Journal: BIG FUN at CAPITOL RECORDS

What a spectacular day! Went with Cheryl Pawelski and her dear dear Audrey (Bilger) to meet with legendary Ron McMaster at Capitol Records to watch Ron make the final master for Omnivore's Art Pepper set of 3 LPs, NEON ART -- which will be released on the same day as Unreleased Art Pepper Volume VII from Widow's Taste.  You can hear a little bit of it below.

Ron told me that he had created the Art Pepper Blue Note LP masters a long long time ago.

 I SAW this building going up when I was in my teens back in the early fifties, and I've been inside on business but never really inside like today. Maybe the record business isn't dead after all? It's just been waiting for vinyl to come back? No, no, don't worry fans, I'll keep on making CDs. But wow, what a day!

Me, Ron, Cheryl in the studio

My original tapes were first remastered by Wayne Peet, and then mastered for vinyl by Ron. They sound AMAZING.

And HERE'S the lacquer being cut (and a little taste of the music)...


and finally, Ron inscribed the master (and this will be right there on every copy of Volume Three).  I told Ron to carve out the phrase Art liked to write when he was asked to signed our book, Straight Life.  He wrote, "Keep Swingin'"

Audrey, me, and Ron inscribing....

Journal: Mercury's Retrograde and So Am I

Everything that can go wrong has been going wrong with the publication and pressing of the latest album.  

I'm a week behind schedule but I gave myself a LOT of wiggle room this time, so little holdups aren't devastating, just really really annoying.

Meanwhile been working with the ingenious Terri Hinte on the press release to (which she'll publish and I'll publish here) announcing the release on August 28th of Vol VII of Unreleased Art (see previous) and of the first of 3 Art Pepper vinyl singles from Omnivore (entitled Neon Art) with nothing but totally mad, swinging, weeping, dancing tracks, to which I'm listening right now, and my mood is escalating even as I write this.  You're gonna want these tracks!  They work better than anti-depressants or anything else, really.  Here's the cover of disc One from Omnivore plus a pretty picture of me taken by my sweetie, Hugh.

JOURNAL: Just a little taste of my life...

   Toooo busy.  I need to have a life and friends:  friends have been dying, getting sick, reminding me to live in the world while I'm here and not just live in work, and so....  Made the brilliant decision (sorry fans!) to postpone the release of the two disc set (Osaka, November 1980: George Cables, Tony Dumas, Carl Burnett) until end of October 2012.
   I'm also working toward finishing the 3rd and nearly final draft of my memoir of my life with Art.  I figured out where I'm at in the work and what's left to do and how long that ought to take.  Based on how it's been going, I should be done by around September of this year, and then out to agents, etc.
   A spectacular release of the vinyl single coming from Omnivore very soon, though.  (I love it when other people do all the work. ) I'll keep you up to date.

Meanwhile, here's a snapshot from that 1980 Japanese tour.  I took about 200 photos.  Every one of Art shows him happy and smiling, just like this (Kyushu)

Oh, well, and P.S.

JOURNAL: More Boston. New Album Out in June; new freebie in May

JOURNAL: Berklee, Boston April 2012

Fred Bouchard (gracious host) of Berklee, me, Michael Connelly (adjusting microphone)

photo taken by Anton Petrishchevskiy

Me and Fred (Anton's picture)

Michael Connelly, Bill Holodnak (sponsor of the whole shebang), and lucky me

Michael, Lili Holodnak, Bill's beautiful and brilliant kid, and me again

Below, some pictures of beautiful Boston taken on a walk near Berklee

The best macaroon I ever ate

MUSIC: Partial View of a Beautiful "Landscape" & an INVITE

More from that incredible Parnell's date in 1980.  Landscape, incomplete but just too wonderful to hide away.  Milcho Leviev, David Williams, Carl Burnett.

Look BELOW the invitation for the music

An invitation:  At 6 p.m. on April 11th (the 40th anniversary of the day Art and I began our work on Straight Life) I'll be at the Berklee School in Boston to have a public conversation with da DAH! MICHAEL CONNELLY author of the Harry Bosch series (I've voraciously read every one of them and hunger for more). Michael's a jazz fan with the exceptionally good taste to love Art Pepper, Frank Morgan and other great musicians. And he writes soulfully about them.  I'll read a little from my memoir-in-progress and Michael will read from whatever he wants, and we'll talk about writing and jazz.  There will be cocktails and a band performance. Dancing optional.  (I think I'm kidding.  Maybe not)  Call 617-747-2514.  (I think it's free.)

You are invited.  (the music player with your taste of April is below the lovely invitation)