Carnegie Hall 2012 with friends Rubin Kodheli and (c) Mike Brown (b)
Carnegie Hall - Solo 2011 - Drawing by Michael Buscemi.
The Frida Kahlo Exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum opened with a piece of music I wrote in conjunction with The Miro Dance Company - 2008
I grew up in a house with a whole lot of music happening all of the time - once when I was wearing a bowtie and practicing on a violin when I was 5, my next door neighbor (also 5) came to the front door (made mostly of glass) with a sledgehammer (made mostly of iron) which he dragged across the lawn...picked it up and swung - shards of a million pieces of this glass door flew past me at light speed. He was trying to jail break me. But making music has always been my jailbreak - my secret door. my own private tornado.
I feel such gratitude in having been able to work and make music in so many life giving contexts and with so many beautiful people... Members of the Philly Symphony, Ropeadope Records, Art Lande, John Zorn, Daniel Carter, William Parker, Chief Broom, Putnam Murdock, Nora Fox, The Horde Tour, John Medeski, The Ewers Brothers, Ken Burns, Bill Frisell, Jordan Scannella, Bryan Pugh, Jay Frederick, Rubin Kodheli, Dan Brantigan, Mike Brown, Adan Vasquez, Yusef Komunyakaa, Danielle Blau, Anjna Swaminathan, Shahzad Ismaily, Mike Clark, Everyone at Florentine Films, Chris Speed, The Bianchi Brothers, Natasha Trethewey, Major Jackson, Eli Crews, Dreamland, Avatar, Figure 8, Salvatore Moltisanti and Ibla International, Unarmed Media, Ark Media, The City College of New York and The 92nd st Y, The Owl, NYC...
While traveling in a rock and roll band in, up, and around the U.S. with my companions in arms in the mid 90s, we played a night of music for an all deaf audience in Oregon. It stands as the most profound musical experience of my life. There are no walls in this world of sounds and it does in fact have enough clout to knock them down or clean clothes or make a bulletproof shield for the vulnerable to hide behind (well, we are trying real hard to unleash its full potentials)...I am committed to listening... looking forward to now... and what's ahead.
A short clip of some piano playing in Ibla Sicily 2009
