Jez News-Fall 2025

Every couple of month's I get ideas documented on video. They may be songs that have struck a chord within me that make their way to the piano at my airport gig, where, over time, they develop. Sometimes it takes just a day or two, and sometimes it takes weeks to get them where I want them, and sometimes they are random occurrences where songs just present themselves to me mid-medley. In other cases, they are original songs that are either improvised on the spot, like "The Gentle Art Of Cinnamon Eggs", and other times it might be an old chart I wrote and found in a pile, such as the 48-year-old composition "Folk Varieties". Both of those songs will be on my next release, which will also feature my dear friend from Berkeley High, Will Bernard, on guitar. We have some completely improvised pieces that are a look back in the present tense to a time when we would sit and improvise together for hours. The E.P. titled "Look At That Tree" contains 4 of those improvisations.

Back to the videos, I've been enjoying documenting some of my musical findings by videoing solo versions up in my done here at home, where I can relax and find the vibe. The airport explorations and just my random thought process are evidenced in the clips. Here are a few recent ones that I am proud of. "All Quiet On The Western Front" is a favorite Elton John deep cut that was hanging around my head for weeks, so I had to learn it and do my own version., Same with the Grateful Dead medley that is interspersed with some Cannonball Adderley, Paul Revere And The Raiders, and Frank Sinatra, and finally, the musical story of "The Gentle Art of Cinnamon Eggs," which is a story within a story that will eventually be revealed.

Illustration above by Will Bernard, circa 1978