My Parents

I am very into the Beatles, Dylan, Hendrix, Zeppelin, Louis Armstrong, and others, but my parents are really my biggest influence, both musically and otherwise. In this season of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my parents' influence in many ways. To give you a flavor for the music side of this, recall the song "Your Mama Don't Dance (and Your Daddy Don't Rock 'n Roll)," originally recorded in 1972 by duo Loggins and Messina, and then covered by Poison in the 1980s. Well, my parents turn that one one its head; both my parents dance, and they both rock 'n roll!! They dance really well and they got my brother and I interested in ballroom dancing and piano lessons. My dad taught me guitar when I was 13. Plus, they introduced me to the Beatles, Dylan, Joan Baez, Queen, and others. For having cool parents, I am grateful.

To resume next week

This week I will take a break because I don't want to compete with the impending release of the new Guns 'n Roses album, "Chinese Democracy." Just kidding. I will be back with a new post one week from today, and then there will be a post every 2 weeks rather than every week. So, I hope you can defer your curiosity until next week.

Wrong Way in the Rain (aka Freshman Disorientation)

Here is the second installment of my hiking trilogy from "In the Studio." As part of freshman orientation in college, I went on a hiking trip with some classmates and our trip leader. We started out in jolly spirit trudging through the New Hampshire wilderness, but soon it started to rain and we realized that we had set out in the wrong direction Despite this setback, we recuperated and the trip was a lot of fun.

Here it is:
http://amiestreet.com/artist/88281

Cactus

In the summer before college, I was dating a girl I had met while working at Walmart. I was in the shoe department (cue Al Bundy jokes) and she was a cashier. This song is a stream-of-consciousness narrative based on a hike we took in the Sandia mountains.

It is part I of my "hiking trilogy" from "In the Studio":
http://amiestreet.com/music/lee-istrail/in-the-studio/.

Mellow

"Mellow" is a song from freshman year of college. During that year it seemed that several times, I met someone cool and then did not see them for a long time. One problem was that we didn't have common activities. A secondary problem was that, despite a mutual admiration, sometimes we just didn't have many common experiences, so ultimately the vibe wasn't there. Occasionally, this would change and I'd reconnect with them, but not that often.

This was one such story, of the non-reconnecting variety. Early on freshman year, I went to a dance with a girl who I thought I got along with pretty well, but then she simply disappeared. At the time, this was "inscrutable" to me, but eventually I remembered that there was no conversational repartee at the dance to speak of.

It's from the album "In the Studio." I laid this one down at my high school's recording studio, on a break from college. Yes, and produced it myself as well:
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210401/

Nostalgia

"Nostalgia" was originally written as a farewell song to friends from summer camp, at the point when we were going our separate ways off to college. I then reprised it when I changed high schools after 10th grade. Finally, when I recorded it during senior year of high school, it took on a new meaning in the four-song cycle. It represented the stage in which one looks fondly back on past unrequited love and with a shrug, chooses to emphasize the bright points. So now, the full cycle goes like so:

Song
1) A Picture of You: Love's first bloom
2) Amiss: It is not requited
3) Three Years Too Late: It may be requited, upon flimsy bases
4) Nostalgia: "Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"

Here it is, from the album "In the Studio," featuring some neat sax fills from Ian Smolkin, and some overdubbed harmonic high voices towards the end which are purely creatures of the studio:
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210399/

Three Years Too Late

After my freshman year of high school, I moved from Middletown, CT to Albuquerque, NM. One of my buddies in Connecticut told me that he had been talking to a certain girl we knew and told her that I was a big rock star in New Mexico. In middle school I'd had a big crush on her, and the song "Almost Close" is loosely based on that - the chick had no interest. But my friend told me that now, hearing the fictitious story that I was a well-known musician in the Southwest, she suddenly was interested in re-connecting with me.

I wasn't having this. I thought, "Baby, this is three years too late. You had your chance. L-train has left the station."

This is the third song in the initial four-song cycle from "In the Studio." First we had the blooming romanticism of "A Picture of You," then the unrequited love of "Amiss." This song follows with some good 'ol teenage angst over the superficial motivations which animate and frustrate adolescents to no end. Great menacing bass riffs from Sanjay Chandran and cool jazz-influenced drum grooves by Jon Kouba.

And here it is:
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210397/

Amiss

The second track which I recorded and sent with my college applications was "Amiss." In tenth grade, I went to a movie with a certain girl who had already told me she wanted to be "just friends." I hoped the experience of being on the date would magically change her mind. Not this time. The next day, I wasn't feeling so hot. I took a long walk around my neighborhood, listening to the Jimi Hendrix Experience album, "Axis/Bold as Love." I knew that through the transcendent power of his guitar and through his plaintive and soulful voice, Jimi felt my pain.

The first track in the series, "A Picture of You," shows the blooming sentiment of a crush. "Amiss" is the stage of realizing that this is, and probably will continue to be, unrequited.

Ian Smolkin again delivered, with a really nice improvised saxophone part. This is from the album, "In the Studio":
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210395/

A Picture of You

During my junior year of high school, I became very fond of a gymnast in my Trig/Precalc class. She also shared my fondness for the Animaniacs show. It was not to be, but the song remained. The next year, my high school's counselor on college guidance suggested that I record a few songs to send with my college applications. So I picked four of my songs and rounded up some buddies, who helped me lay down the tracks in a local Albuquerque studio. This was the lead song. The flute parts were improvised by Ian Smolkin, who also played on "Keryn" and "Blue Rain" from the album "Jazz & Blues" (see earlier entries on the blog). My hat is off to Ian for his great contribution to the song's theme.

