Soon we will release a new jazz album from Thomas Hultén. It is the second in a series for Tierra Records. It was a thrill to work with Thomas on this album. In the coming days, I will share some highlights and stories from the recording, editing, mixing, and mastering sessions. Stay tuned. Feel free to ask questions and make comments as we go. This should be fun for all of us.

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So, how amazing is this?

I am in NYC and have the opportunity to catch a show at New York’s legendary Blue Note Jazz Club. I have always wanted to go there. Looky here, I made it. Not only did I make, but I have just seen an amazing performance from the lovely and talented Diane Schuur. She and her band were absolutely incredible.

The Blue Note is an intimate club. I sat about 20 feet from her all night long.

She was on.

Every note she sang and played was from her heart and soul. I did not realize that she was such a fine pianist. Her performance was a magical moment for me. The last time I saw her was in 1990 at the Wichita Jazz Festival. I was taken by her then and once again I was taken by her gifts tonight.

I have spent the week in the Big Apple. I have been working with a grouop on a number of projects while I am here. That being said, I have been able to catch some of the wonderful shows and great music while here in the city. Last night I saw a preview of the new musical “Memphis”. Let me say, I think this musical will be a huge success. It is a great show with an amazing cast and choreography. I will also say that I have a difficult time sitting in an audience and listening to musicals with poor sound. I was thrilled with mix last night. All night the balance was great. The sound was fantastic. The mixing engineer was top notch. He mixed on one of the new Studer desks. The sound was tremendous. Nice work my friend.

Great News for Tierra

In the mail last week I opened my NARAS Ballot. I have been a voting member since 2002. Every year since then, I open that ballot and look to see one of our projects on it. Well what do you know? I went to the voting site and found that the Larry Slezak album “No Worries” is up for nomination for the Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Individual or Group. I dug a bit deeper and read that both Larry Slezak and Jose Miguel-Yamal had both received a nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Soloist for the song ‘You’ve Changed” from the Slezak album. If that’s not enough, I made it through the first round in the production category for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

It was truly a thrill for me to cut this album. The entire album was made up of musicians from the local AFM 65-699. What a great testament to the fine musicianship found here in Houston, Texas.

Wish us luck in the Grammy process. Please go to itunes and download this great record or go to www.larryslezak.com and hit the “buy it now” link.

The link below is just a glimpse of what you will find on this fine album.

Cheers

You’ve Changed
You’ve Changed Download

This week we will record fiddle tracks for Bryan Harkness.  Gilbert and Bryan have enlisted the talents of their friend Dale Morris Jr.. Dale has an amazing musical sense about him. I am looking forward to working with a musician of his caliber.