Check it out on the Left Menu! A page that will be keeping track of any articles or interviews relating to my music. “The Water’s Edge” has been getting some notice lately, so as more reviews and what not come in, I’ll be throwing them here!
When I was growing up, my house was always filled with music, even though neither of my parents played an instrument.
From as early as I can remember, nearly every night, while my father would sit there at our kitchen table reading various books or studying for his night school exams to get his degree, I would hear these haunting piano melodies coming from the CD player (once a tape player, that’s how long ago we’re talking about here.) The music, was that of David Lanz. I grew up listening to his New Age piano music, nearly every day. It was his music that inspired me to start playing the piano to begin with.
About two weeks ago, I actually had the chance to not only hear him perform some of these songs live, but meet him and shake his hand in person, and thank him for all he’s done for me (without ever really knowing it). I had the opportunity to give him one of my Piano Solo CD’s, obviously inspired by my years of listening to him. As if that wasn’t enough, the icing on the cake was the 2 signed music books he sent me, along with a few emails of encouragement and advice about my music and how to continue pursuing my goals.
I feel extremely lucky right now. It’s not very often people have the chance to meet those who inspire them to be something greater, let alone actually have any sort of correspondence with them. I couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity.
Thank you David, you have given me another reason to keep on doing this, regardless of the outcome.
To everyone else, please, visit his site. Listen to his music. Hopefully then you will understand how amazing this experience has been for me.
Jonathan
“The Water’s Edge” available through CDFreedom
Hello all,
Well, the CD is up for order! You can either click the link in this post, or on the Icon on the left hand side of the CD cover. Both will bring you to the CDFreedom page where you can order my new instrumental CD “The Water’s Edge”; both digital or hardcopy.
If you want to listen to some samples, just go to the myspace page and you can hear 4 tracks from the album!
I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed writing and recording it.
Take Care,
Jon
The Water’s Edge - Piano Solos
Just a little note to say that the CD is in, just in time for Christmas, and I couldn’t be happier.
My friend Elisabeth Ryan, did an amazing job doing all of the CD photography and graphics.
And I was also lucky enough to have another good friend, Allison Lacasse, add some flute on a piece I orchestrated.
I’ll have the CD for order through my website here soon, just need to get through the holidays first!
Take a listen to some samples on the myspace page though in the meantime. The Link is on the left!
Happy holidays all,
Jon
Well,
This past Thrusday, I was able to go into the 105.7 WROR studio with the other top 10 finalists for their “townie tune” competition and see how Loren and Wally run their morning show first hand.
It was an incredible time, getting to see these guys in action and having a chance to talk with them. I was able to bring my father, which was a pretty exciting thing itself since he was the one who got me listening to their show in the first place.
I didn’t win the $5,000 grand prize, a friend of mine from the Boston music scene actually did though! (Michael Maloney, great guy). However, the experience was more than worth the time put into it, and it actually gave me a bit of publicity (I was interviewed for the Billerica local newspaper the other day, keep and eye out for the story!)
Needless to say, a great time. I also wanted to thank everyone that voted for me and even went the extra length to have others vote for me as well. The support is more than appreciated.
Take care,
Jon
Loren and Wally Morning Show Competition - Need Your Help!
I recently entered a song competition to write what’s called a “Townie Tune” (a parody of the Boston area) for the Loren And Wally Morning Show. Turns out they liked it, played it on the air this morning, and placed it on their site (link above) for others to listen and vote for!
The compeition is for $5,000 so obviously I’m pretty excited.
Take a listen to the song it’s at the top currently titled “Want A Place To Park” — a parody of Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel.
I need the votes so if you like it, help me get into the finals this coming week!
Thanks all,
Jon
UPDATE: I MADE THE TOP TEN FINALISTS! There’s another round of voting and I will be on the air live Thursday morning 105.7 WROR around 7am!
The winner will be announced then! So visit http://www.WROR.com and vote for my song “Find a Place To Park” if you can!
Well, seems I just can’t seem to keep out of the studio for very long.
I made the final decision recently to professionally record my instrumental music. So, as of this past week, I began what will be a series of smaller recording sessions (a song or 2 a session) at Wellspring Sound in Acton, to record my piano solo “new age” CD. I’ve had a number of friends and family (my father and brother primarily) who have always hoped I would do something like this eventually. So far, the sound is amazing. The piano Eric Kilburn has at his studio is by far one of the best I’ve played on. Combine that with a great mic setup and a his masterful way of recording, and these songs are sounding better than I ever imagined they could.
I hope to have it done by Christmas. A nice little gift for friends and family. No worry though, it will be publicly availble once I get “official copies” in.
Oh, and the CD title? No idea yet. I’ve got a couple great ideas floating around but nothing in stone.
Take care as always,
Jon
P.S. Don’t forget my upcoming show at Casey’s on Oct. 25th! Thanks to Jeff Munro for booking me.
Well, this past week, I had one of the greatest experiences a songwriter can have. A collaboration with another musician in which the end result is better than anything either could have produced alone.
However for me, this experience took on an entire new meaning.
Why? Becasue it was song about my “soon-to-be-born” niece, that was co-written by myself and my older brother, Grant (the father).
It started with me strumming a chorus I had written about “Bella Grace (short for Isabella),” singing a line I had written and explaining to my brother about how I have been trying to write a song for/about her. He wanted to chip in, and before we knew it, a few hours had gone by and we had a perfect song. Harmonies, Lead Lines, Finger Picking, and a simplicity to it that makes it easy to connect to the words and music. Never before have I had such a great time playing along someone, something I haven’t really experienced since having a band years ago.
We played the song for some close family members on the 4th of July, all of which were very noticably impacted by it. Others that I’ve had the chance to play it for, have said it’s one of the best songs I’ve been a part of creating. It’s pretty amazing what people can produce when they combine their ideas together, esepecially when it’s over a topic that they are directly related to.
The song is titled “Stay Graceful.” My brother and I plan on getting a live recording of it (probably from Club Passim) as soon as we can. You can bet it’ll be up on the myspace as soon as it’s in my hands.
Until then,
Jon
Hey all,
Just figured I’d shine some light on the next project I’m going to do, when both time and money allow.
I’ve yet to get into a studio and record any of my instrumental tunes. A while ago, I compiled alot of them using my computer to record my digital piano, and gave them out to friends and family for free. The responses I got were really good, more so than my lyrical things. However, it’s always bothered me that I never had them recorded on an acoustic piano.
So, my next project, is going to be a totally instrumental album. I have roughly 14 or so instumental piano pieces (as well as a few guitars ones I might throw in, not sure) to put together as one album. I hope to do it sometime towards the end of this year, but who knows! Of course, I’ll keep you posted here.
Take care,
Jon
Since its release, I’ve on and off played World of Warcraft for the last 2.5 years.
Over time, I just ended up writing goofy music about the game and the people I played it with, including some parodies of popular songs.
In fact, “google-ing” my game name gets you pages of hits about my music and such. One such song was bootlegged to the internet and has since gotten over 150,000 downloads and is a topic of discussion on forums in languages I can’t even read!
Thus, I decided to make a myspace page where I’ll be able to put up those songs for people to listen to and have a laugh. If you’ve never played the game, then you’ll probably have no clue what the lyrics mean haha.
Anyway, I’ll be doing a full self produced “WoW Song CD” as soon as I can (per request of alot of people). Until then, check out this link to hear the stuff!
Take care,
Jon
