Dedication_Preview

Dedication, the story of a life in music and travels from Qatar in the Persian Gulf to Barbados via Europe and experiences with blues and gypsy musicians.

This highly personal album features 3 opera singers, 3 drummers, 3 bass players and a dead guitarist amongst others.

Apart from being a collection of hopefully good music this is also a document of time passing. A couple of the tracks were written and demoed in the early 80’s and as I used a few of my recorded parts from these demos some of the tracks ended up with takes some 25 odd years apart!

Time allowing (and interest) I will document each track showing where, when and by whom it was recorded and the influences and stories attached to them.

This CD spans a generation and the most incredible changes have happened since its first conception. It was started as the world changed with the rising power of the money markets and has been finished just as the same financial structures begin to crumble.

I recorded the first demos on a Teac 4 track in a studio flat down by the river Aare in Bern. Twenty-six years later the CD was mastered 150 meters from that same flat.

The circle has been well and truly completed. My Teac got carried around to 20 odd addresses over the years before finally giving up the ghost in Notting Hill in the mid-90’s.

The impetus to finish the CD came with the death of my father.

Once I’d recovered I got serious.

Further major changes in my life got in the way of finishing the beast but once I was able to settle down and concentrate I got it done.

This has been a long time coming and I’m still slightly surprised it’s over and done.

I dedicated tracks to people I met on my journey and to two guys I've yet to meet.

I offer up heart felt thank-yous to all my friends and fellow musicians who helpled me finish this project with their playing and with their endless encouragement.

"It's really like a musical diary.
I'm surprised about the great musical diversity.. I hear soo much in it.
It's like taking a trip thru your universe. Spain, Arabian, Classic, Jazz, Blues (of course), Reggae, Funk, Folk, Django, Rory, Mahavishnu and Simona. It's all (and more) in there. I can say only one thing: Chapeau!"
Gino Ferlin, Suisa, "Jazz Editor Jazz'n'More"