Seeing/hearing one’s creations come to life is such an exhilarating experience.
Each work of art we create is a little piece of our soul that we release into the universe…
a gift we give of ourselves.
But when that piece of art, that musical composition holds a deep personal meaning… words can’t describe how the magnitude of that feeling intensifies.
“If You Must Go” is the song I wrote for my father shortly before he passed, as I was flying up to New York to see him for the last time. This song is extremely important to me… as a dedication to my father, a cathartic composition… a remembrance.
I recorded the initial demo in August of 2006, a few weeks after
returning from his funeral. This rough demo holds an important place in
my heart because the emotions imbued in it were still so new and raw,
but it was not a version I would consider releasing.
I had written and recorded the initial version of “If You Must Go”
in a Latin Jazz style - in honor of my dad. He was a very talented Jazz
trumpet player and this was one of his favorite styles to play. I
wanted this version of the song to pay respect to this genre of music.
Finding the right musician to collaborate with me on it was key and
this turned out to be a more difficult task than I anticipated.
Compromising is not something I like to do with my music, let alone a
song as important as this… so it led me to put the song on hold for a
while.
Well, good things come to those who wait... :)