All the articles in the Music category

The Wolves

May 6th 2010

I’ve started a songwriting project this year : write and record one song per month every month. This track here, “the Wolves,” is the first of the project’s output that I’m really happy with…

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Ton petit bébé

November 19th 2009

I’ve been playing this tune for quite a while now. I wrote it for Cécile back when we were on two opposite ends of the Earth (she in France and I in the US), and since then it’s stayed one of both of our favorites.
It’s a pretty simple song, as far as the harmony and [...]

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Con el permiso de los santos

Studio Version

November 13th 2008

The opening track of the new Çasonando demo! Lyrics & music by Eddy Carvajal and yours truly.

Eddy came up with a chord progression that reminded me a lot of a tune I like by Gerardo Alfonso, called “Asi de sencillo.” …

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Harina de maíz

November 12th 2008

The second track on the Çasonando demo : an arrangement of a classic son by Luis Rengifo, based on the the version I heard by Cuarteto Rumí (who used to play in front of the Hotel Inglaterra in Havana when I was there back in 2001).

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¡Çasonando live!

April 10th 2008

A very short clip of our concert in Vaires-sur-Marne.

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Conjunto 23 in Philadelphia

February 4th 2008

Yes, I’ll be back in action with the original members of Conjunto 23 this summer, the weekend of June 27th. We’ll be in Brooklyn for the Zolov-Gordon wedding on Sunday, June 29th, and that same weekend there will be a pachanga in Philly at one of our old haunts, most probably the RUBA Club.
To keep [...]

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Con el permiso de los santos (1)

January 28th 2008

Finished Jan. 12 2008, 33 rue viala
We’ve just finished the arrangement of singer Eddy Carvajal’s new tune, which includes a bridge that Eddy and I worked on together. We’ve been looking for a solid medium tempo song to include in our new demo recording (to be completed by the early spring, we hope!), and this [...]

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Mueve La Cintura

October 6th 2007

By Alejandro Almenaris, rec. October 6th, 2007, 33 rue viala
A rough take on one of my favorite Cuban son standards, a tune that is actually a recent composition by Alejandro “el viejo” Almenaris, of Santiago de Cuba. After his quartet was featured on a Putumayo release back in the ’90s, the song has made the [...]

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Green Bean

September 15th 2007

Recorded at in 2002 at Ottsville Studios, Ottsville, PA.
In 2002 the Way Blue Bucket started work on its only studio recording, of which Green Bean is one of its most successful efforts. Green Bean had long been one of the favorite numbers at live performances, and we sought to capture some of that energy in [...]

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Lost & Found (My Heart)

Version 15-9-07, 33 rue viala, Paris
In 2005 I moved to France to be with Cécile, learn another language, and experience Paris. In the early months, while getting all my working papers straightened out, I wrote a haiku every morning and then tried to put it to music during the afternoon. The basic structure of “Lost [...]

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