Jeff Curtis
Jeff Curtis is a seasoned veteran in the recording industry. He delivers to masterpieces to WACBIZ, acoustic guitar-based ‘Dreams’ a recording project he finished five years ago. The approach to this album is different in that I am playing everything in this crazy tuning that my friend Randy Barnett showed me. It was back the fall of 1996 and we had met at a party at another friend’s place down in West Virginia. Randy is an incredible musician in his own right and plays mostly the violin. We were attempting to jam on Led Zeppelin’s ‘The Rain Song‘ and he showed me the tuning that Jimmy Page had used for that piece, though it is actually a whole step higher. The tuning I use is DADADE, low to high, though sometimes I‘ll use a capo. I started experimenting over the next few weeks afterward and discovered how easily all these unique chord voicings could be played. Three of the eighteen tracks on ‘Dreams’ were in DADADE but the new album is all tracks of DADADE in various styles - something for everybody hopefully." The new album, entitled ‘The Next Place‘ is a collection of 16 original compositions written since 1998 that incorporate musical styles from "soft rock to funk to meditative to blues and beyond" plus a solo instrumental fingerstyle rendition of ‘The Rain Song’. Jeff mentions that "no guitar picks were used whatsoever" during the recording sessions. Sonny Speed of the Island Songwriters Showcase and of the band, ‘The Defibrillators‘ produced and engineered the project at Son Spot Studios in Commack, New York, which took almost 8 months to complete. "I tend to think of the material I am writing now as more like a movie soundtrack - each composition could possibly be the background score for a different scene." ‘Horizons’, which is included on ‘The Next Place’ CD, has been used as the theme music for ‘LT1’ since late 2000 and another track entitled ‘Medieval Forest‘ from the ‘Dreams‘ CD was used in a west coast produced full-length 2001 documentary film entitled ‘Treesit‘. Jeff worked with 8 other musicians on the latest project: Andy Lowe on electric 6-string fretless bass and electric 6-string upright bass, Sophie Parker (who also played on the ‘Dreams‘ album) on viola and violin; Laura Gallucci, viola; Sean Grace, flute; Sonny Speed, keyboards; Chris Peters, theremin; Dave Broida, harmonica; and Simon Miller, cajon and percussion. "Everyone who participated was great to work with and helped make this CD sound really good, in my humble opinion. There are solo pieces similar to the material on ‘Dreams‘ plus orchestrated tracks that will satisfy those who want something more lively."
