These tunes were were composed over the course a few weeks in late winter 2005. After returning from a lunchtime walk in a park along the Grand River in Lansing, Michigan, I'd turn on a little portable recorder and start playing the ukulele, and a new tune would pop out. I'd re-record and name the the tune that same night, so most of what you hear was recorded the day it was composed.
- Raspberry Rag
-
(listen: ogg vorbis | mp3) Raspberry is one of my spouse Lynn's many names. If she were a fruit, it would be a raspberry.
- Appaloosa Trot
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) For a while the first few bars of this would just seem to pop out of the ukulele every time I picked it up, so I turned the lick into a tune. The rest of the tunes on this project followed over the next few weeks.
- Hungry Man
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) This was recorded before supper. I was hungry.
- Indy Hop
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) makes me think of good times walking with friends in downtown Indianapolis during MidWest Uke Fest.
- Washtenong
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) is a name the Chippewa people used for what is now called the Grand River in Michigan. It is also a name the communities in what is now the Detroit area used for the land to the west in Michigan, the "land beyond," where I have always lived.
- Goose Waddle Rag
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) A flock of Canada Geese sometimes congregates on the path along the river. They waddle off the path at the last moment when I approach.
- Bean Boil
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) simmering in the kettle.
- Ukulele Boogie Blues
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) Combines the Hawaiian turnaround and some boogie-woogie licks, with a few measures of ukulele existential angst added in the middle.
- Ukulele Cha
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) I don't know why, but in my head I hear the voice of the late great Tiny Tim saying "Chaaa!" at the stop-time parts of this perky tune. It's me cha-ing on this recording, though.
- Minnesota Tickle
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) The uke seems to giggle up on the high frets.
- Bumpy Ride
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) I drove down a washboard-surfaced gravel road the night before this jerky tune was born.
- Toothache Rag
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) A somber little rag, with a nitrous-oxide section in the middle.
- Handy's Jig
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) Named for an excellent Mexican grocery store / deli I often stop at for lunch.
- Fast Track
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) Some times I like to pick as fast as I can, or faster..
- Magda Waltz
-
(ogg vorbis | mp3) Magda cooks and sells delicious Egyptian food at the Lansing City Market.
brianhef@heftone.com
|
