QUARANTINE RELEASE SPECIAL:
100% of the proceeds from the first $500 of sales will go directly to the band members, to help support them during this tough time.

DEDICATION:

For Allie, duh. Lucy, too.

Without them, they’d just be regular weeks.

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So...Why did I do this album?

Let’s start with the easy answer. It was a combination of fortuitous events: for one, I realized I had already amassed nearly an album’s worth of compositions over the last five or so years. For another thing, I was looking at a stretch of 14 weeks of paid parental leave - plenty of time to put something together. I had money saved, and my musician colleagues generously all agreed to come on board. It all felt like perfect timing.

Yeah... But WHY did I do it, really?

I told myself and others that the album was intended to be an expression of love for my new daughter Lucy, my way of sharing something beautiful and tender and personal with her. And let me just say, that is a lovely sentiment. But let’s be real for a second: a six-month old baby’s capacity to understand and appreciate the intricacies of jazz composition and improvisation is quite limited. If Lucy grows up liking these tunes someday, that’d be great. I’d be thrilled. But really, that’s not why I did it. And frankly, that line of thinking puts way too much pressure on Lucy, not to mention on me.

I decided pretty early on in my professional career that, although music is a huge part of who I am, it would not be how I sustained myself financially. You can point to any number of reasons for that decision, but regardless of where it comes from, the end result is that I am always questioning whether I can really hold myself out as a “real” musician. Combine that fear with all the anxieties of becoming a new parent (with less time to devote to gigging), and... well, you get the idea.

I know that no matter what happens next, this album won’t resolve the anxiety I feel about being a “real” musician: no album can do that. But the most I can hope for is that you listen to the album, and that it brings you some joy. No matter what, I am grateful for you. Because by reading all the way through these liner notes, you’ve already made me feel a little more like a “real” musician already.

Keep it real,
Joe