The project:

A CD of jazz standards played by me.

Why it was done:

This was a birthday present for my dad who had requested that I send him a CD of some songs that he liked. I decided it would be a nice twist if I played the songs myself.

How it was done:

This CD was created using a very simple 4-input audio mixer. One input was connected to a microphone that would pick up the sound of the sax. A second input was connected to the computer's sound card output providing the comping.

Headphones were connected to the "monitor" output of the mixer allowing me to listen to the music as I played. The output of the mixer was connected to the "line in" of the sound card and the music was recorded directly to a wave file on the computer.

The result:

The cd label:

The songs (click on the title to download a clip):

• Someone to Watch Over Me
• Joy Spring
• All the Things You Are
• Desafinado
• Return to Me
• As Time Goes By
• Dolphin Dance
• Cheek to Cheek
• Sway
• Misty

"Sway" and "Return to Me" were recorded using background music from a karaoke cd. The rest of the songs were done with comping by a program called Band-in-a-Box. The user types in the chord progression to any song and selects the style of the piece. The computer then automatically generates a midi file that sounds like a jazz rhythm section playing the chord changes.