Fortress



Fortress (Levels and Lines Records/Blink Music, 2009) collects 11 of my songs from the past few years. For me, it's an album about love and letting go. Stylistically, it goes from the soft rock ballad of Afterglow to the smoky jazz of Blue Bullseye, to the world music flavors of Ants Crawl Over Me and the vocal harmonies of Freedom. I wrote and recorded it in my current home of Cambridge, Massachusetts, working with the incredibly talented and versatile producer Tim Lukas at his Blink Music studios. We recruited amazing local talent to come play on the album, including guitarist Kevin Barry (who rocked the wicked solo on Fortress). The final tracks were mastered by the legendary Bob Ludwig up at his Gateway Mastering Studios in Portland, Maine.

The title track, "Fortress," is the centerpiece of the album for me. It's about that timeless kind of love that commits you totally to another. My personal Fortress is Prachie, the most beautiful, brilliant, talented, kind person I could ever imagine. She has been with me every step of the way and is a daily inspiration in everything I do. The album is for her, and dedicated to the memory of my grandparents Arvo Vaurio, Kay Vaurio, and Zen Jackson.


The Book of Waiting

The Book of Waiting (Levels and Lines, 2009) is a set of 10 pieces for solo piano. These are contemporary classical piano solos, owing much to the work of jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, American folk music, and even rock piano. I recorded this project at my studio in Arlington, Massachusetts while waiting for some final work on "Fortress." I called it The Book of Waiting because of all the waiting that seemed to accompany the other project. My friend Jeff tells me there's an Andreas Vollenweider song with the same name - haven't been able to confirm that, but interesting.

There's a central musical theme that runs through all the pieces in the Book. It serves as the skeleton for everything going on, even though you only rarely hear the theme in complete form. Each piece zooms in on some portion of the theme, creating a different mood and musical world. There is also a progression of tempos and moods throughout that corresponds to the contour of that central theme. At one point I had intended all the pieces to be low-key and relaxed, but as so often happens for me with waiting in real life, I found I could only maintain that mood for so long.