Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tribute to Randy Newman Project is Shinin' -

Jamey Haddad, Ro, Mark Soskin


I completed one half of my Randy Newman tribute in October.  The music is sterling!...in hindsight, we are now adding guitar, by way of the great Steve Cardenas.  We have recorded:  Sail Away, Last Night I Had a Dream, In Germany Before the War, Feels Like Home and Baltimore.  I am loving our new relationship with violinist extraordinaire, Sara Caswell and the addition of Jamey Haddad - who is family for us.  I wish he lived closer, but his percussion magic is special.  More Soon!!!

Sara Caswell












 Mark Soskin and Dean Johnson


Thursday, November 12, 2009

November 9th - Our first recording date! Kenny & Ro Recording

We started the day at Charlestown Rd. studios at 1 pm.  I came with my Tahini Chicken dish, freshly made at midnight the night before with Sarah Wickliffe's help - Thank you..Kenny loves this dish.  Paul Wickliffe, my chief engineer and husband had the piano tuner on hold for the entire afternoon.  I had ten songs in tow and was very excited about our musical prospects for this date.  My manager and best friend,  Jeff Levenson also made the date.  Jeff is very supportive and encouraging, so it's always great to have him at a session.  We started our session with a 1961 hit song that Vince Guiraldi composed: Cast Your Fate to the Wind.  I was playing thru this tune by chance at my piano last week and fell in love with the melody and the message.  We may call this new cd. "Cast Your Fate to the Wind."  I think we got a lovely take of this song.  Then on to Clare Fischer's amazing compostion: Pensativa.  Clare also wrote the lyrics and they are about a Pensive lady.  I've wanted to sing this amazing melody for years and it's not easy, but absolutely beautiful.  Other tunes that we recorded are : Feelin' Good, Upside Down (Flor de lis),  Remember,  Old Devil Moon,  Kiss (a David Budway composition), A Day in the Life of a Fool, Laughing at Life and Soul Eyes.  That's all I can remember right now, but it was a beautiful day of music.  We're planning one more session on December 4th and I can't wait to finish this little project with my old friend.