Remembering The Great Impossible:
I was so lucky and profoundly grateful to have had the opportunity to record my first 2 solo albums at Criteria under the mentorship and support of Joel Levy, but that part of my recording journey came to an end when Criteria was sold. I went off in search of a new home to record my 3rd album, The Great Impossible.
For TGI, I partnered with my guitarist and dear friend, Jack Shawde to co-produce the album with me. From beginning to end, the journey while making this album was especially winding. We worked in 2 recording studios (Elysian Fields in Boca Raton & Soundmixers in Ft. Lauderdale), with 2 engineers (Keith Rose/engineer & Damian Mazur engineer & mixing), all in 2-year span of time. It was the most adventurous rollercoaster ride of any recording experience I had thus far. Navigating the production for these 15 particular songs was a blast because stylistically, they were all pretty different from each other.
We had assembled a large supporting cast who were all so incredibly gifted in their art, and the performances they turned out were magical. Dear and lasting friendships were forged. There was the DWB – Jack Shawde on rhythm and lead guitar; Chris Sheldon on drums; Brian Franklin on rhythm electric guitars and background vocals; and Debbie Duke on electric upright bass, trumpet & melodica. There was also Dan Feisley on the electric & acoustic upright bass and Mitch Mestel on electric bass; string performances by the Incredibles – Debbie Spring on viola and Jack Stamates on violin; Stephanie Callahan sang background vocals; Jack brought in Pete Solley to play Hammond B-3 organ and Mike Scaglione on Soprano sax; lastly (certainly not least) Brendan Buckley sent along some really cool drum loops for 3 of the tracks from his new home in LA.
I admittedly remember freaking out a bit when I met mastering engineer, Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound in NYC. And when we ran down the final listen, I will never forget the large exhale I had after the last piano note trailed off from the final (and title) track. Yeah, making TGI was an exhilarating ride. Gotta say though, naming it was a no-brainer. xo