We Go Way Back…

In the studio with Vinnie and Sean.

We Go Way Back, our debut album, was recorded over a series of sessions, at Vinnie’s Studio near Woodstock, New York between November 2019 and July 2020. We recorded nine improvisations over that time; some of them during the Covid pandemic…which made the sessions a little tough (hard to play flute with a mask on). But, we persevered, figuring out a way to stay isolated in separate recording booths and lay down our tracks. We’d set the mics, get audio levels, and Vinnie would press record. That’s it…no discussion, no charts, no “hey, let’s record this tune”. It was all just press record and go! What happened then is just magic…

Each of these nine pieces started as improvised first takes. Some of the pieces on the album are exactly that first take—no changes. In others we were inspired to come back later and add a little something here and there to the original improv. And in others, we actually took a few things out! But that first take is always the foundation of the piece. We’ll leave it to you to figure out what’s what.

So just how does this work? Well there are the usual musical and technical reasons. Sean is a marvelous flutist with a solid classical background. Vinnie’s an accomplished jazz pianist. Vinnie and Sean both have decades of performing experience - and that’s handy stuff in a recording session - but, this type of creative spontaneity is more than that. On each recording we would start by playing some ideas, whatever came to mind, listening and responding intuitively to each other. There would be a new rhythm here, or a subtle melody there. The shape of the piece would start to reveal itself. From there, the conversation would build and become its own world. At that point, the music would start playing us.

When listening back in the control room, we heard that journey unfolding in every piece; the joyful conversation between the flute and the piano, the cinematic landscapes and emotions. But the most wonderful part was when our friends and family heard the recordings, they told us they were hearing those conversations and that journey too…and wanted to hear more.

We live in a world that could use more joyful communication and adventure. Join us…and let’s see where the conversation takes us.