Original Music

Can a computer be considered a musical instrument? I think so. Although I was a decent trumpet player back in the day, I don't practice anymore. I know just enough piano to know what I want to play. I've drummed enough to be familiar with different styles. Although it was cool to play in my daughter's trio for aDad and daughter, Lionel Hampton, 2008 couple of years at Lionel Hampton, I'm not an active player. However, having the ability to call on a vast library of virtual instruments, I am finally able to write music that I hear by inputing via keyboard and manipulating the performance. I embrace discordance and the bizarre, but recognize where music must come from to enhance the visual. For instance, when writing the music for My Wonderland, I needed soothing harmonies to go with the serene scenes. After recording Seattle bassist Jon Hamar, I sometimes used his lines to create piano accompaniment or expand on his ideas. My latest short film offering, Trail Scat (a story of the mountains) had to be written "in toto"....after cataloging all the video, I wrote the narration in poetry/rap form, then wrote the music to accompany the narration. None of these elements could have been done separately. Some of these examples were written for specific purposes and can be heard/seen on the multimedia page with the video.

I am working on a series of tunes featuring long time friend and musician Darrell Dodge, exchanging files over the internet. I applaud his patience, tackling styles he is not accustomed to. His vocal talent was instrumental in the singing shots of Great Day For Climbing. These songs are not available for publication yet, as I am still working on the editing, but available here for "in progress preview" in their latest iteration.

The guitar work on UFO, Gimme a Latte, Doc Brown and Never be so Lucky was done by Seattle player Dan McInerney.

Darrell Dodge (also on iTunes)

• Freak of Nurture: strange, orchestral, zappaish with rock

• Paranoia: dark, orchestral with prepared piano...dude, get a life

• Never be so Lucky: upbeat, jazz, horns

• Could Have: piano, smattering of orchestra, sensitive subject matter

• So Special: jazz piano, bones and tuba, it's all about me

 Instrumentals

These pieces were written for various projects; some appear in my short films, like the "Starry Night" series, with bassist Jon Hamar. Most display the influences of jazz, rock, classical, TOP, Zappa...