What's Next?

Dark Sky

Blind Alley

No Looking Back

Solo saxophone August 15, 2021, composed and played by PapaPatty

First Run Tragedy

Improvising on a 12-tone theme constructed from the two whole tone scales.  I wanted to make it kind of pointillistic.  Wurlitzer piano played through a reverb-flange setting on an amp.  Percussion from an old Yamaha DD6 drum pad, partly a preset and partly played manually.  Alto saxophone.

Tap Dance

Dedicated to Kevin Strickland and all who struggle against injustice.

March

Echo Chamber

A little bluesy riff based on a chord from one of Berg's early songs.  Artwork by PapaPatty.

Shadow Box

Yamaha DD6 drum pad, Wurlitzer electric piano, Yamaha keyboard acoustic bass voicing, tenor saxophone.

Mystery Ride

Main riff based on Coltrane, Ascension.  My tribute to one of my favorite basketball players.  Manual and programmed percussion from Yamaha DD6 drumpad; bass from Yamaha keyboard.  Alto saxophone played through keyboard amp with flange/delay effect.

World B. Free

Ice Berg

Yamaha DD6 drum pad (programmed and manually played), Keyboard basses, and alto sax (wah effect from vocal effects pedal).

Beyond The Corner

On a Christmas Eve the New York Times posted this photo of Sudanese soldiers taking a saxophone break from civil war. In their honor I composed and improvised this round based on a traditional South African bow melody.  Recorded on a 4 track tape recorder.

Saxophone Soldiers

Chemo Sessions 14.  After my son Patty passed on I found this riff in one of the recording folders on his computer.  I had been looking to compose some kind of tribute indicating how I feel about Patty and his music, but lacked a solid basis for doing so until I ran into this riff which I really like because it has a happy sound to it.  So I decided to try and put something together in the through-composed style that Patty liked.  (Most of his compositions, especially for the band Between the Nightmares, seem to have been pretty tightly composed.)  So this is what I came up with.  The track starts with the original guitar riff played by Patty followed by my saxophone theme expanded out of it.  I think Patty might like it.  I've been playing this on the street for awhile but this is the first recording I've attempted of it.  I might have another go at it at t some point but this will have to do for now.

Patty's Happy Riff

An old Billy Eckstein tune that Coltrane liked.  Just trying to reconstruct my alto sound while recovering from chemotherapy.  I like this ballad and ballads are good for working on one's sound.  And the sound is really all that matters, isn't it?

I Want To Talk About You

Fantasy In G Flat

My memorial for Ray Manzarek, recorded shortly after his death in 2013.

Uncle Ray

PapaPatty is a Terre Haute - based musician who mainly plays the saxophone, but also some keyboards, percussion, and guitar.  The name is after his son Patrick who died in 2006, who is missed greatly and loved even more.  PapaPatty is also a founding member of the (now defunct) jam bands Building 7 and Papa J. Otis.  You can find him sitting in with other bands or playing solo on the street once in awhile.

PapaPatty

Popular tracks