New video of “Who Do You Think” from the opera Detroit. When is it cheating? Lennie Tristano. The Great Gatsby.

Roger CortonSo you posted another video from Detroit. And you said that we should discuss the differences between ‘the score’ and what went onto ‘the album’. OK, shoot.

JCHThe recordings I did for Detroit were not meant to make an ‘album’.

RCI always assumed it was meant for marketing purposes?

JCHPartly. Although partly it was to hear how things sounded! I’m not Haydn or Bernstein. I don’t stand in front of an orchestra every day. Some of the orchestrations? I had no idea how they were really gonna sound. Were they playable? I had the usual noob fear. But yeah, I had the knucklehead idea of doing a ‘Kickstarter’ and all those guys do elaborate ‘presentations’ in their videos to sell the idea. I figured I had to do something like that.

RCBut life took […]

The official video for part III of the totally epic The Solid State Siren. Only took two years! Which is ironic, since the entire video took a whopping twenty minutes to throw together. Just another way to sample the music without actually paying for it (shock!) 😀

Pro tip, kids: always start your tour with a colonoscopy. Even more shocking marketing truths: Copy protection is your friend. Streaming is bad. Ownership and scarcity rule.

Roger CortonBig week. Tour starting. The first few shows are sold out. ARE YOU READY?

JCHYou bet I am, Marv! I’ve been practicing. I’ve been working out. And just to make sure I’m in tip top shape, I am havin’ that colonoscopy we discussed right before the flight.

RCThat’s crazy.

JCHNo, it’s great. I’ll be all relaxed from the gas.

RCMaybe for you.

JCHNot that gas. The anesthesia. Don’t be gross. It’ll be the best flight I’ve had in a while.

RCAnd five pounds lighter.

JCHThat too. I owe it to the fans to have a squeaky clean show.

RCNot in terms of language, however. Switching gears, we discussed marketing and the death of CDs last time and we agreed to extend that discussion.

JCHAllow me to […]

The Plan. Two records next year! Remastered Epics! New stuff! Unsightly midriff bulge. Chris Squire

Roger CortonSo you’ve got news.

JCHYes. This is my two year plan.

RCNot a five year plan?

JCHThis ain’t some commie social realist deal. Two years is quite enough for me, comrade!

RCSo… shoot.

JCHFirst, I got the high-school ready score of Detroit done and sold. And there will be at least a couple of rentals next year. So there’s a enough money to keep going. Which means there is gonna be a new record next year; actually two new records.

RCTwo? And you’re touring. And there’s work on the opera? It’s a Renaissance.

JCHNice reference.

RCYou’re not a big fan, but that’s a rant for another day. Let’s have some details.

JCHOK, the easy bit. There’s gonna be a second ‘Remastered’ record.

RCYou’re remastering? Which record?

JCHIt’s gonna be a compilation; the long form […]