Come Explore With Me

Come Explore With Me is my 2025 collection of 10 classic American standards, from Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” to George Gershwin’s “The Girl I Love,” reimagined in my own unschooled, folk-inflected style. The album draws on the rich tradition of the Great American Songbook, interpreting public domain jazz standards with fresh arrangements while staying true to their original spirit.

Finding the Songs in an Unexpected Place

I had not released an album since my last work with Japan Soul in 2014, although we continued putting out singles until 2019. Between 2013 and 2018, my wife and I welcomed three children, and each new arrival meant less time for music. I wrote very few songs after 2018.

In the fall of 2023, my great-aunt Vivienne, a classically trained pianist, passed away at the age of 104. While going through her belongings, I found many of her music books. One was a collection of standards. She probably never played them herself, but for reasons I cannot explain, I began working my way through the book.

Coming from a background in rock, indie, funk, and soul, these melodies were foreign to me. At first I struggled to understand their shapes and phrasing. Over the better part of a year, as I worked through all 100 songs in the book, their patterns began to open up. Along the way I detoured into the music of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, composers whose work I am still exploring.

From Demos to the Studio

I had stayed in touch with Craig Levy, who produced Japan Soul’s Plastic Utopia. I have always considered that album a sonic masterpiece largely because of what Craig brought to it. When I told him I was learning standards, he encouraged me to keep going and to think about recording them.

After a decade without a home studio, I finally set up my music desk again in my son’s room. Over the next few months, I recorded my favorite songs from the standards book that had passed into the public domain. I sent Craig about 20 demos, and he chose the ones he thought would work best.

We were not sure what tone we were aiming for, but after a few rounds with “Tea for Two” and “Stardust,” we found what I believe is a magical sonic balance.

Completing the Album

We were finished at eight songs, but I wanted to release a 10-track album, as I had done with my other projects. We added “The Girl I Love” and closed with “Bye Bye Blackbird,” which was the first standard I had demoed when warming up for this project.

In preparing for Come Explore With Me, I immersed myself in the life and work of Irving Berlin, whose songs I am saving for another project, and studied the phrasing and interpretation of singers like Frank Sinatra, Billy Eckstine, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Julie London, and Mel Tormé. I am not in their category, but one should learn from masters no matter where they are starting from.

Reflections on the Music

The music of the 1910s and 1920s often sounds surprisingly modern. That generation lived with phones, planes, movies, radio, and cars. In many ways, their world was not so different from ours. Interpreting these songs connected me to that time and showed me just how timeless great songwriting can be.

I hope you enjoy Come Explore With Me. I learned a great deal making it, and I recorded something I never could have imagined being capable of 10 years ago.

Track highlights from Come Explore With Me

• Stardust – Hoagy Carmichael & Mitchel Parish (1929)
• Tea for Two – Vincent Youmans & Irving Caesar (1924)
• The Girl I Love – George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin (1924)
• Bye Bye Blackbird – Ray Henderson & Mort Dixon (1926)

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube Music