There was a very nice review of my book, “First Lessons in Piano Improv” in the February/March issue of “American Music Teacher” magazine! The reviewer writes that “the book provides teachers with thoughtful lesson plans for students or give the older student clear...
“Kneel” is a song inspired by Caribbean poet Derek Walcott’s autobiography, Another Life. In one passage, Walcott describes having a pseudo-religious experience – he takes in the colorful richness of his island of St. Lucia and is moved by its beauty, but in the same...
“What is that Feeling” takes its title from a passage by Jack Kerouac in On the Road. On the Road is one of those books that it seems every teenager or college student has a passionate infatuation with, and I was determined to be “cooler than” liking it myself, but –...
The genesis of the song “One Art” comes from reading Elizabeth Bishop’s beautiful poem of the same name. I’ve read it in a few different classes, but I remember it most recently from a poetry seminar I took at Columbia with Michael Golston. The poem stands out to me...
This one is personal. Linda Martinez was my first jazz piano teacher and an important mentor to me. She was a freelance composer and jazz pianist in the LA area, who tragically committed suicide when she was 29. She was an incredibly gifted musician and generous...
