As a composer, it is really important to me for people to hear my music. Not in a concert venue with live performances (been there, done that and let me tell you, conducting a symphony orchestra in front of a large audience is truly thrilling). But rather, having people find my music online, listening to it (hopefully being moved by it on a personal level) and, perhaps, downloading it digitally because it had such a positive impact. To me, that makes all those months of writing, recording, mixing, remixing, and re-remixing worth it!

Each piece on this, my first album, has a very special meaning to me, which you can read about in the individual liner notes for each song. Much information can be found there, including meanings of titles, the back-story behind each song, score instrumentation listings, etc. However, what was my intention behind releasing this particular album at this particular time?

As you will notice from listening to my music, the style is mostly Jazz, whether Big Band, Studio Orchestra, Swing, Latin, or Funk–styles which are not mainstream by today's standards for certain. Yet, there is a substantially large audience out there who loves this type of music and is constantly searching for new artists. I was like that when I was at university about 50 winters back. In fact, it was the way us jazz guys learned our craft. Several of us up and coming jazz players would hear, for example, the latest Chick Corea LP, and then pile in the car and drive 200 miles to hear him on tour. Meeting the band and hanging out with them after the gig was just one of the perks of learning that type of music. Usually, they were just as interested in us as students as we were in them as seasoned performers. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Chick and his guys three different times. Those were the days.

I also felt the desire–or perhaps the need–to put this music out at this time to remind others (both musicians and audience) that music is not simply a collection of loops and auto-tuned vocals. Not that it is bad but does seem quite often not to take advantage of the enormous spectrum of textures, colors, and thematic development one can explore as a creator. And since I very rarely hear music written for large bands and orchestras these days, I felt it was high time to bring it back. This is the New Roaring Twenties, is it not? Time to roar again!

As a Native (Oglala Lakota through my full blood grandfather), but also one who composes and performs jazz music, this entire project was one of defragmentation through regeneration, of me finally embracing both sides of myself. So the title definitely has two meaning: What Was (my creative process being an active part of my life again, as well as a style of writing music that has not been very mainstream for quite some time) Can Still Be.

But to be honest, what I think about my own music means very little. It is what you, the listener, thinks and feels about it. And I truly hope that, at the very least, you like and enjoy it. And if it should happen to have any additional positive effect on you, even better.

–SingingEagle