Ian and I played the song at the school talent show, and at a coffeehouse in downtown Albuquerque. As we walked offstage after the coffeehouse gig, a woman said to me, "You'll get your woman when you're 40." At first I thought this was a diss; she was predicting I wouldn't find my woman for another 25 yrs b/c women younger than that wouldn't really dig me. But you see, this woman might have been 40 herself. I was flattered.

Here it is, from the album, "In the Studio":
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210393/

PS: I "got my woman" sooner than predicted. Rebekka and I started dating in college when I was 22 and got married when I was just a few weeks shy of 27. And it's been a great 9 yrs!

Pretty Princess

In high school, I could not pass up a chance to lampoon a certain type of ditzy girl, the "Pretty Princess." I knew some male ditzes too, but they didn't inspire me to sing.

From the album "Lee Istrail-LIVE," recorded in college:
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210447/

The Cliff Song

A friend who turns foe and tries to settle his argument with a gun. "The Cliff Song" is a flight of fancy which I wrote in high school. While I have never actually been chased by a gun-toting villain, this song captures my apprehension that my innocence would sometimes be dangerous. As Bob Dylan sang, "I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn."

From "Lee Istrail-LIVE," recorded in college:

http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210433/

Almost Close

Middle school dances. They bring back great memories of doin' the MC Hammer, Roger Rabbit, and all the other hip dances of the time. And memories of adolescent awkwardness, especially finding a dance partner. This Chuck Berry-inspired ditty is loosely based on one of these episodes. I took some creative license with the plot, but preserved the characters' attitudes intact.

"Almost Close," from the album, "Lee Istrail-LIVE", recorded in college:
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210445/

Dream World

"Dream World" originates from ninth grade. All of a sudden, I had much more homework than in middle school, and I had to ajust to a new and larger school. The world of sleep and dreams was a welcome "respite from an always-uphill fight."

This one is from the album "Lee Istrail - LIVE," recorded in college.

http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210443/

Birthday Edition: My Darling Coffee

Energy. We all crave it. A good night's sleep, exercise, oxygen. . .all these are important. In college, I discovered that coffee is also important to me. During freshman year, to recharge, I got into the habit of drinking some coffee in the morning, and taking a nap at 3 PM. Well, the naps went away b/c unlike in certain countries, the siesta is not generally part of the commercial fabric of U.S. life. Ah, but employers in the U.S. recognize coffee's productivity benefits, and many provide free coffee so as to save time. I've found myself more productive, and more creative, under the influence of coffee, as long as I don't have too much.

Here's a live recording from college (May 1999) of me playing my ode to this wonderful drink, "My Darling Coffee." From the album "Lee Istrail - LIVE (Vol. I), and the recording engineer was Brent Morrison. Brent did a great job of capturing the music and crowd in high quality.
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210431/

Blue Rain

Hey, cool cats! "Blue Rain" is an acoustic blues groove from high school. My friend Ian backed me up on flute. Ian and I played a lot of concerts my junior year of high school; he was my key collaborator at the time. He lent just the right aura of serious concentration to this pensive tune.

http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210503/

(from the album, "Jazz & Blues")

Lee's Jazz Thing

"Lee's Jazz Thing" is a half-hour electric guitar piece from high school, from the album, "Jazz & Blues." I started off on a basic theme and improvised the rest. This tune says, "In a complex world, there is a place for simplicity. Lighten up." Listen to it and you'll soon be in a good mood, guaranteed.

http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210505/

Keryn

Now on to the jazz side. I wrote "Keryn" about a girl I'd met at camp. This was during high school, when I lived in Albuquerque, NM. One day I arranged to visit her in Santa Fe, about an hour away. Her mom was there to chaperone. But we went for an unsupervised walk in the neighborhood, then came back to the house. I then noticed she had a piano. Sitting down at the bench, I told her, "I wrote this song about you" and played. Then, no reaction. Lee thought to himself, "Woman, how canst thou listen with such indifference? Art thou made of ice?"

So I moved on, and recorded the song in a few different versions. On the version you will hear, I recruited my trumpet-playing buddy Mel.

Dig my most popular song on Amie Street so far (from the album "Jazz & Blues"):
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210501/

C Minor Blues (aka Minor Third Blues)

First, a general announcement. Istrail Tunes will now being airing an episode every Monday morning.

Continuing with the piano theme, this week's Istrail tune is "C Minor Blues" from the album "Piano Grooves." It will be the coda to one of the tunes from my rock opera. I wrote this song in college as an assignment for a music theory class. We were asked to compose music based on an interval of our choice. I chose the minor third interval, used in many of my favorites blues songs (e.g. Muddy Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and Led Zeppelin's reworking of "When the Levee Breaks," originally written by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie).

Here is "C Minor Blues"!
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210451/

The rest of my tunes so far:
http://amiestreet.com/leeistrail

Piano Opus

Welcome to the inaugural blog post of "Istrail tunes"! Each week, I'll be sharing one or more of my original tunes with you. This used to be a an email-based series, but figured a blog would be more fun. You will see back issues of "Lee's Song of the Week" on here as well, soon.

This week's installment is "Piano Opus," from the album, "Piano Grooves." This song is the first one that is part of the rock opera I am working on. It was written against the background of optimism and shifting sands that freshman year of college brings. Cast your memory back to that time and dig it (you can listen and download for free):
http://amiestreet.com/listen/song/shareListen/1210449/

The song is on the site Amie Street. You can find more tunes (listen and download) at:
http://amiestreet.com/leeistrail