CD Update

Soon after my father, z'l's, petira, on Thanksgiving Day, 2004, I had the idea of producing a Jewish music CD in his memory. My dad was a chazan and was very attached to music. He incorporated many niggunim into his davening which was full of communal singing. He also understood the power of music to attract unaffiliated Jewish kids to Yiddishkeit.

After a couple of fits and starts, we really got rolling after my dad's first yahrtzeit. The CD is now almost complete.

It will feature 12 songs, 10 of them original, never before recorded, one rarely heard Carlebach tune and a Breslov niggun that I had never heard before. Chaim Dovid, Shlomo Katz, Aron Razel, Yosef Karduner, Avraham Rosenblum, Ben Zion Solomon, Eitan Katz, and Nochie Krohn are all featured on the CD. Meir Solomon, Andy Stadman and Mo Rosenblum are among the many excellent musicians who also contribute.

Recording and mixing was done in a bunch of studios both here in the states and in Israel. Each musician has been extremely generous with his time and I am eternally grateful.

For someone like me who knew virtually nothing about producing CDs or arranging music, this has been a fantastic learning experience. In general, we have tried to keep the arrangements relatively simple but some are less simple than others.

There is a little bit of recording left, some mixing and then the mastering. I am also in the process of working on the cover and the insert. I have no idea when I will be finished but I'm hopeful it will be soon.

While I know I am way too close to the project to be objective, I think it will be something special and a very fitting tribute to my dad. All the net proceeds (assuming there are any) will be used to fund additional music projects that I have in mind.

I will follow up again as I get closer.