For your listening convenience, here are all of the full demo versions of the charts featured in this video, and new to this website for Fall 2010.  For full information about each chart, though, please browse or search the catalog for the entry you're interested in.

Singing in the Rain/Umbrella

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

Zemabia

I'm Hip

Radiance

Man in the Mirror

M.J.

King of Pop

Higher Ground

Lorem Ipsum

Lifespan of a Fly

Camel Back Blues

Spooky

I Like the Sunrise

I Thought About You

My Broken Heart

Silver Bells

Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing (2010 Rewrite)

Virtual Insanity (2010 Rewrite)

Fly Me to the Moon (new demo on 2007 Rewrite) 

Summer mode is fairly diverse for me, because of the variety of the things I wind up doing, in my freelance-itude.  I'll likely continue to live-tweet my arranging updates under the hashtag #arranginglog, for those interested in how my process works.  I have something like 12 vocal jazz commissions and a marching band show to write this summer, and I may squeeze in a big band chart as well (and, just imagine it...some non-commissioned writing!), and I'll be spending two weeks at the Monterey Jazz Fest Summer camp, two weeks in Japan, a weekend in LA with Julia, a weekend at Mount Shasta for some gigs, and who knows what else...so Twitter will be the way to go.  Of course, I hope you'll follow me, too, but I'm even happier if you want to come back to this page to check in!

It's hard to say that the highlight of the evening wasn't the music, but the opportunity for Julia and me to speak backstage with Pat after the concert (for about 30 minutes!) was a life experience neither my wife nor I will ever forget.  Here's the obligatory shot with the jazz superstar...

There will be much to say about this encounter later, I think, but we'll leave it this much for now.  Pat is a great guy, and he's generously complimentary of the two of us, which is one of those "I could die now" things, honestly.  His music has been such a huge influence over my writing and singing for the last 20 years, it's just hard to imagine where I'd be or what I'd be doing without that influence.  Julia, I know, would say as much for herself, too.

Today we'll be watching high school vocal jazz groups, for the most part, including Folsom's "A" choir, Orange Lutheran, L.A. County Performing Arts, Downey, and more great groups that have slipped my mind at the moment.  Also performing for the first time will be my Monterey County High School Honor Vocal Jazz Ensemble; the same group that we'll be touring with in Japan this July. 

I'm going to be tweeting the events of the day as much as possible.  Find my on Twitter at "kerrymarsh."

A refreshing video-of-the-day...Pat Metheny's "First Circle."

• Dollison and Marsh...have been successful beyond imagining in transporting the lush sweep and deep emotion of Schneider's music into their fascinating, boldly beautiful vocal world.
• Although the recording was a feat of recording wizardry...the final work sounds remarkably direct and natural, affording a striking new perspective on Schneider's work.
• There's not a false note to be heard from Dollison and Marsh, and their improvised solos have the depth, ingenuity and impact of the comparable playing by Schneider's instrumentalists.
• I felt [a] shudder of anticipation when Marsh began singing his solo on "Hang Gliding," and was hit by a subsequent emotional wave as his solo peaked and the vocal chorus kicked in behind him. I became kind of verklempt, and had to stop listening in the newsroom because I didn't want my colleagues looking at me funny.
• "Vertical Voices is simply the strongest affirmation of the power of jazz singing that I've heard in a long, long time.
• ...in my perfect world, "Vertical Voices" ... would be as successful as any of the much more commercial and bland vocal CDs that routinely top the jazz charts...

For something like 5% of what you'll probably spend going to one of the big festivals (with transportation, fees and lodging), you can have the following experience from us...

- Upload a video of your group performing any number of tunes, using our handy "Clinic Drop Box" on this site (gotta be signed in)
- Use the Online Clinic order form to let us know what you'd like us to do, with the best value option probably being the audio only clinic, at $20 per minute of music submitted.
- Julia and I will watch your video while we record into our beautiful studio mic, giving feedback as we pause the video often to elaborate on points and give demonstrations.  We won't be whispering, and we won't be breathing into a mic, and you'll get it back REALLY soon after you send it, in the form of a digital file that you can download directly from our server from a link.
- You'll be able to share the link with your students, if you want, and have them listen outside of class, prepping for the next rehearsals, in which you can tackle some of the new stuff we caught.
- You'll go to Reno, Greeley, Lionel Hampton, SWCC, Fullerton or WHEREVER and score about five points higher than you would have otherwise (or, in a non-competitive sense, you'll get more specific feedback from the judges that adds to what we caught and what you've been stressing to your kids all year anyway!).

Seriously, a pretty good deal, I think, and it's absolutely enjoyable for Julia and me, as well.  

Get in touch and hook your group up with an online clinic right away!  That way, you won't have your kids doing this...

I checked out the second half of a great show at J.B.'s, Sacramento's premiere jazz club, last night.  Joe Berry, an extraordinarily talented young saxophonist, and Jessie Clemens, formerly the lead soprano of my top groups at Sac State for five years and now freelance jazz vocalist in town, led a talented group in a tribute concert to the Getz/Gilberto sound.  Very tasty and refined work from both of them.  Clemens' grasp of Portuguese was a big hit with the crowd, and I dug it, too, but my favorite thing about her singing was her total sense of ease and poise onstage, and her mesmerizing use of tone and air to tell the story.

Julia got the first three or so pages sung on a new demo for "Lorem Ipsum," a contemporary classical women's group piece I wrote for Naperville North High School for the past fall.  We're just now getting to the demo, unfortunately, but the good news is that it's sounding really, really great.  I think it may be popular with a totally different crowd than normally buys my charts, and I may have to write a few more of these, if they're going to sound this good on the demos!  Seriously...it's killing, and totally different than anything else I've written.  If you're curious about the Latin text for the piece (based on the title)...just do a quick Google search and see for yourself.  :)