The Gentle Orchestra Interview
Q: Can you talk about your musical history?
A: My mother sang opera in the Wangerian choral at UCLA and throughout the Los Angeles area as well as several folk singing groups in French, Hebrew, Dutch and English. I started out wanting to be a drummer, but ended up on guitar when I was sail yrs old as my sister abandoned the instrument and it became mine. I started to pick out tunes by all the music in the house and there was a plethora of it. Genres ranged from jazz, classical, pop, folk, rock, cabaret, country & western and R&B.
I was fortunate enough to grow up in LA so there was an ample amount of various musical styles around and on the air waves. I took formal lessons here and there, mostly self taught and then later went to study formally in college trying to figure out what I already knew in more detail. I started playing professionally as a side man in ’89 mostly playing R&B, blues, gospel, jazz and early forms of rock n’ roll in South Central LA. This is where I learned to play in bands and ensembles. Somehow in ’96 while I was attending college I was signed to deal with Capitol Records that lasted almost two yrs as a singer/songwriter.
Q: What are some topics and themes you explore on your recent release SYNONYMITY?
A: Hope, faith, trust, change, love, loss, spirituality and loneliness
Q: How do you approach songwriting?
A: I approach it with melody first and a sequence of chord changes that piques my interest, then it's all about sections intros, choruses, pre-choruses, bridges and so forth. Now once the framework is laid out I then fill in what's missing - i.e. lyrics or sections repeated; this falls into the category of arrangement until I consider the song is finally finished. The rest is production choices.
Q: Have you played this music live and if so how does it translate with an audience?
A: Not yet, but looking forward to it.
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: Know that it cares about you.
Q: Can you talk about your musical history?
A: My mother sang opera in the Wangerian choral at UCLA and throughout the Los Angeles area as well as several folk singing groups in French, Hebrew, Dutch and English. I started out wanting to be a drummer, but ended up on guitar when I was sail yrs old as my sister abandoned the instrument and it became mine. I started to pick out tunes by all the music in the house and there was a plethora of it. Genres ranged from jazz, classical, pop, folk, rock, cabaret, country & western and R&B.
I was fortunate enough to grow up in LA so there was an ample amount of various musical styles around and on the air waves. I took formal lessons here and there, mostly self taught and then later went to study formally in college trying to figure out what I already knew in more detail. I started playing professionally as a side man in ’89 mostly playing R&B, blues, gospel, jazz and early forms of rock n’ roll in South Central LA. This is where I learned to play in bands and ensembles. Somehow in ’96 while I was attending college I was signed to deal with Capitol Records that lasted almost two yrs as a singer/songwriter.
Q: What are some topics and themes you explore on your recent release SYNONYMITY?
A: Hope, faith, trust, change, love, loss, spirituality and loneliness
Q: How do you approach songwriting?
A: I approach it with melody first and a sequence of chord changes that piques my interest, then it's all about sections intros, choruses, pre-choruses, bridges and so forth. Now once the framework is laid out I then fill in what's missing - i.e. lyrics or sections repeated; this falls into the category of arrangement until I consider the song is finally finished. The rest is production choices.
Q: Have you played this music live and if so how does it translate with an audience?
A: Not yet, but looking forward to it.
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: Know that it cares about you.