CD #1

Heart & Soul & Mind [2002]

Click on the HIGHLIGHTED songs below and listen to the 30-second clips to get an idea of what this album has for you. If you liked the CD sampler of four tracks from my upcoming CD, then you are sure to like these tunes too! The $10 price (delivered) is $5 off the regular price! Buy it right here.

1) DARLING TIANA is almost too funky to be EJ, but it is!
2) EVERYTHING, a jazzy pop vocal, has some lively solo guitar work.
3) BENDECIDO (BLESSED), a catchy bossa with a classical/jazz vibe.
4) NEVER EVER has unrelenting musical and lyrical hooks.
5) FIGHTING FROM MY KNEES, a jazz-rock call for peace.
6) BEST BUDDIES is an instrumental dedicated to friends now gone.
7) SECOND CHANCE is a medium-tempo pop ballad autobiography.
8) STRAIGHT UP is a complex composition with a jazz fusion-style beat.
9) FALLING INTO LOVE, a distinctive, driving, danceable jazz-pop tune.
10) MONICA, a rockin' samba, not traditional sound, but old plus new!
11) MORNING is another jazzy vocal, with sax this time!
12) I'M NOT SUPERMAN, a "hip-POP" liberty anthem, is also funny!

Erik Jay started this project in early 2000, thinking he had determined which dozen tunes to put on it. (Final result: Eight vocals, four instrumentals.) Wrong! He actually wrote the majority of the songs during production, which kept things predictably unpredictable and chaotically creative. By the time recording wrapped in February 2002, Erik had penned a lot more tunes that cried out to be heard, and so continued producing tracks at Pearly Gates Productions in Hollywood with Richard Zeier. But by late 2002, Erik had begun building his own digital studio, and is now producing instrumental music; he still needs to go to a 'real' studio for final vocals and live drums, but he is getting there. Erik recently uploaded a self-produced tune (Earthstar) for you all to enjoy... well, that's the idea anyway, that you enjoy it. That's always the idea.

When – not if – Erik Jay makes a way to get better distribution of his music, he just might take the best of the tracks from this debut CD and add some of the newer stuff from Vertical and start over with a 'new' debut CD. Whatever happens, it's all good!

HEART & SOUL & MIND
Jack Kelly, drums on tracks 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12
Richard Torres, percussion on track 6
Graham Dorsey, bass on tracks 3, 6, 10, 11; sax on Tracks 1, 11
PeeWee Hill, bass on track 1
Richard Zeier, bass on track 5; additional drum programs on tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 9
Lydia Johnson, Andy Chavez, and Erik Jay, background vocals on track 1
John Betts, background vocals on track 7
Erik Jay, all guitars, keyboards, and lead vocals; bass on track 12; synth bass on tracks 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12; drum programming on tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 9