Purchase a digital copy of Testament at http://pulsemondiale.bandcamp.com
Free Download! Hungarian Folk Song – Click Here to Download
Listen to Hungarian Folk Song by clicking on the player below:
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This new CD, “Testament”, has been an undertaking that surpassed all my expectations both in terms of the length of time and difficulties encountered, but also the beauty of the songs and the excellence of the recording.
Starting 3 years ago I started singing on gigs – much to the surprise of my fellow musicians – and found that I loved this new way of making contact with listeners. This meant looking for new material to perform and sing, so I experimented with many different songs, ditching some and keeping others until I had the material for a very interesting and eclectic recording. The pieces vary from original Latin-inspired pieces, to Brazilian folk songs, to reggae, Balkan gypsy music, and even a Daniel Lanois cover. The unifying element to these disparate sources of music was my approach to arranging them, and the sounds of my nylon string guitar, my voice, Rob Graves’ percussion and even the melodica I bought last year.
The recording took over a year, starting with bed tracks in my home studio, then adding the superb bass playing of Gregg August in New York City. I had always wanted to have the excellent horn playing tandem of the White Brothers (I knew them both from my university years and remember them playing in Claude Rangers quintet), Perry and Michael, and was able to get them to record their parts in Toronto. Claude Naubert lent his expertise in guiding me with the vocal approach and also engineering the drum sessions with the always creative Olivier Fairfield.
I was also able to include two of my favourite musicians in Ottawa, Mark Ferguson on trombone and Evandro Gracelli on voice and cavaquino. I had never written or played trombone before, except for a Jazz Festival jam session years ago where I met and played with Mark. It was great to have him play on two songs. Evandro Gracelli is a wonderful musician from Sao Paolo, Brazil and it was a fortuitous opportunity to have him sing and play on the charming Brazilian folk song “Tem Quem Queira”.
The key player, though, is Rob Graves. Over the years we have played together he has developed a real feel for our music. He plays a huge array of percussion instruments on the CD, giving each track a unique color and sound. This music wouldn’t exist without him.
I was very fortunate to have the expertise of Eric Tessier, who had the job of mixing all that music, and Marc Olivier Bouchard master it at the impressive facility of Guy St. Onge.
I’m putting up a track that didn’t make it onto the CD (a Hungarian folk song with me singing in phonetic Hungarian!??) as a free download, to give everyone an idea of what the CD sounds like.
Give it a listen, let me know what you think, and spread the word!
