I`m going to take a shot at covering one of my favorite Hal Benoit songs; Painting by Numbers. Hal wrote it during his Easthampton period 1992 or 3 IIRC and I covered it way back then on my Ensoniq EPS (12bit!) and though the instrument samples I used were rough around the edges, Hal liked it… ‘haunting’ he said. Glad I got the arrangement to mp3 before the floppies crumble.

If anyone has more info on the music he was writing during that period (that, IMO he produced his best material), leave me a comment, I’d love to hear about it.
:)(:

This tune is for Hal. It has taken me some time to get to a point where I could write something, anything that expresses in words what a good friend you’ve been. The music was easy by comparison, maybe because that’s how we talked. I think I was 14 when we met. You were bangin on a piano… downstairs at the house in the Orchard like it was yesterday. You’ve been a huge inspiration to me for almost 40 years. We had big plans… worked our asses off and rocked Kenny’s Castaways. Nobody can say we didn’t try… I’m going to miss you brother.

Listen to Hal Benoit and his band So in the studio

on MySpace

Hal in Northampton, Ma circa 1996 (taken with my first digital camera, a Kodak DC-20)

From ‘Otherwise‘, Track 6, ‘NeptunesWaiting‘

My homage to Jeff Buckley.

This is one of my all time favorite songs… thank you Noelle for putting the idea of covering it in my head. I hope I do it some kind of justice…

Let me know what you think.

Oh, and this one’s a headphone mix, best heard freakin loud… so TURN IT UP!

: ) ( : Jeff Buckley Wiki

Amongst other things, like trying to get my ‘album type’ widgets to behave the way I want, and remixing a kindof ’songs I sing on’ album (titled for the moment ‘Make No Mistake This Is Forgiveness’), I’m workin’ a new tune featuring some tabla & cello… check out this very cool soundfont: Campbells Strings

New Album ‘Otherwise‘, Track 5, ‘Pathway‘

New Album (2007): ‘Otherwise‘ - Track 4: ‘Blown Down‘ - Basic Track

New Album (2007): ‘Otherwise‘ - Track 3: ‘White Tea and Ginger‘ - Basic Track, Experiments with the Gorgeous Dream soundfont.

New Album: ‘Otherwise‘ - Track 2: ‘One‘ - Basic Track / Rough Mix / Compressor & Multiband EQ, Light Phase. EMU Piano, Jazz Bass sf2,