Mello

For years now I've been polishing the Around the World in E-Flat mellophone solo project. As I'd said previously, once I sat down with Steve we realized that it may not completely work. So we're now reshaping the project, now called Mello.

My goal is to show off the sound of the instrument. This isn't designed to showcase blazing technique or musical acrobatics. Not yet at least. The goal is to put out a nice, cohesive CD where people can listen to it and say, "so THAT'S what a mellophone sounds like!"

The entire original program isn't in the hopper. I'd say half the tunes have survived the cut. But now I need to search for the rest of them. And though the program is going to be mello, that doesn't mean they're all going to be ballads. It does mean more pop and light jazzy stuff. It also turns out most, if not all of the program will be done on the bellfront horn in lieu of the traditional horn (which is all well-and-good as the valves kind of suck on my Amati horn).

So in the mean time we're taking the program 4 tunes at a time. That way we can keep pushing forward even though we don't have a complete program just yet.

It's exciting, and a little scary. I'll keep you posted.