I’ve been a musician of one kind or another since age 8, as a clarinetist, keyboardist and lead singer in a cover band, and intermittent classical piano student, all before high school. Like so many of my generation, the singer-songwriters of the 60s and 70s were a major focus of my world. I wrote and recorded some terrible songs while at college in Iowa (“Flowers of Evil,” the product of a brief Baudelaire infatuation, comes to mind). Shortly after arriving in NYC at age 21, and taking courses in harmony, counterpoint, and composition, I joined a songwriting workshop, which generated some fun but forgettable numbers like “Kundalini Love” and co-writes like “You Make it So Hard” (alas, double-entendre very much intended). Then a business career re-channeled a lot of my creative energies.
A turning point came in the early ‘aughts’ at a vocal workshop in upstate New York. The leader, Claude Stein, asked me how long it had been since I’d written a song, and I answered, “about 25 years.” He urged me to “write a song tonight…call it…’Better Late Than Never.’” I did, and it turned out to be very meaningful to my fellow workshop participants, all of a certain age and looking for next chapters. That experience convinced me I had (per the lyrics of that song) “a gift that’s meant to give today.”
Continuing to write (including at other workshops in Costa Rica and Umbria) led to a resumption of live performances, especially at the encouragement of Jeannine Otis, the revered musical director of St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery. And “Better Late Than Never” became the title song of my first real cabaret show in New York and the concluding song of the album “21st Century Blues” that followed - produced, arranged, and musical directed by the dear departed Rick Jensen. I continued building a catalog, and sharing it during the pandemic via posted videos, live Zoom performances, and a recorded evening dedicated to my music at Urban Stages’ “Winter Rhythms” festival.
With my move to Los Angeles in 2021, I’ve been fortunate to join a supportive community of singers and musicians - and especially the opportunity to work with sought-after producer-arranger- guitarist Dori Amarilio on this album. My songwriting has continued to benefit from the guidance and feedback of Dori, Mark Winkler, Cathy Segal-Garcia, regular online meetings with my colleagues in Tom Toce’s New York Songwriters Alliance, and long-time New York songwriting mentor Tony Conniff. And I’ve been blessed by the unwavering support of my life partner Frances Myers Newman.
Briefly, that's the story up to now. I’ll probably expand on some of this history in future posts, and – I hope – narrate my progress in creating ever-more-ambitious and well-crafted tunes that communicate from the heart. Thanks for reading, and, of course, for your comments!