Audio

For Family (2020)

Composed and recorded in April 2020, “For Family” is a suite in four short movements, dedicated to three members of my family whose lives and work constantly inspire me.

Movement 1 is for Romek Marber, graphic designer

Movements 2 and 3 are for Ethel Berman, silent film pianist

Movement 4 is for Hugh Nissenson, author

The Planters (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

I played electric guitar on Thomas Kotcheff‘s score for Hannah Leder and Alexandra Kotcheff’s award-winning film The Planters (2020) (tracks 1, 2, 6, and 13). Check it out on Video On Demand or at MoMA.

with Kevin Norton and Paul Jones

Recorded in January 2019, Glacier Lake is the debut of a trio that has been working together for six years. While the compositions on this album reflect the flexibility and diverse tastes of the band, the trio’s unique chemistry ensures a cohesive overall listen. This trio debuted live in summer of 2019 as part of the Dimensions in Jazz series in Portland, ME.

with Louis Weeks

These four albums represent an ongoing body of work made in collaboration with producer Louis Weeks.

shift/away (2014) mixes techniques, philosophies and tropes of commercial composition with songwriting that is both accessible and thought-provoking. Links: Marcus J. Moore for Washington City Paper, interview on WYPR, ChunkyGlasses interview and Best of 2014.

haha (2015) continues in that vein, with the crucial additions of Ethan Helm (woodwinds) and Matt Honor (drum set), who contributed virtuosic performances and arrangements informed by jazz and classical music. Links: Marcus J. Moore for The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, ChunkyGlasses interview and Best of DC 2015.

arc | radius | curtain (2015), credited to Noah and Louis, is an instrumental suite in seven movements, featuring layers of guitars, electronics, and piano. I took the creative lead on this project, composing five of the movements, while Louis acted as producer, focusing on elements including sound design and formal structure. The music on this album was influenced by composers including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto, and Skúli Sverrisson.

And There I Was (2017), credited to Faunaphor, combines the suite-like construction of arc | radius | curtain with the song-based format of shift/away and haha. Like a longform classical composition, this album’s six extended songs are connected by common musical and lyrical motifs that are continuously developed and re-contextualized. As we push ourselves to expand our musical vocabulary, we combined impressionistic harmonic devices inspired by Debussy and Ravel with arrangements inspired by Talk Talk, The Blue Nile, Steve Roach, and Ambitious Lovers. In 2018, Faunaphor was chosen to support Múm at the legendary 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

with Ethan Helm

Another long-term association, dating back to 2008, these two albums represent a small, but by no means insignificant, portion of our collaborative work.

This unique quartet featuring Adam Kromelow (piano) and Nathan Ellman-Bell (drums) was assembled in 2015 specifically for this recording. The album features seven free improvisations utilizing various sub-groupings of the quartet, five of my compositions (these are the tracks with numbers in the titles), and The Spoon, a two-part opus from Ethan. Link: Review from Bird is the Worm.

This 2018 recording features Ethan’s compositions for quintet featuring the instrumentation of The Spoon plus violin (Gabe Terracciano, of Turtle Island String Quartet). Jon Snell (piano), and Matt Honor (drums) round out the lineup. Links: Reviews from The Arts Fuse and Bird is the Worm.

with Dave Chisholm

Dave is a Rochester, NY based trumpeter and comic book artist/author. The two of us and Aaron Staebell (drums) formed the nucleus of an ensemble dedicated to Dave’s instrumental compositions that bridge Miles Davis and Sigur Rós. Dave’s charismatic improvisations combine with post-rock backing to create an expressive and epic fusion for the 2010’s.

Calligraphy (2011) collects the original batch of material for this concept. Features Nick Weiser (piano), and bassists Ben Tiberio and Dominic Duval, Jr. Links: reviews from All About Jazz, Bird is the Worm, and Gear Diary.

Instrumental (2017) expands on the concepts laid out on Calligraphy and serves as the soundtrack to Dave’s graphic novel of the same title. The seven tracks operate as a suite, with musical motives that are continuously developed and repurposed throughout the album. Also features Mike Conrad (piano) and Ben Thomas (bass). Links: Feature in DownBeat, reviews from NextBop and All About Jazz.

with Jon Crowley

Jon is a NYC-based trumpeter and music educator. I’ve played in several of his ensembles since 2012. While the concept changes slightly depending on the ensemble’s instrumentation, Jon’s “songs without words” are always melodic, beautiful and accessible. Presented here are two recordings made with what was his working group for several years, featuring John Beaty (alto saxophone), Brad Whiteley (piano), Ben Thomas (bass), and Max Maples (drums). Crowley and Beaty have complimentary soloing styles inspired by the work of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, while the rhythm section creates a unique sonic atmosphere inspired by various musics of the 1990s including slowcore, emo, and drum ‘n’ bass.

Link: Review on All About Jazz.

Links: Reviews on All About Jazz, Bird is the Worm.

Some more favorites…