Retrospect to me is first about documenting an aspect of my musicianship that I had been developing for about five years and was realized in these recordings: my particular style of jazz which was influenced by my childhood heroes as well as the many musicians that I know and have worked with and my encounters with the New Orleans-based modern jazz composers, especially James Black, Ellis Marsalis, David Bode, and the music of the Silver Book.
This album is meant to be a guided journey through mysterious known and unknown places. Good images to pair with this are:
Jaya: Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, and other heroes of the revolutions of the 1960’s.
Black Narcissus: jellyfish, deep ocean trenches, and the “Air Loom” drawings of James Tilly Matthews.
Late Bloomer: flowers, couples in love, and the life cycles of living things.
Time Remembered: photos of those who have gone from your life, silent films played backwards and in slow motion, the Selma March and March on Washington.
Reflection: lone canoers paddling slowly through empty swamps, violent rainstorms, distant mountains.
Heyoke: photos of Black Elk, Crazy Horse, the Thunder Beings, ball lightning, Kenny Wheeler’s album cover for Gnu High.
I have been blessed to be able to work with some of the best musicians in New Orleans and the world as part of this project. Thank you to Erin Demastes, Oscar Rossignoli, Chris Alford, Ben Fox, Olas Ortwein, Alexander Geddes, Cyrus Nabipoor, Ricardo Pascal, Xavier Molina, Peter Gustafson, Gregg Molinario, Martin Masakowski, David Bode, and Arséne DeLay for your amazing contributions. You are not only amazing musicians but also friends whom I value greatly. I also want to thank Ricky Sebastian, Brian Seeger, Victor Atkins, Khari Allen Lee, Steve Masakowski, Yotam Haber, Charles Taylor and the rest of the University of New Orleans not only for the supreme wisdom which I was able to partially absorb but also for connecting me with many of these great musicians. I would also like to give a special thanks to Gio Blackmon, one of my dearest friends and someone who has been like a father to me. Gio not only recorded and produced this album, but has been there for me time and time again when I have needed him most.
