A little somber and humble improv for the successful launch of the JWST on 12/25/21, enjoy. Happy holidays. 

Lonely space telescope will be 1 million miles away from earth...

James Webb Space Telescope Improv

Interview by Margaret Worsley
91.9 KVCR- Where you learn something new every day. NPR for the Inland Empire.
Used with permission by:
Rick Dulock, Program Manager
kvcrnews.org
©2022

KVCR 91.9 - NPR - Josh Nelson Interview

©2015 Josh Nelson, Kathleen Grace 
Steel Bird Music BMI, Kathleen Grace Music ASCAP

Josh Nelson -piano, arrangement, composition
Kathleen Grace- vocal, arrangement, composition
Larry Goldings- B3 Organ
Brian Walsh- bass and tenor clarinet
Alan Ferber- trombone

From the album "Exploring Mars" (Origin Records 82687)

How You Loved Me On Mars

©2009-2015 Steel Bird Music, BMI

Josh Nelson- piano
Ben Wendel- tenor sax
Sam Minaie- bass
Zach Harmon- drums

A Change in the Wind

©2009 Steel Bird Music, BMI

Josh Nelson- piano/composer
Tom Catanzaro- tenor sax
Charles Altura- guitar
Hamilton Price- bass
Kevin Kanner- drums

Nebulous

©2011 Steel Bird Music, BMI

Josh Nelson- piano/composer
Dontae Winslow- trumpet
Alan Ferber- trombone
Brian Walsh- bass clarinet
Dave Robaire- bass
Dan Schnelle- drums


Sinking Ship

Here's a free bonus track from "The Sky Remains" recording sessions that didn't make the final album.

A musical reflection and meditation on one of my favorite personalities of all time, the great actor Peter Sellers. From his on-screen zany characters to his real-life complexities, he seems to be to be an interesting man! Wish I got to meet him... 

Featuring:

Anthony Wilson - guitar
Brian Walsh- clarinets
Alex Boneham- bass
Dan Schnelle- drums
Josh Nelson- piano/composition/arrangement 

Recorded and mixed by Talley Sherwood
Mastered by Peter Doell

©2017 Josh Nelson/Steel Bird Music, BMI

Peter Sellers

From a live recording at the Blue Whale in June 2011. With Larry Koonse on guitar. Performing the Eliot Smith tune "Pitseleh". Lyrics below. 

I'll tell you why I don't want to know where you are
I got a joke I've been dying to tell you
The silent kid is looking down the barrel
To make the noise that I kept so quiet
I kept it from you, pitseleh

I'm not what's missing from your life now
I could never be the puzzle pieces
They say that god makes problems just to see what you can stand
Before you do as the devil pleases
And give up the thing you love

But no one deserves it

The first time I saw you, I knew it would never last
I'm not half what I wish I was
I'm so angry, I don't think it'll ever pass
And I was bad news for you, just because
I never meant to hurt you

Pitseleh

A choral work for mixed SATB choir, soprano soloist, and piano. Commissioned by Xavier University Music Department, on the celebration of 50 years of the university becoming co-ed. 

Features texts by Cincinnati poet Alice Cary, Xavier English Dept. faculty Anne McCarty, Kristen Renzi, and History Dept. chair Kathleen Smythe. 

Thanks to Polina Bespalko, Rachel Chrastil, Megan Boyd, and Shannon Byrne for making this possible. 

©2019 Steel Bird Music (BMI)
I. To Solitude
II. The Women with the Hungry Eyes III. Fifty Years
IV. Courage over Comfort

I. "To Solitude"
by Alice Cary

I am weary of the working,
Weary of the long, blind struggle
I am weary drifting, driving
  Like a helmless bark at sea;
 Weary of the long day’s heat;
 Kindly, comfortable spirit,
 To thy comfortable bosom,
 Wilt thou give thyself to me?
 Wilt thou take me, spirit sweet?
 Give thy birds to sing me sonnets?
  Give thy winds my cheeks to kiss?
 For a pathway bright and high,—
 And thy mossy rocks to stand for
 Weary of the dimly dying
 The memorials of our bliss?
 Hopes that never quite all die.
 I in reverence will hold thee,
 Weary searching a bad cipher
 Never vexed with jealous ills,
 For a good that must be meant;
 Though thy wild and wimpling waters
 Discontent with being weary,—
 Wind about a thousand hills.
 Weary with my discontent.
 I am weary of the trusting
 Where my trusts but torments prove;
 Wilt thou keep faith with me? wilt thou
 Be my true and tender love?

II. The Woman with the Hungry Eyes (for Theda Bara)
by Anne McCarty

My father taught me to tailor
so I tailored myself.
The “nice Jewish girl from Cincinnati” Now an Arab born in the shadow of the Sphinx.
The whole world turned into human eyes and I gazed back.
It paid to be silent,
gesturing desire,
jealousy, hate, love, and devotion.
in pantomime, keeping pace with the director’s metronome.
Women lead double lives—
many names, one role:
The Unchastened Woman, Cleopatra, Salome, The Devil’s Daughter, The Vixen, hell’s handmaiden,
the wickedest woman in the world, vicious to the core, and cruel.
The stake is always looking for a way into our hearts.
The heart adapts to deserts, the Sahara my home, where the bitter apple grows,
the creeping plant, tall lovegrass, the fig, orange, and acacia.
I am my own oasis.
Once pictures started talking,
it was my turn to be the watcher.
In velvet seats of the picture house, film flickering on our faces.
jealousy, hate, love, and devotion.

III. Fifty Years
by Kathleen Smythe, Kristen Renzi and Dan Wells

Fifty years doesn’t feel that long from when
we were thought too different to get along.
Coming so far, we’ve yet further to go
She was once young, radiant and graceful.
Eyes cerulean deep, reflecting faces from the bottom of the sea.
Golden hair, rays stolen from early Phoebus ascending his blinding throne. Slender, moving, gay, dancing.
Silken poise untamed behind the warming coal red lips of her soul. 
She danced and smiled through fifty years.

Over Millenia

Pianist and composer Josh Nelson's Soundcloud Page!

Josh Nelson

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