Dear friends,
It’s been too long since I wrote for the website, so I offer my excuses.
It was just before the beginning of the final Shakti tour which began in October-November 2013.
Much has happened since that time, and not all of it pleasant. I’d spoken to Paco de Lucia in late January of 2014 about a recording we were planning, just a few days before he left for Latin America, and we lost him forever February 25th…
Shortly after this I began a project with singer Shankar Mahadevan which we will eventually release as a CD. I am personally thrilled about this project which is a completely different « fusion » for want of a better word, of the magic of Shankar’s voice with orchestra and guitar.
The 4th Dimension (4D) toured the East coast of the U.S. in June 2014 during which we recorded at the Berklee Performance center in Boston, and came out with « The Boston Record » a few months later.
Shortly after this I had an opportunity to record with one of my most favorite musicians, Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Gonzalo has been making marvelous music for many, many years, and is a great source of inspiration.
On September 19th we lost another brother musician in U. Mandolin Shrinivas, and Shakti took a terrible blow with the loss which we have still not recovered from.
The 4th Dimension toured Europe in the fall of 2014, it was a marvelous experience. I had already began writing music for the album « Black Light » which is being prepared for release just now.
In the meantime I was invited to record a track with drummer Cindy Blackman and my old comrade, bassist Matt Garrison. I’ve known Cindy for years, and we’ve jammed together a couple of times, but this was the first time we got to record, she’s amazing, and those two together are dynamite!
4D will begin a tour of Australia and Asia starting in October this year, so I’m busy preparing programs that include new pieces from Black Light, and I can’t wait to start playing with the gentlemen!