OK, so here’s what I have been up to since we last spoke. The album from the Daniel Iorio Group is almost done. I have about two or three songs left to record and those should be completed by June. I am quite proud of my participation on the project and the tracks that I play on have quite a few nice guitars on them. On May 1 Daniel and I played an acoustic gig in a club in Montreal. Photos of the evening can be seen here: http://danieliorio.milou.ca/ . Also, in April Daniel was asked to compose and perform a song for the Montreal Canadiens hockey legend, Guy Lafleur. The song is called “Flower Power” and we had the privellige of playing it for him at a benefit event. More info on Daniel: http://www.myspace.com/danieliorio

In May I played a few gigs with an R&B singer by the name of Coshyne. He has some great tunes and the gigs were a lot of fun. We will begin recording his album in June. He’s a strong songwriter and I think that many good things are to come from him. More info can be seen here: http://www.myspace.com/coshyne . Photos of our gig are here.

I was very fortunate to be able to record two songs on the album from the amazing singer Gage. His album, “Changer Le Monde” will be released at the end of June. I played on a song called “Dimanche” and another called “Libre”. Gage is simply one of the best singers that I have worked with and I know that his new album will turn some heads. More info on Gage can be seen here: http://www.gage.mu/

A few recordings that I played on have started to come out. One of them is from an R&B singer by the name of Lisa Lavie. I played on a few tracks on her album. One of them is called “Maple Leafs” and can be heard here: http://www.myspace.com/lisalavie . Another album is from a singer called Marie-Eve Côté. Her project is francophone pop/rock. I play on the song “Va” and it can be heard here: http://www.myspace.com/marievecote

Besides that, the Summer is looking to be pretty quiet. I will be doing a few concerts with Nicola Ciccone but for the most part I will be staying home, doing some sessions and spending time with the family until the busier Fall season. The family is doing well and my twin girls already celebrated their first birthday. Before I know it, they’ll be in college.

In other news, I finally replaced my iPod which died a miserable death. As I was uploading my thousands of songs from my computer to the new iPod, I got to thinking how important that little white sucker is to me. It goes everywhere with me and makes mundane tasks like doing the dishes, shopping for groceries, and waiting for the oil change to get done at the garage much more pleasant. While watching the tunes going from the hard disk to the iPod, it brought me back to where I was when I was listening to some of these albums. Like for example, I remember listening to Donald Fagen’s The Nightfly while walking the streets in Arcachon, France looking for a place to wash my clothes on a day off on tour. Or, Stadium Arcadium from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers while walking in Osaka, Japan (in the pouring rain) looking for a temple to visit on a day off. I remember hearing Tuck and Patti’s Love Warriors, Miles Davis Star People, and Steely Dan The Royal Scam while looking for a laundromat in Macon, France. U2’s How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb always brings me back on the flight from Dakar, Senegal to New York in 2005. Gage’s Soul Rebel was listened closely (over and over) on the flight from Nagoya, Japan to Cincinnati in 2005. I remember soaking up Keith Urban’s Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing on a long walk from my hotel on a sunny afternoon in Tokyo, Japan in 2007. I listened t John Scofield’s Bump while walking on the boardwalk in Cannes, France in 2006. And lastly Sting’s Sacred Love album takes me back to riding the TGV train to various cities with Corneille during the Pièces Jaunes fund raiser in 2006.

On a related topic, while listening to some music on an evening bike ride with that same iPod, I was soaking in a few songs and as one of them started to gradually fade out, I was thinking to myself that I really didn’t want the tune to end. I could have used another 3 minutes at the ending at least. Has this ever happened to you ? Anyway, it got me thinking of certain songs that had such amazing endings that I didn’t want the song to end. My top 5 list of songs that I would have loved to continue are: “Hey Nineteen” by Steely Dan (such an amazing groove on that tune), “Kid Charlemagne” by Steely Dan (amazing guitar solo from Larry Carlton) “Never Coming Home” by Sting (amazing piano solo from Jason Rebello, “Si Tu Savais” by Corneille (decent playing from you-know-who. I know - shameless self-promotion, but I really like what I played in those final choruses !), “Whatcha See is Whatcha Get” by John Scofield (incredible groove and solo from Sco). Is that 5 already ?

Well, that’s about it. I hope that you enjoy the changes to the website site (I have also updated some of the photos) and I wish you a great summer !

Andy

In my iPod:

Mark Knopfler - Sailing To Philadelphia, Musiq Soulchild - Aijuswanasing, D’Angelo - Voodoo, George Benson - Absolute Benson, Vince Gill - These Days, Bireli Lagrene - Blue Eyes, Bireli Lagrene - Just The Way You Are, Andreas Oberg - Young Jazz Guitar, Paul Simon - Concert In The Park, Wes Montgomery - The Wes Montgomery Trio, John Mclaughlin - Remember Shakti, Freddy Powers - The Country Jazz Singer, Steely Dan - Gaucho, Steely Dan - Two Against Nature, Joe Pass - Virtuoso, U2 - All That You Can’t Leave Behind, Zal Idrissa Sissokho - Silaba, Marchel Ivery - Meets Joey DeFrancesco, Lucy Pearl - Lucy Pearl, Kanda Bongo Man - ZIng Zong, Joss Stone - Introducing Joss Stone, Bob Marley - Live, James Taylor - October Road, Charlie Hunter - Natty Dread, Norah Jones - Feels Like Home, Babyface - MTV Unplugged Live in NYC

P.S. #6 - “Brothers In Arms” - Dire Straits (Mark Knopfler’s incredible solo)

P.S.S. Here’s a shout-out to my friend and keyboard player Rickey Pageot. I studied music with him at University and he played on a few Corneille tours. He now is on tour with Madonna !!!