Working on stuff

I'm always working on something. A few months ago I was working on doing a music show/DJ thing via mixcloud. Lately though I find myself drawn back to the thing which gave me inspiration for all that I have done in my life, the guitar. I have spent the past 6 months working as an instructor at a music store and have fallen in love with the guitar all over again. It's an instrument that I've been playing for almost 35 years and I still find my self drawn to it. And although I've had this history with the instrument I've not done much with it. I played bass in a blues band for a while, and then when we couldn't find a drummer I decided to learn drums so that we could have a drummer. Most of my friends know I"m play music but most don't know about my love for the guitar. I've been thinking lately that now is perhaps the time to start sharing my passion for the guitar.

in October of 2021, my wife and I moved from Honolulu, Hawaii to Phoenix Arizona to be closer to family. I got to spend more time with my father who also played guitar. He really helped me to realize just how much I enjoy it. He always talked about the song "Autumn Leaves." I knew that it was a jazz tune or at least one that was appropriated into the jazz lexicon. And since it was jazz, and I am mostly a punk/rock/blues guitarist I never bothered to try to learn it until a few months ago. I began looking into the song. Now mind you, the last 5 CD's that I recorded as a sound engineer (for other artists) are all jazz CD's. and I've spent the past 16 years, working with jazz artists as a sound engineer. so it's not like I'm a ludite when it comes to jazz. I also grew up in theatre so there's a lot of musical theatre songs in the jazz songbook as well. All of that is in my head somewhere. And musicians will always talk about how hard jazz is to play. (it's not, but that's where this is going).

My father passed away almost a month ago as of this writing and I've spent the past month playing his guitar. And mostly trying to figure out this thing called jazz. And I am loving it. I don't know if I'm playing it right. I listening to the songs I'm playing and they seem to work. So that's what I've been up to. I've got a few songs under my belt that I can play. Beyond the Sea, It's Only a Paper Moon, Dream a Little Dream of Me, And yes I'm currently working on Autumn Leaves. That one is a bit of a challenge, but it's a good one. So that leads me to where this is going.

I'm going to start recording my musical endaevours and posting them on my youtube channel. if you'd like to help me out and support this endeavour, please do so. I look forward to sharing this with the world.

JAT