January 22, 2026

Q&A with 100 Yard

I recently answered questions for a press release with 100 Yard, a publicity company. The Q&A is available to read below.

September 3, 2025.

Q: Let's start at the beginning. What moments—turning points, tough stretches, or early influences—shaped the artist you've become?

A: I started studying the guitar with a graduate of Berklee in 1995. I learned about jazz fusion from a couple of drummers I jammed with in the mid-1990s. The music was a lost treasure. I listened to all of the players who were with Miles Davis and famous for decades. I didn't think jazz fusion would happen again. In the early naughts, I discovered the Wayne Krantz trio in NYC. I was shocked to hear a new generation playing jazz fusion.

Around 2010, I also spent time playing open mics in NJ. Michael Ghegan co-hosted the Jamian's open mic in Red Bank. I connected with him there, and we played my then new music to audiences of approximately 50 people.

In this style of music, the musicians you connect with shape a lot of the song.

Q: How do you hear your sound these days, and when you put it next to earlier releases like Perpetual Motion or Incarnation, what feels different about where you are now?

A: I think a lot more about the song than my sound. The sound is in service to the song; the composition and production. Also, how the song feels is more important than how it sounds. The song is a success when the final master feels about the same no matter who listens. Of course, this is almost impossible to know. It requires the listener to experience the song in the moment, not biased by the baggage they bring: what they like, what they expect, how they think it should sound. Although that asks a lot of the listener, it also requires a service-oriented mindset in the production. Simply put, making music emphasizing how the song feels is different than emphasizing how it feels to make it.

On Perpetual Motion, I could only afford DIY mixing and mastering from home recordings and instruments I mostly programmed, except the guitar and a few guests. That album was a demo. Now, the other players and engineers have a lot to do with the feel. I am privileged to work with this team.

Q: What's the big idea behind this new album? What story are you aiming to tell/express, or what thread ties it all together?

A: The pursuit of my humanity is the big idea. I recognize some ways of existing are dehumanizing. Work that satisfies mere bodily needs is no different than any other animal, no matter how decadent and excessive. Although STEM fields are idealized, science and medicine can only discover what is true in nature, and that is true regardless of its discovery. Making art demands all we can give, which is self-discovery. Creating art makes real for others what had only existed in the imagination. We recognize our shared humanity in that activity because it rests in human nature. Choosing to make art is an elevation of human nature.

Regarding the album title "The Man Who Would Be King," I love the John Huston adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling story. The time was right for a reminder about what tragedy awaits people who lust after power.

Q: Every record has a heartbeat. Which songs feel like the core of this one? Are there singles or highlight tracks you'd point listeners to first, and why?

A: My personal favorite is "Will You Follow?" I consider it to be the best composition I have released so far. Here, there are two inspirations I can mention, but they dawned on me in the middle of writing. I did not listen, and then have the idea. The simplest to explain is the clapping on "Armando's Rhumba" from the album My Spanish Heart by Chick Corea. There is also the loosely associated metric modulation into a blues shuffle on "Dream" (8:14 - 8:50) from the album The Lost Trident Sessions by Mahavishnu Orchestra. It is analogous, in my mind, to the modulation in key a half step lower in the middle of the alto saxophone solo, allowing the guitar riff to continue into the final chorus while adding a new element to it ("Will You Follow?" 4:37 - 5:13).

Q: Inspiration can be slippery. Were there particular artists, records, or even obsessions outside of music that shaped this batch of songs? Or ones you always seem to circle back to when you write?

A: When writing, I introspect instead of pursuing extrinsic inspiration. Having listened critically for decades, I necessarily have ideas inspired by what I discerned from the musical artists I delved into. Arthur Rubinstein said, "a 2nd is already wrong." The two criteria I use to define art are originality—not being derived from or imitative of others—and authenticity—not having any extrinsic motivation. Miles Davis said you have to be very selfish to be original. For me, inspiration arises from clarity of mind, with healthy stimulation of the mind being a precondition. Other artists, records, or obsessions while writing create a noisy mind.

Inspiration often comes when I am not seeking it, even at the wrong time: falling asleep, waking up at any hour, driving a car, or working in the office. When it comes, I have a standing commitment to sing the idea into the voice memos app. I remain open to inspiration continually. There is no "off" or "on" switch because I am never compelled to write for an album. The germ of an idea becomes a song by using the guitar to translate what I hear to MIDI. I refer back to the guitar often, but the full process is too messy and complicated to explain. Although I make time to compose, I don't remember ever using that time to work from scratch. I work from the voice memo or the MIDI sequence. My writing process is meditation. I am open to whatever I hear next.

Q: Who handled production and engineering, and where did most of the recording take place?

A: I handled some of the production, wrote the compositions, arranged demos, provided simplified scores for each part and input on the performances, mixes, and masters. Of course, each player has a role in producing their part.

Nic Hard was the mix engineer. He sent me the mixes, and I sent him my notes on each mix. By the 5th iteration, I had no reservations. Dave McNair was the mastering engineer. Nick Semanchik was the recording engineer for the sessions at Lakehouse.

Donny McCaslin kindly used a day off on tour in Belgium to record tenor saxophone for "Gorilla" at Alaska Studios. At Lakehouse, Nick S. and I recorded the string quartet for "Cycle One" and an unreleased song in one session. We recorded the electronic valve instrument (EVI) and some of the claps for "Will You Follow?" in another session.

To be clear, these songs were recorded like a rock album: one instrument after another. The people I wanted to work with live all over the world: Los Angeles, Spain, Nashville, NYC, Connecticut, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Scheduling commitments made it impossible to be in the same room at the same time. Most people recorded in their home studio, with a professional history of doing so. In 2024, the drummer and I agreed to purchase a Neve 1073 OPX, upgrading his Nashville studio with an additional 8 mic preamps.

Electric instruments were recorded direct in (DI), and then the DI signal was amped at Lakehouse.

Q: Lakehouse Recording Studios is part of the story too. How did you first connect with them? What has that partnership been like?

A: Partnership is too strong a word. I mostly just amp the DI at Lakehouse. The writing, mixing, mastering, and most of the performing happens elsewhere. You can't beat having Lakehouse a half mile from home. I consider it one of the best studios in the tri-state area.

Q: With vinyl planned and the full album arriving in 2027, how do you see the rollout? Do the singles and the LP feel like one continuous arc, or more like separate chapters in the same story?

A: Actually, the vinyl / full album will be available around the new year. Newer music is already in production for the next album in 2027. Would the story be any good if its chapters didn't feel like a continuous arc?