Sweet World was recorded in the summer of 2023 in Brooklyn. It features a book of songs that my trio with drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell, and cellist Christopher Hoffman performed for a year or so leading up to the recording. I wrote most of these songs with Nathan and Chris in mind. I tried to bring my whole musical self to this project. I love so many kinds of music. Improvisation is central to everything I do. The written material for these pieces all fit on one or two pages and each of them creates a little world for the three of us to play around in.

As a rule, I don’t like to write with genre in mind. I prefer everything to be sublimated into something more mysterious. While writing this book of songs however, I may have occasionally broken my own rule. You will likely hear some of my many influences reveal themselves.

Doin’ the Danube and Sunshine Collection have the feel of miniature romantic pieces. Fartsy also has a bit of European classical counterpoint. Respectfulee is sort of a bebop head that I wrote in memoriam for Lee Konitz. Three Like Fields is named after a very special cantina in Tokyo, but its sound is New York downtown through and through. On all of the tracks, and in everything I do, I hope you will hear my love for the late great Ron Miles.