Hello Dear family, friends and fans - 

I miss all of you so very much. Things are so ‘weird’ lately - very tense and frustrating. I know a lot of you are going thru the same, or worse. We all know folks that are out of work, and others that have continued to work full time thru all this. I’m staying in touch with many of my fellow musicians, but woefully out of touch with YOU, the listener... 

Through August and into October I was fortunate enough to have a significant amount of outdoor shows, studio and remote recordings; even a couple of indoor performances, one celebrating the life of our dear friend Ted Orr, who passed away on August 1st.

Watch video of the Ted Orr Memorial Concert here.

 I’ve focused on getting out at least one collection of recordings, previously called an “album”, per month (sometimes I manage 2), to coincide with the first Friday of the month, which is “Bandcamp Fridays” (Bandcamp, the service I use to distribute and sell my CD’s and downloads, waves all their fees on the first Friday of each month - meaning all proceeds go directly to the artists. A great motivator to get things completed and online).  [CDs and Downloads]

My offering for the 1st Friday of November (11/6) is a live recording from an October 1st concert, part of the “Jazz In The Garden” series at the Hopper House in Nyack NY. The recording features Chris Pasin (trumpet), Bob Meyer (drums & cymbals) and myself, with guitarist Joel Newton joining us for a tune. 

       With the cold weather setting in here in the northeast, and the national (and indeed global) pandemic case numbers ramping up, it looks like there will be no live music for the foreseeable future. I will be returning to my bi-monthly “Live from the Lab” series (watch one here) as soon as I prep some new material. There are also a handful of projects coming up - a second studio video with Peter Furlan, and a streaming performance with saxophonist Eric Person (Dec 4th, stay tuned for details). Also, I have resumed work on “Convergence: Series A”, the new chamber music piece I’m composing for the X Ensemble. Originally to premier in June, a new premiere date will be set soon.

Meanwhile, we’re all shut-ins. The Election is upon us (FINALLY, although no one is expecting to know the results for a few tense weeks), and the encroaching cold weather and darkness are making this a difficult time. BUT - We need to hang in there! “This too shall pass”, as I remind myself. And there are opportunities in this situation - to learn, to connect, to reevaluate and reassess…We are in strange times indeed - but there is mystery and wonder in the strangeness of things.
 
Stay safe - mask up, wash your hands, take care of yourselves, be alert. WE’LL GET THRU THIS - and we’ll see each other on the other side. 

 

 Peace and noise,

 - Neil A

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