Recording in NYC

6 weeks ago I had the privilege of recording some new big band music in NYC, for my upcoming EP. Having recorded The LA EP last year, I was keen to get a ‘New York sound’ on this release – which, I believe, we did.

We headed to Avatar Studios on September 25 and 27 with some of New York’s finest session musicians, put together by trombonist and MD David Gibson. I am forever thankful to Dave for putting together a fantastic ensemble of great players and great people – these players had never worked with me before, but that didn’t matter – everyone was supportive and positive, no ego.



Special thanks must also go to my fellow Perth jazz man Troy Roberts (now based in NYC) for recommending Dave to me. In contrast to The LA EP, I knew almost no one at the start of this project – Troy and Dave helped make it happen. As with LA, the NYC sessions were filmed for YouTube & BluRay thanks to Robot Fondue.
Although having an entirely new band, studio and film crew, we did however bring on board the same engineer from last time out in California, Allen Sides, and my production assistant Kyle Newmaster. It was great to work with them again and I’m really happy they were available for the project. Here you can also see assistant engineer and ProTools whiz, Thom Beemer.


As a writer, one of my main goals with this project was consolidation. After getting a lesson with Vince Mendoza following the LA EP, we came to the conclusion that some of the LA charts were a bit too drawn out – Vince talks about ‘the waiting room’. “Don’t leave me in the waiting room”. Those charts were 7 and 9 minutes each. As such, the charts on this EP are shorter – around 4-6 minutes each. To my mind at least, the structure is tighter and more succinct – but you be the judge.

The results should be ready soon and I can’t wait to share them with you!