the stated goal is to make music completely on the spur of the moment. I'll let you be the judge, but I certainly feel a musical kinship with Paul. I didn't even tell anyone, but if there are any listeners out there that went to Camp Wigwam in Maine, you will recognize "We'll Remember Wigwam"! At the very end, I was playing something that reminded me of the classic riff in Bruce Hornsby's "Just the Way it Is", so I popped that in there. Enjoy.

My friend Paul Harris joined me again with his amazing flute playing! Plus, we had a big group with several new people! When it's a large group I tell them it's fine if they clap after a piece; I ask people not to clap when there are only a few in attendance, because it just sounds sort of sad. Anyway, I also didn't edit out the banter in between pieces because I feel the whole evening was a unified feeling, so why not include it all?! You can hear Paul and I quasi-deciding on a direction here and there, and I roamed around the other instruments on one piece while Paul played flute. Enjoy!

A few new folks tonight; always fun to introduce them to this free improv thing! Got into some rhythm grooves and a wee bit of jazz. Not much more to say, but, enjoy!

Newly tuned by the great Victor La Gamma! Had a conversation with the guests after the music about the creative process. One person was talking how there are two approaches; one, to plan everything out and do your best to materialize exactly what you envision, a la Da Vinci, the other, to follow the inspiration where it leads and allow the creative impulse to guide you. Obviously what I do is the latter. I'm getting ready to explore non-spontaneous composition for a change, and see if I can bring the spur-of-the-moment approach to actually creating well-crafted instrumental music. I plan to start mining all this material from eight years (!) of doing Piano Meditations. Will be an interesting journey!

Tonight really felt "in the groove". There is a kind of freedom I feel when I get something solid rhythm-wise in the left hand, and the right hand can be free and not tethered to the beat of the left hand. Once I get into that vibe, the right hand becomes open to more spontaneous expression. Not sure how to describe it more than that, so let's just let it be what it is...

Tonight I needed to be patient as I got into the music. It can be tempting to compose "from the ego", where I'm playing what I know will sound good but I've also done it a million times. It's a little harder to wait until the music suggests itself where it wants to go. The music may meander for a while, or be seemingly stagnant as I'm repeating notes or chords and waiting for a direction to follow, but eventually I find that flow state and I can almost sit back and watch the music happen. The second to last piece apparently was seriously quoting Star Wars; I knew it sounded familiar but I couldn't tell where it was from. 

Towards the end I played along with a pad sound on my iPad, but I also had a borrowed Theremin! I didn't record the other instruments on their own track, so they are far back in the mix, but I thought I'd include them anyway. Also, one of my microphones finally ran out of battery, so I recorded the music in mono using one mic. Hey, one does what one can...

Did a couple waltzes tonight. The last piece I took the opening motif from Beethoven's Fifth and had a bunch of fun with it. It morphed into Fiddler on the Roof and Fly Me To the Moon, so go figure. I had a couple note accidents; it is surprisingly difficult to play faster than one can think! ;)

One piece is definitely not relaxing, be warned. I started off just playing with staccato (light, separated notes) but didn't find my footing right away. At some point the left hand turned into a fast walking bass, then a kind of ragtime. My deal with myself is to practice "Yes, and..." when it comes to the direction the music is going, so I didn't fight it and just went for it. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was quoted a few times, too. Enjoy.

Quite the large audience tonight! I never know, nor does it matter, but it certainly is fun. I followed a common pattern of starting off with a few single notes which becomes the thematic material for the piece. Later pieces can have more energy and movement, and we bring it home with a simple tune to say goodnight. At the very end, I played a little phrase that took me into the final notes of "Where is Love" from the musical "Oliver!". I thought that was some subconscious at work. It felt good in any case. Enjoy.

A couple new people tonight; always fun. I felt in the zone tonight, and enjoyed composing as the music unfolded moment by moment, which has always been what I try to do! A few pieces felt like they could have ended a bit earlier but I was enjoying messing with them too much!

My friend and flautist Paul Harris joined me again tonight. It is always such a treat to play with him. It is rare indeed to meet another musician who can jump in to free improv, listen for harmonic shifts, know when to play and when to pause, take the lead and generate ideas for us both to develop, indeed a treat. I have been away for several weeks, but back now for some time, so look for a new episode each week! Tonight Paul and I did several pieces in solid diatonic territory, but we stretched out on one atonal piece, which was actually quite fun. 

All good friends who know the drill here tonight. I edited out the clapping. I spent most of today doing paperwork and purging emails, so I was in a blah state when people arrived. I told them there were no guarantees; the music may put people to sleep or I might start banging as loud as I could. Kinda did a bit of both! Enjoy?

Several new friends tonight! Had about 12 people in the the audience. The piano was tuned today by the great Victor LaGamma, so I naturally was drawn to the most sonorous of harmonies. I seem to be averaging about ten minutes per piece. That's not a plan, but an observation! Some melodies were circling around in my head that might have been a nod to "Laura", "But Beautiful" and something else, but I never quite went there.