Conesus is Inspired by the sounds and beauty of my home town in The Finger Lakes Region of Western New York State. It utilizes percussion instruments from Africa, Indonesia, and the Middle East, as well as the Bawu, a Chinese wind instrument.
Say Ahh… is a funky duet for lap-style Frame Drums in a seven beat time cycle.
Out the Door features Throat Singing over a trance inducing bed of large Frame Drums and the South Indian Kanjira.
Saidi Swing was written for the Silkroad Percussion Quartet and features Sandeep Das on Table, Joe Gramley on Darbuka, Mark Suter on Frame Drum, and Shane Shanahan on Riq. It is inspired by the Egyptian dance rhythm known as Saidi.
Take the “A” Train is a very special arrangement of the jazz standard that I created for the very unique instrumentation of the Silkroad Ensemble, featuring Pipa, Shakuhachi, Bagpipe, Clarinet, Strings, Tabla and Percussion. This is a live version we performed at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA.