The story behind
Odessa Connection
San Diego, California

In June of '98 I met Yuri Kuznetsov on a visit to Odessa, Ukraine. I didn't know it then but it was the beginning of an odyssy of sorts for me.
We met in the kitchen of a friend and I played guitar and sang a few songs for Yuri and his wife Natasha. I knew nothing, at that point, of Yuri's musical abilities, only that he was a popular jazz musician in 'Soviet' circles. My playing seemed to please him (to the degree that I was an equal, of sorts) and he set up a gig at Club Domino in Odessa.

When I played that night I'd had no rehearsal with Yuri and knew only that I would play some songs and then Yuri would follow on his own.
I did my part and while playing my final tune (Hitchcock Railway) I heard a screaming saxafone midway through and out of a side hall came Andre Prosorov wailing away. I was caught off guard by the power of it. I remember wishing we'd rehearsed so I could have been better. I was 'blown away'.

After a short break I became part of the audience and my attention was drawn completely to Yuri's music. It was unexpected and miraculous. I'd never known a musician like him and I have played with many of the best players the recording scene in Los Angeles produced in the '70s and '80s (among them Lee Ritenour, Ray Parker, Jr., Larry Carlton and Michael O'Martian).

I was struck by his timing. I've tended to rush things all my life and getting 'in the groove' was something I had to work at but Yuri's time was on another level and I listened with increasing awareness that this guy was 'the real McCoy'. I was absolutely amazed and just when I thought it could get no better he launched into an 8th/16th/32nd note extravaganza of complex rhythms, trills and musical contortions that left my startled amazement in the dust.

That was the first night. I didn't see Yuri again for almost 2 years and it was this 2nd visit that got me thinking about an album with him. I've been a 'commercial' songwriter most of my life and have had cuts by some pretty cool artists (Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, Cher, Kenny Rogers) and Yuri was exactly the departure I was looking for, pure melody, world rhythms and a place for the singer, in me, I'd denied for years and years.

I left Odessa in March of 2001 and returned in October 2001 to begin work on the CD project I present to you now. 5 months from start to finish, I am still amazed that we 'pulled' it off. Consider that I was an American who spoke no Russian in a recording studio with Yuri Kuznetsov and an engineer named Sascha Annikin (neither of whom spoke english). When I had an enterpreter it was difficult enough but there was rarely one around.

Here is the amazing part; We spoke music. I mean it! We spoke in signs and sounds and facial expressions and silences and loud approval and frustrated concessions and on and on it went. There were times when the project nearly fell apart and some new 'miracle' would save it. Sascha Annikin became a savior and friend, i.e., just when I was ready to throw in the towel he would find enough english to tell me be careful, beware, take it easy and my favorite, nichivo (it's nothing--in Russian).

Besides Sascha, Andre Prosorov proved another 'miracle'. I was hoping he would be in Odessa but when I arrived in Oct. 2000 he was playing on some cruise ship and would not be available. How things change; Andre showed up just when we began and became an integral part of the entire project, as musician, as friend and interpretor. It is Andre's soprano sax that appears through out this CD. There is an alto sax on 'Love at Stake' played wonderfully by Segei Yakunin but it was Andre Prosorov who completed the picture.

Thrown into this mix were an assortment of musicians, artists and charactors I will never forget; Valia Ovceiko, an artist of uncommon delicacy, subtle humor and beauty whose multi-disciplined paintings I found so compellingly stunning that I had to have her work on front and back covers of my CD; Sergei Geviluk, whose photography turned my head and heart and made me 'beg' him to take pictures for the CD; Natasha and Slava Gorodetska, two of the most sublime humans I have ever met who introduced me to Ukrainian art (fabulous) and the 'dredging' ships of the harbours of the world (this is obscure but humor me); Svetlana Demikova whose tireless help and good will kept me safe in that strange land; Natasha Kuznetsova, who kept Yuri and me connected and whose sense of diplomacy is without equal; And cabbies, merchants and total strangers who helped me without question for this 'stranger in a strange land'.

I made the recording of my life in Odessa with Yuri, Andre, Sascha, et al. It is my story now and the proof of this tale is in the CD, Odessa Connection. I can't stop listening to it. But then I know the band.







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