UPDATE ON SONGS

monroe louisiana 5.20.2009
i actually wrote/recorded about 60 songs during the 4-5 days of recordings in switzerland. rather than saying "wrote" i should say "created", as i did not write anything; i merely sat down at the piano and let my hands and the music go where they wanted to. All is solo piano improvisation, which i will edit and release as only solo piano; BUT if some pieces feel like they need vocals & lyrics, i'll add them; AND some i will only use for backgrounds for my art videos.

now, i'm back in Louisiana- enjoying what feels like fall weather at the moment; it's almost cold; but i know that will change soon. so, i'm getting some outside/yard work done before the heat hits; then i'll hole up in my house and work on various music, art & photography projects [in the air conditioning] ALL summer long.

[c]2009 doug duffey

40 new songs written/recorded [switzerland]

i recorded/wrote 23 songs today & did 17+ yesterday- so: 40 new tracks to date- AND i plan to do more before i leave for the states. i put them on cd & listened tonight & feel certain most of them are keepers. there are some that need editing, but i always feel like that's cheating. so... whatever doesn't go on new solo cds will be edited & used for my art videos- or i might add fx, synths & B3 to them & do other weirdness and release them later. this new stuff is rather like debussy/satie meet alice coltrane in a goth blues bar. some dark, some light, some heavy, some ethereal, some lullabye like... etc... it's totally free form improvised solo piano- no vocals- and something i have wanted to do for some time now. i get tired of words/lyrics; of hearing them AND of writing them... sometimes more can be said without words.

so, i decided to have my old upright tuned [a Burger & Jacoby piano made in Biel in the 1880s] and use my Tascam Dr 1 portable digital recorder. i just stick it behind the piano, press record, then sit down and play whatever comes into my head, or not into my head but off the top of it. total auto pilot: so there are some interesting changes and chords and little journeys and side trips going on in the songs between the beginnings and [sometimes unexpected] endings.

i plan on doing more and more of this while i am here...as long as the piano holds tuning [which is already kind of going out... but makes for interesting vibrations- but on the bluesy stuff sounds VERY authentic] ... this reminds me of when i was a teenager and would sit and play for hours on end...improvising... totally lost in the music.

because i get tired of doing the same thing over and over- and hate getting into a musical or any other kind of rut- i am forever changing styles and mediums [which is why i do art and photography as well as music]... so this is my latest adventure- and one i have thoroughly enjoyed

[c]2009 doug duffey

Café-Théâtre de la Tour de Rive

two shots taken during sound check @ Café-Théâtre de la Tour de Rive- La Neuveville, Friday April 24, 2009- it turned out to be a great concert! very nice and enthusiastic people- both staff and audience- we ended up doing a 3rd set as a long encore! magnifique!
[c]2009 doug duffey

welcome 2009

Zurich airport -4.4.2009

I'm beginning to update my website... so bear with me. between the website, myspace, facebook, youtube and my blogs i get more than a little over media-cated. i've tended to neglect my website for the more easily edited 'social networking' sites. i want to pare down my site and make it more concise... easily navigated etc. and add more photos etc to it.

i am in europe for a few more weeks - i came over december 8- went home march 5- came back march 31 and went into rehearsals then flew to denmark to do the djurs bluesland festival on april 4th- and flew back the next day- so i'm still a little bit jet-lagged. now i am editing the live video jacqueline shot at the festival... posting them on youtube, myspace and facebook...

the group has had a great year so far- and we're expecting more good things with the release of the new cd. it is still being mixed and mastered, but hopefully will be finished within the next 2 months.

i also plan to do some solo piano/vocal writing/recordings [and edit/finish some i've begun] as well as various multi-track recordings begun and shelved for too many years. so summer 2009 will be spent working on various music projects that NEED to be finished.

to find information on upcoming shows click here

[c]2009 doug duffey

facebook, myspace, youtube and blogging?

i've had too many distractions with all the other 3 web things going on [youspacemybookfacetube]... will get back to basic blogging here soon. i like [and miss] this blog site more than the 'sound bites' or finger bites of -and the constant need of upkeep on- facebook/myspace- and even my wesbite needs updating & revamping.there again with this blog, youtube, FB and MS do i even need a website?
i'll be adding to my blogs here in the next months... stay tuned!
[c]2009 doug duffey

recording notes- louisiana march 2009

Above is a shot from my Enoch's solo gig last Saturday [3.14.09] i recorded the whole show w/my new Tascam Dr1- which is such a great tool- i can record live shows/rehearsals etc; plug it via USB & stereo cable to my laptop and use it's built in mics as a vocal mic over my Acid [multi-tracks] songs; it even has lines in [2 mini jacks/1 normal jack]. it w/the 8GB memory card, my laptop, and a 1 TB external HD, has brought my portable studio to a whole new level. i might start producing other artists on site- have gear will travel!

i used the DR1 the next morning [Sunday] to record about 11 new Hammond B3 tracks in the house- in Acid- which gives me the opportunity/freedom to chop/cut and paste/rearrange parts into song structure, which i can then sing over, and/or add solos to etc. my original thought was to do a jimmy smith type cd- but then some Traffic/Brian Auger influences creeped in- so who knows what the final result will be; jimmy smith meets traffic/auger in new orleans/the delta on acid? i edited them into song form all sunday night till 7AM, which was cool but exhausting. finishing them should keep me busy for a while. i might do more tracks before heading back to europe; and want to do a trio [B3, bass & drums] this summer... totally live using the DR1- or maybe even direct to dat using 2 room mics. i love old school recording techniques as much as all this new digital.

when trying to move and clean up files on my laptop/hard-drives i discovered tons of solo piano tracks i had recorded last year [and the year before] and forgotten about- with the intention of eventually writing lyrics to/recording vocals over them- [which i transferred to where i could find them!]- some would be great as is- just solo piano- and some definitely lend themselves to having vocals over them. i did a version of the traditional "careless love" [with a few original lyrics thrown in] which fits with the songs i recorded [as rehearsal] for the Celtic Fest:

1. black is the color of my true loves hair
2. scarboroguh fair
3. she moved through the fair
4. the bold fenian men
5. dirty old town

and some older tunes i recorded in studios [which i didnt put on my two solo cds]

1. crazy bout the way i walk
2. st. james infirmary
3. swing low, sweet chariot

so with "careless love" and one or two more tradtional recordings there WILL be enough for a new solo vocal/piano cd of folk/traditional songs - and a solo piano cd, and this B3 cd and so many tracks [mixed trans-grenres: blues with hip hop; delta blues with world type stuff; techno stuff mixed with R&B etc.] -including the projects i began with steve kilpatrick; the DDT project [me, tommy miller, dough johnson] and a project i began with kelvin bullen in zermatt a few years back- [all Acid tracks ready for lyrics/vocals]-this could make for a very busy, productive, and interesting summer!

[c]2009 doug duffey

shots from the reblaube- heerbrugg, switzerland 1.24.09

[c]2009 doug duffey