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Current mood:  calm Category: Music
ABOUT THE MUSIC
A few folks have written asking for some background on these songs I make available here on MySpace, especially collaborations. In my 50+ years of living on this planet I've been blessed with knowing and working with some incredibly gifted and wonderful artists. It is an honor to be able to share some of the music and the stories behind them with you. And away we go...
NOTE: These songs can be heard via the player located in the left column of my
MySpace page. They are described here in the same order as the playlist.
THE BIG MISTAKE
Jimi Jamison & me
This one was done in Jimi's home studio about 1992. Like many of these songs, it was intended to be a writer's demo. I'm playing/sequencing/programming/singing everything except that great accent piano by Hal Butler and, of course, Jimi's unmistakable lead vocal.
CONTINENTAL DIVIDE (Confidential Divide)
John Roth & me
Anyone who knows me knows also that I am a great fan of "computer assisted production techniques". Consequently I always have a wealth of rhythm tracks from my home studio that I am sharing with friends to have some fun with. This track is an example of what happens when John Roth grabs ahold of one of them! He's not only playing the lead on the track, but he took over the production and wrote an entirely new section to the song using entirely different keyboards in his studio. No small feat, but John pulled it off admirably.
FREE WIND
Shawn Lane, Adrian Miller & me
Once upon a time, about 1985, my good friend Terry Ratcliff owned one of the best home studios in the area. It was also a creative home away from home for the reclusive virtuoso Shawn Lane. It was at "T's" that Shawn worked up the first drafts to what would later become his Powers Of Ten album. I had the honor of being at the console for some of those sessions and we even did some writing and working together on other stuff. This track, Free Wind, represents one of those efforts. That's me on the flute and background vocals with Adrain singing lead vocal. All other instruments by Shawn.
WESTERN DRIVE
Andy Tate & me
Andy and I have been improvising "freestyle music" together for years. It is always fun to sit down and see what he'll come up with next. This is an example of Andy soloing on one of the more exotic stringed instruments in his collection, the Godin Glissentar. I'm playing/arranging everything else.
I HEAR THE CALLING
Voice of Golden Eagle
A personal affirmation song. A message of warning and of hope. Produced, arranged and performed by me.
HEA YIE YO (It Is So)
Voice of Golden Eagle (me)
Technology can be a wonderful thing. Especially when it unites a small studio on the Chickasaw Bluffs with Douglas Spotted Eagle's ongoing Native American recording projects. Written and produced by me.
BEWARE THE PRICE
Zeeza and VoGE
During the heyday of MP3.com as an indy artist website, I had the honor of meeting some extremely talented artists and Zeeza is surely at the top of that list! From her home studio in the wilds of Canada we exchanged recordings and collaborated, allowing her to sing her vocals from 3,000 miles away. As I've said, technology can be a wonderful thing!
SNOW DANCER
VoGE
I woke up hours before Dawn. Soft, soundless snow fell slowly in thick flakes, covering everything in its star glittering blanket. From the window of my studio I watched and played. By Dawn it was finished. This song is the result.
OPEN MY EYES (That I May See)
Elder Silvercloud, Tatavari and VoGE
This is one of several collaborations between Elder Silvercloud and myself. Though he himself would have rejected the labels, Silvercloud was indeed a very gifted mystic shaman and seer. This song recounts one of the major visions that shaped his life. The rhythm and percussion on this track was provided by Tatavari, my wonderful and talented friend in Montevideo.
DREAM SEEKER
VoGE
Some of the more haunting melodies come from that deepest time of night shortly before Dawn's first light, when the portals between this world and the next are the most transparent. I closed my eyes, asked to be made hollow, pushed record and this music was the result.
LEARN TO FLY
Dana Pannell & VoGE
This is a preview of the new, soon to be released VoGE album! That magical guitar work is courtesy of my good friend Dana Pannell. He and I have been writing music together since 1973.
IF EVER
Ed Cox, Sr. & me
You can't get closer to my heart than this one. Written and recorded in 1991 and featured on my 1998 "Jazz Fantasies - Memphis Style" CD, the incredible alto sax is none other than my dad, Edgar W. Cox, Sr. He was the Memphis Jass and Blues Club's musician of the year in 1992. In his younger days he toured with the likes of Gene Krupa and wrote arrangements for the Coast Guard Jazz Band.
THEY'RE HERE!
me and my computers
Basically, my most recent example of me taking a jazz romp. I love arranging and composing almost as much as performing and the structure of Jazz gives me a great framework to play within. Every jazz song I write is, at some level, a tribute to my father.
LUCKY 13 WALTZ
me and my computers
Another selection from my 1998 Jazz Fantasies album. Part of what I called C.A.M.P. (The Computer Assisted Music Project).
TRUST TURNS TO DUST
Jimi Jamison and me
As mentioned in a previous entry, I have the honor of calling Jimi Jamison both a friend and a musical collaborator. For a couple of years we had a blast writing some really great songs as I kept all the gears oiled in his "16 tracks studio with weedeater". This selection, from 1992, features John Roth on guitar.
THE PHONE KEEPS ON RINGING
Jimi Jamison and me
Another selection from those early '90s sessions. This one features Jimi's bandmate from the Target days, Buddy Davis, on lead guitar.
SOMETHING TO BELIEVE
VoGE
Title selection from the upcoming Voice of Golden Eagle CD release.
STRANDED
VoGE
From the 2003 VoGE album, Spirits In The Sky. A proclamation song featuring the sage ruminations of Elder Silvercloud.
TRAIL OF TEARS (a soldier's story)
VoGE
The actual words of Private John G. Burnett, a soldier who marched that march from the wrong side of the rifle barrel. Written as a letter of explanation to his own children and, perhaps, his own conscience.
5:12 AM
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