The year I ran away

"Walking through unfamiliar streets / And I'm shaking unfamiliar hands / And I'm hearing unfamiliar laughs / And lovely language I don't understand / It's late October in Copenhagen"
- Lucinda Williams

On June 7th, 2015, I woke up in a panic: my first session at a recording studio was in two hours. I printed charts for my friends, packed them into my upright bass case, and took the SkyTrain to Nanaimo station, headed to Monarch Studios. With Thad Bailey-Mai on trumpet, Jonny Tobin on piano, and Bobby Wiens on drums, I recorded four pieces: "Being Bill", "Stop Me If You've Heard Enough", "Nomads (Intro)", and "Nomads". We did three, four, five takes of each. As an addition, Jonny stuck around for the last hour and played "Sitting to Her Left" with me in one take.

That's five of the eight tracks on my first album. It's the music I told you I wrote after meeting Bill Frisell at Capilano University:

"I think in the 24 to 48 hours after that concert [by Frisell], I wrote all the music of Aim to Stay."

But that isn't entirely true: the album has three more tracks which didn't result from Frisell's concert. One of them, "Makie Elkino", was the first tune I ever wrote. I ended up recording it a year later, with one band member different, in a second date at the same studio.

That leaves the title track and another tune. I wrote those two in a basement in Copenhagen, the city to which I ran away on August 4th, 2015. I stayed there for three months then flew home pretty much exactly ten years ago.

When I noticed this anniversary coming up, I realized you probably don't know I did that. And for the special few of you who were around, I want to tell you about it from my current view.

First, however, we have to discuss a nearer place I went that year. Because while my pre-jazzfest confessional was soundtracked by Frisell, this one stands on the music of Lucinda Williams.