Gravity Leak: Album Out Now, Book Coming this Summer

I'm very excited to share that my album, Gravity Leak, is out. You can listen on whichever streaming platform you prefer, or you can download it, or you can even buy a physical copy! (Do it!)

• Streaming: Spotify, Apple Music
• Download: iTunes, Amazon
• Physical CD: Amazon

This album has really been a labor of love. All of the tunes are my original compositions, and a significant portion of them are based on a novel I've been working on (by the same title). The first three tracks on the album make up a four-part suite inspired by the novel. The first track, "Tane and Ana," introduces the hero and heroine of the story, represented by the sax and trumpet. Besides the general instrumental representations, there are musical elements linked to both of the characters. Part II, "Gravity Leak," follows their discovery and journey to a parallel world. Again, there are musical elements representing specific parts of the story. One of the more obvious ones is the solo battle between the guitar and tenor sax, which is meant to represent one of the epic battles in the story. Part III, "Angel in Darkness," is about a specific event in the novel where Ana, represented by the soprano sax, leads others into a hellish version of the afterlife. The last composition in the suite, "Like Minds," is a musical version of one of the themes in the story, which is that united but different points of view are an important part of overcoming the obstacles that life puts in our path.

Here is a little more context for the story: Tane and Ana live fairly ordinary lives in New Boston, at least as ordinarily as possible in the year 2137 after climate disaster has transformed the earth. Tane, a save-the-world kind of guy, gave up a life of financial success to work at a high-tech wildlife refuge alongside Ana, a driven and talented field researcher. Their daily routine is interrupted when Tane starts having strange reoccurring dreams about a messenger from a parallel world who needs his help. Tane refuses to believe that there is any reality to his dreams until a breakthrough in his friend Cole’s work with gravity manipulation opens up new possibilities. With a potential path forward, Tane decides to help the messenger from his dream world. Unable to let Tane attempt the odyssey by himself, Ana volunteers to go with him. Unsure if they’ll even survive, they begin their journey with a small leap through the first known-to-man tear in space or in other words, a gaping hole in nothing.

While the novel is a fun part of this project, the music is meant to stand on its own. The album features a ton of talented musicians from Rochester, NY and Eastman School of Music, many of whom I have played with for years. The musicians include Luke Norris on tenor sax who plays a killing solo on track 3, Colin Gordon on soprano and alto saxes with a disgusting micro-chromatic solo on the title track, Brandon Choi on trumpet with a beautiful solo on track 1, Jack Courtright on trombone, Oliver Hanes on trumpet, Billy Petito on guitar who wages an epic solo battle on the title track, Julian Garvue on piano with a seizure-inducing ridiculous solo on the title track, Tyrone Allen II on acoustic and electric basses, Daniel Sunshine on drum set, Sterling Cozza on piano, Stephen Morris on drum set with a killing drum solo on the last track, and Jakob Ebers on acoustic bass with the only and definitely best bass solo on the album. The awesome audio engineering was done by Michael Sherman, Rich Wattie, and Mike Craig.