MP3 Josh Weinstein - Petty Alchemy
Well-crafted, articulate, ''jazz-informed'' rock, folk and soul.
9 MP3 Songs
POP: Piano, POP: with Live-band Production
Details:
Three years ago, Josh Weinstein was living two buildings away from the World Trade Center, working as an advertising copywriter, and occasionally plunking out a song or two on the piano he''d kept as a remnant of his days as a musician.
Then the September 11 attacks occurred.
Josh was there while both planes crashed and both towers collapsed - literally around him. The road to recovery that followed - one that eventually led to Josh''s return to music full-time - is detailed in the song, "There Ain''t Nothing Sadder Than a Saturday Night," the exhilarating second track on Petty Alchemy.
Petty Alchemy dips comfortably into jazz, folk, blues, gospel and even classical influences, with a tasteful, keep-it-in-your-pocket arrangement sensibility that allows the songs to flow and breathe on their own terms - a refreshing throwback in this era of hard-drive-created pop tunes.
"We made it a point to keep the sound ''human,''" says producer Aaron Keane. "There''s a temptation in the studio to clean everything up, to make it slick. But this is an album about the moments that add up to living a life, and life is messy. It''s unexpected. So it was important that the songs remained honest and surprising as well."
Petty Alchemy was completed in the course of a month in the spring of 2003 and features some of New York City''s premier jazz, classical and funk musicians. It''s an album of literate, interesting, accomplished original music, well worth a listen.