At The Tower is a tune I wrote right after seeing a show at the Tower Theater in “downtown” Bend with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Ivan & Ian Neville in October 2019. I was disappointed, it seemed as though they were just mailing it in, uninspired solos and an on stage vibe that said we’re only here for the pay - don’t know if it was because they were in Bend (full house of white people just sitting there) or what. The Neville’s had two drummers and two bass players and just jammed on BS funky blues for their whole set. So I went home and decided I could write a better tune than what I just heard, so here it is.

At The Tower

I wrote Messenger after listening to a lot of Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers preparing for a jazz show I hosted on radio station KPOV, in Bend called Jazz Line. It originally had a be-bopish melody. After the first recording, I realized I just didn’t like what I wrote and eliminated the repeat on the DS because I didn’t want to hear it again. That was enough for me to go back and rewrite the much simpler (and better) melody you hear at the beginning (thank you Russian River Pliny The Elder). 


At the Tower

Messenger

This tune was written at the height of the pandemic. There was so much chaos in the political and social worlds. The sadness and introspection led to Fortune Blue. The beautiful cello playing is by Sacramento cellist Susan Lamb Cook.

Fortune Blue

Elements of Home was born on one of the many walks/hikes I took while living in Bend. I kept hearing this bass line and for the longest time couldn’t decipher the time signature. One day I realized I was just hearing it in an easy 7/4 (duh). It reminded me of my time growing up in Sacramento, listening to and playing big band time-charts.

Elements of Home

Elements Of Home

Minor X (as Rick liked to call it) is a slight departure from the arc of the project. It’s a tune I wrote with all the down-time we had during the pandemic. It’s in a minor key and not really a big deal, just sort of a minor exchange . . .

Minor Exchange

Farewell Bend is the actual full name of Bend, Oregon. There is a Farewell Bend Park at one of the trailheads of the Deschutes River Trail, a trail I spent a lot of time on. The melody I wrote originally as a processional march - kind of a farewell - for a NOLA style brass band I was part of while I was there.

Farewell Bend

Cliff Notes actually had the working title of Easy Now. It was a companion tune to At The Tower. I recorded both tunes “long distance” during the pandemic. I sent sheet music to guys in different states and they sent me back music files of their parts. I sent the whole mess to Rick to make sense of. The result was two early recordings of the tunes. At that time, I had the idea of bringing in trombonist Clifford Childers to play the tune with me when I finally got to the studio. I thought we could try a two-bone solo section like we did on my first CD Anthology on the tune “My Island” that came out pretty cool. After we returned to Sacramento, Clifford died suddenly in his sleep. He was one of those few musicians with whom I shared an intuitive musical relationship. I renamed the tune “Cliff Notes” and played the solo section myself doing my best to play it like I imagined Clifford would. Trombonist Phil Tulga joined us in the horn section.

Cliff Notes

Strollin’ was that feeling of knowing we’re going home - so glad to be back.

Strollin' On Home

Strollin On Home

One Sent is all new music composed since 2014. Ten new tunes performed and recorded with a fantastic line-up of long-time Sacramento Jazz musicians.

Ooo Way

Conquista Musical original music from their album Hace Tiempo!

Hace Tiempo

Te Sigo Amando

Ausencia

Randy Stark, trombonist, composer and conductor working and living in Sacramento, California.

Randy Stark

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