Nov 12 2007

November 2007

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the long delay but things have been picking up over here. Here are some of the highlights of the past few months.

In late September I was back in Japan with Corneille. We spent two days in Osaka and four days in Tokyo. Just like the last time that we were there, we had an amazing time. In Tokyo, we spent one night in the studio to record a version of a popular Japanese song (sung in English, of course). It turned out quite nice - the arrangement was acoustic guitar and vocals. The rest of our time was spent doing radio and TV promo as well. We will be heading back to Japan in December to do two concerts - one in Osaka and another in Tokyo. Rehearsals for those shows start next week.

A few days after we returned from Japan, we were off to Paris for a brief stay. Once again, we did some radio promo. It was so nice to be back in Paris after such a long time between visits. I tried to make the most of my short time there and got to see a few friends and ate at some favorite restaurants. Next time I hope to be there longer.

Still with Corneille, we have done some traveling around Canada promoting the album. In July we were in Vancouver and in October we were in Toronto to do a small showcase and some TV and radio shows. For the showcase in Toronto we were lucky to have Sam Harrisson accompany us on percussion. He always makes me sound better than I actually am !

The Fall Tour with Nicola Ciccone is underway, and I am glad to be a part of the tour and that great band. Nicola has brought back every musician and every technician from our Winter Tour so we are having a blast on the road. We have seen some amazing places in our province. Our first set of dates were in the cities to the north of the St-Laurence river and it was my first time visiting places like Sept-ÃŽles and Baie Comeau. We actually had to take a ferry boat to get to these towns. These cities are right on the water and have an amazing history. At any rate, the shows are fun and I’m happy to be onstage with that gang. Congratulations to Nicola for winning the Male Artist of The Year in this year’s ADISQ awards. That makes two artists that I have played with that have won that important award. Corneille won it in 2005. Hmmm…coincidence ? OK, I had nothing to do with it.

I have been doing some recording recently with an old friend with whom I played my first gig (at 17 years old !). His name is Daniel Iorio. His style is very John Lennon/U2 influenced and we have been recording off and on for a few months now. I enjoy his music and his writing style. I am playing in a style that I rarely get a chance to play with his tunes so it is a learning experience as well. We used to work quite closely about 15 years ago and it’s cool to catch up by playing some music together. More info on Daniel is here http://www.danieliorio.com/ and here http://www.myspace.com/danieliorio. I play on the tune “Too Little Too Late”. A very nice song, indeed.

I also did some recording with a duo of musicians called the Bernard Brothers in November. They are recording an album based on music that is inspired by the paintings of their uncle. It’s a really cool concept and the tunes were fun to play on. I played on two songs. The CD should be released in early 2008. You can see more info on the Bernard Brothers here: www.myspace.com/bernardbrothers

I have been spending a lot of time on airplanes recently (Japan is far !) and I have been reading some good books to help pass the time. My favorites have been: Andy Summers - One Train Later, Anthony Keidis - Scar Tissue, JD Salinger - The Catcher In The Rye, Neil Peart - Travelling Music, Dave Bidini - The Best Game You Can Name, and of course, every month’s Guitar Player magazine.

Besides that, life is good and busy. I’ll talk to you soon,

Andy

P.S. In my iPod: Joshco Stephan - Swinging Strings, George Benson - Absolute Benson, George Benson - It’s Uptown, George Benson - Tenderly, Ted Green - Solo Jazz Guitar, John Scofield - Up All Night, John Scofield - Hand Jive, John Scofield - Flat Out, Charlie Hunter - Natty Dread, Bireli Lagrene - Just The Way You Are, Rodney Jones - Soul Manifesto, Vince Gill - Let’s Make Sure We Kiss Goodbye, Joey DeFrancesco - All Or Nothing At All, Bireli Lagrene and Sylvain Luc - Duet, Sylvain Luc - Trio Sud, Jim Hall and Paul Desmond - Easy Living, Eva Cassidy - Imagine, Donald Fagen - Morph The Cat, Weather Report - 8:30, Paul Jackson Jr - A River In The Desert, Pete Huttlinger Naked Pop, Oz Noy - Fuzzy, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler - Neck and Neck, Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue, Miles Davis - Round About Midnight, Burton/Metheny/Corea - Like Minds, Chaka Khan - Funk This