My remote recording projects (see Project 1 and Project 2) continued into the new year but have hit something of a snag since March. Here’s what I’ve posted:

• “Affirmation” – an instrumental written by José Feliciano and recorded on his 1975 album Just Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll, though a more well-known version of it was recorded by George Benson on his hit album Breezin’ from 1976. I posted this on 3 January 2021.

• “Povo” – an instrumental written by Freddie Hubbard that appeared originally on his Sky Dive album from 1972. Tom pointed us to a version performed by Lee Ritenour on his 2006 album Smoke ‘n’ Mirrors. We used that as our model, but ended up playing it at tempo closer to the original. I posted this on 4 February 2021.

• “Use Me” – You might think this is strictly an instrumental project, but every so often I open my yap and attempt to sing. Here’s us taking a hack at the classic Bill Withers hit song “Use Me” from his 1972 album Still Bill. Jeffrey Kamil on guitar (second solo), me (vocals and first guitar solo), C. Quenser on clavinet, Tom DeFiglio on drums, and Pat T on bass. Mix by Tom DeFiglio. Posted 16 February 2021.

• “Riviera Paradise” – an instrumental tune by Stevie Ray Vaughan from his 1989 album In Step. I played a “piano” solo using my guitar into the Jam Origin MIDI Guitar 2 plugin. Mix by Tom DeFiglio. I posted this on 27 April 2021.

• “Strange Brew” – this is not one of our remote collaborations, it was (mostly) recorded live at one of our masked get-togethers in Tom’s back yard in September of 2020. The vocal was too low in the mix and had lots of bad notes, so I decided to record a clean vocal track, which Tom mixed in with the live recording. It’s an old Cream song from their 1967 album Disraeli Gears. I posted this on 25 April 2021