Norman's Rockwell

Monday, on King Day, I had my final recording session at Karma Frog. It was a wild adventure making this album. There is still mixing (which my producer Adam Marsland is also handling) and mastering to go. But here's a recap of what we hath wrought. The session focused on backing vocals and a little ad libbed spice. We polished off five tracks with some wild results. Vocalist Teresa Cowles joined us midway through the day so that we could manage some live three part harmonies; as well as a poignant counterpoint duet on Huckleberry Finn . One of my favorite moments of the entire deal, sitting right next to Lady T in the studio to put down that vocal. I am persistently moved by that song each time I hear it. I had been joking about Eddie Murphy's riff on Michael Jackson crying in the studio. Of course, then I get misty listening to the playback. Oh, irony. Prior to that Adam gave me a little stage direction and room to create and I invented some new scat vocal parts for the brid

Tonight, I had a great collaborative meeting with Adam and Sylvia Hendershott who will be photographing the album cover for So Sophisticated . I am excited to be working with such artistic people. The project is motoring along nicely. We listened through parts of the new record; rapped about some favorite album artwork; drank some Folger's. I made a wisecrack about doing an album cover using only Instagram and Adam H. snapped a shot that is straight-up David Ruffin . Brilliant. Ha ha. Not only did we discuss the LP cover and what we want to accomplish, we began preliminary talks for a music video to coincide with the album release. Several different groups have approached me about videos; I look forward to working with all of you. Anyway, I am preparing for a March release at this point; just to make sure all facets are joined and shiny. This morning, I got to hear an early mix of "Saffron Dancer" and the horns! Oh, my. In a word: COLD! The horns come blasting through. A

The holidays were a wonderful time for me. I hope they were for you. Lots of blessings and fun events going on at church and the studio. That's right. During the last two weeks of the year, I finally got the horns laid down for the album. Larry O. Williams (Gap Band) and Rahmlee Davis (Phenix Horns; Earth, Wind & Fire) provided tenor sax and trumpet, respectively. It was a true honor to work with them and even more of a thrill to hear their playing on my own compositions. Our next and final recording session at Karma Frog is scheduled for King Day, Jan. 16. We will be wrapping up the background vocals. Then it is all down to mixing and mastering. Then I will be able to concentrate on artwork and the other promotional material to go along with the album. I am sure that this will be my favorite record of the Dozens as my friends and I are calling 2012. Of course, how can I let the year begin without a recap of my favorite recordings from 2011? Well, here goes; a combo of LPs and