Gallery
Luscious Pirate:
This duo was a fun idea. Craig Bitterman and I were teaching lessons at the same music store when he asked me about doing some playing. He had played with a local steel drum band and was looking to form a smaller, more mobile group. As trained classical musicians with pop/rock roots, we were both into learning something new. So we learned a bunch of calypso, jazz and even threw in some pop tunes. It got really exciting when Craig started using four mallets to fill out his comping so we could both take turns at improvising. We had to end it when Craig got into the U.S. Army band, an opportunity no one should pass up. All the best Craig! I'm sure our paths will cross again. Click for more...
Invisible Sun:
With the Hartford scene the way it is, an original band is almost impossible to sell. So when drummer Jody Hagenow, the drum instructor at Summit Studios, suggested the idea of tribute band, the only palatable option was Sting and the Police. We found a pretty close sound/look-alike front-man in Jon Chappell from Gill, MA (!). The rest of the band consisted of Summit Studios instructors and management. We had our sound down with some of the best talent around. We were able to get out and play a few gigs and had a great time. Unfortunately, with the best talent around, these guys will often get offers to do other projects, musicals and other gigs. We all had other things we were doing until we decided it was best to rest. That and the fact that the Hartford club scene is one tough nut to crack, too tough when other gigs come so easily. Click for more...
Sleepy Hollow:
After playing show music for Goodspeed Opera House for over 3 months, I was looking to something different. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Mark Rich was looking to put together an all-original band that brought the best of what rock music has given birth to over 40-plus years. His keen insight into American culture yielded some great songs. We were fortunate enough to play for a number of years around the Greater Hartford area. He brought in his friend Joe Waggoner on bass, a man with a distinctive musical palatte. Marty Maas brought his extensive knowledge world rhythms and different percussive sounds to fill in the spaces. The one trouble we had was trying to find a decent drummer. Think Spinal Tap without the fatalities. Finally, Steve Gaudette came along and was able to put whatever feel Mark needed for any given song. The sound was one I think would be successful in the marketplace anywhere today. It was an original band with the "Classic Rock" sound. But you'd never hear this on the radio because Hartford refuses to play anything the major labels haven't force fed them. I had a lot of fun doing this project but demands on our time forced a hiatus. Click for more...
Man of La Mancha-Goodspeed Opera House:
Talk about an important gig! For the 35th anniversary of "The Man of La Mancha", a revival was planned at the birthplace of this unforgettable show. A former classmate of mine, Chris Jahnke was given the task of arranging the score for this new production. He had asked me to come down and go over the finer points of guitar techniques and capabilities and offered me the chance to play in the pit orchestra. A better term would be the "box". The original intention of the show was to use minimal staging and to have the orchestra off-stage. With the space limitations of the 19th century Goodspeed Opera House, this presented a problem. But with a little Yankee ingenuity, a solution was found. While the action was on stage, the music came from three floors down in a sound-proof module the crew built. Eight of us were miked up and followed the show via a video/sound feed from the stage. It was truly a memorable experience to work with some of the finest musicians anywhere and in an historic theater for 14 weeks.
String Break:
Now this was a great idea. As a classical guitarist, it can be hard to have an audience come support the arts with so much pop culture around. A brainchild of the Bushnell, String Break was an attempt to beat the late winter/early spring blahs by funding events that folks might not otherwise take in. For a few years this was a great program. Many arts organizations worked together with local businesses and corporations to bring a wide variety of arts programming to the Greater Hartford area. But due to the repercussions of 9/11 and the corporate scandals, the funding dried up and the programming scaled back to nearly nothing.
