RECENT HISTORY (EDITED JAN, 2010):In February, 2008, just following my 60th birthday, having just worked through AN INNER CONFLICT, with a NEW sense of liberation, I began to write and record several songs, which culminated in my first album, "Broken Man - Trapped In Time", released in August, 2008.
Three of the 4 songs were written spontaneously, using fragments of riffs that were in my mind for many years, but it was only in 2008 that I developed the energy, freedom, and confidence to produce them for public consumption. (The 4th song, Rebecca, I had written around 1967).
I continued with 6 new songs, to produce my 2nd album, "Under An Open Sky", with a 7th song, a live, acoustic version of Rebecca, the album released in December, 2008.
I was fortunate to find Rich Liegey, at VuDu Studios in Freeport, NY, who had been the bassist for a popular band, Wheatus, and who had enthusiastically helped me to move forward with 2 songs in 2009, More Each Day, and The Vessel.
My band, Central Beat, had played around Long Island, which had catalyzed my creative energies, as we performed both classic rock, as well as original tunes in our repertoire. The band was comprised of 5 men, all with full-time professions, and family responsibilities, but we somehow managed to find the time and inspiration to create a demo, rehearse, and perform live.
After about 9 years, with stunned reactions of shock and grief from my 11 fans, I retired from the band, in August, 2009.
PAST HISTORY: After my brother, Mike, taught me the E chord on the guitar in 1956, I played Jailhouse Rock at age 8, became enthused by early Elvis' Golden Records, and then suffered for 5 long years on the violin, like the little boy on the Thematic Apperception Test. My sister, Sara, has maintained her versatility on the violin, and continues to play her violin live, down south, in the traditional fiddle syle.
EARLY INFLUENCES: Kate Smith (When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain"); Eddie Fisher (Oh, My Papa); Walt Disney (When You Wish Upon A Star); Danny and the Juniors (Schoolboy Romance); Bobby Darin (Dream Lover); Richie Valens (Donna); Paul Anka (Lonely Boy, Put Your Head On My Shoulder); Dion Dimucci (Teenager In Love; When You Wish Upon A Star - fingerpicking live at the Bitter End; and the rarely mentioned album "You Are Not Alone", with songs such as "Windows", and "The Stranger"); The Chiffons (He's So Fine); Del Shannon (Runaway); Curtis Lee and the Halos (Angel Eyes); Ray Hildebrand (Hey Paula); Ray Charles (Georgia On My Mind); Lennon/McCartney (Yesterday, Girl, and 178 others); Peter Paul and Mary (Man of Constant Sorrow, Early In The Morn, Pete Seeger's "If I Had A Hammer", and 30 others); Bob Dylan (Gates of Eden, Positively 4th Street, and 75 others); Donovan (Celeste, To Try For The Sun, Sunny Goode Street, and 60 others); Elton John (Your Song, and 20 others); Joni Mitchell (For Free, and 10 others); Paul Simon (Song for the Asking, For Emily, and 50 others); Richie Havens (Morning, I Can't Make It Anymore, and 20 others); Neil Young (Tell Me Why, A Man Needs A Maid, and 20 others); John Denver (Annie's Song, and 10 0thers); James Taylor (Fire & Rain, and 30 others); Tom Rush (Child's Song, and 5 others); and Jackson Browne (Adam's Song, I Thought I Was A Child, and 30 others) were a few of the singer/songwriters who most influenced my musical tastes while growing up. More contemporariy balladeer influences have been Jewel (Foolish Games), Paolo Nutini (Last Request), Plain White T's (Hey There Delilah), Superman (Five For Fighting), and Annie Lennox (Dark Road).
I studied jazz and classical guitar for several years during the '60's, with Sid Margolis, who had been a big-band guitarist before settling into a music school on Kings Highway, in Brooklyn.
I played rhythm guitar and sang vocals in two, self-created, college bands, A Taste of Sunlight, and Up incorporated, in the 1960's.
More recently, I have studied jazz guitar, learning new Beatle arrangements, also expanding my fingerpicking repertoire, with a teacher on Long Island.
Around 1990, using a Fender Strat with a built in GK2A adaptor, I began to experiment with a guitar synthesizer. This device allows one to play digital simulations of virtually any instrument, through the guitar, and I became familiar with keyboard, string, wind, and percussion "patches".
I began experimenting with a digital vocal harmonizer, and a drum machine that accompanied the guitar synthesizer in the correct key, and with a bass line (!), to perform, and to record on audiotape, as a one-man band.
More recently, I acquired a Zoom digital recorder with a built-in CD burner, became more familiar with digital technology, and began to digitally record and burn my own songs, as well as the songs of Central Beat, mentioned above.
In February, 2008, about 3 AM on a Sunday morning, I burned my first version of "Only A Man".
My first album, "Broken Man - Trapped In Time", was released in August, 2008.
The opening tune is "Lately I've Been Feeling", followed by "I Just Keep Seeing Her Face", "Only A Man", and "Rebecca", all available on iTunes and CDBaby, and the first 2 presented on youtube, using a slide show and captions.
My second album, "Under An Open Sky", released in December, '08, reflected greater focus on acoustic guitars, with somewhat less reliance on digital enhancement. Now, after a one year hiatus, I began to work on a 2 songs for my third album, one tune called "I Wish That You Never Had Gone", drawn from my innocent, childhood experiences with a young girl, in Brooklyn, in the early 1950's; a second tune, an epic ballad of 9 minutes, is now complete, ready for public, world-wide release........pjstein