POP ALBUM - "WHAT I MEANT TO SAY"
The idea for this album began in 2008 after a particularly generative songwriting period. I knew that I wanted to produce an album of original music I had written, but I wanted to do it organically, in collaborative fashion with someone, rather than simply hiring studio musicians to lay down tracks for me. Since I had written all my songs on the piano and usually performed them solo with piano, as opposed to with a band, I didn't at that time have a clear sense of how I wanted to record them in with other instruments. I also felt that the style in which I was playing the songs was more an imitation of piano-based songwriters I had ilstened to growing up (such as Elton John and Billy Joel) than it was a true expression of my inner muse. For five years, I put off the album idea and pursued other musical projects.
Then, in October of 2013, I met Sean McVey, a talented drummer and music producer, at a party geared towards local musicians. After Sean heard some of my original songs, he suggested that I consider doing "remixes" of them, incorporating aspects of genres such as R&B, indie rock, and Electronic music that would give me an opportunity to imagine them in fresh, new ways. He also offered to record these new songs in his home studio, which was conveniently located right across the street from my apartment building. This was exactly the kind of collaborative partnership I had envisioned when I had first conceived of the album years before. Inspired and excited to see how I might envision my songs in different styles, I went about listening for hours and hours to contemporary artists in the Electronic music genre and familiarizing myself with techniques such as looping and sampling that were key aspects of their sound, but ones I had rarely used as a songwriter. After a couple of months immersing myself in these new genres, I was inspired to write new songs, and these new songs (not surprisingly) reflected the influence of all this immersive listening on my songwriting style.
The first song I wrote in this stage (and the fourth track on this EP), "Can't Live Without You", was essentially an experiment exploring what would happen if I built a song around overlapping "loops" of short vocal phrases rather than a traditional verse/chorus format. It really took off when I met highly talented spoken word artist and social change agent Osa Obaseki, who wrote and performed the rap which ends the song.
Osa Obaseki - Spoken Word Artist and Social Change Agent
Empowered to explore the ways in which I could draw from various genres, I wrote a rock ballad laced with hip-hop grooves, "Honesty" (the third track on this EP) and followed it with an upbeat dance track named "Head Over Heels" (the opening track for the EP). In the latter case, Sean and I started to experiment with ways I could incorporate my extensive experience singing with acapella groups into my songs. We ended up recording background vocal tracks and applying digital effects to them so that they sounded more like instrumental textures. This song gave us much clearer sense of how we could fuse my love of vocal harmony with the new forms of instrumentation and sampling that I had been exploring. Finally, I decided to take a song a named "Eliza" that I had written on the piano in 2003 and create a remix of it that applied doo wop harmonies and an R&B-based drum track, which is the second track on the EP. I had originally arranged and recorded an acapella version of "Eliza" with a vocal band named Staticflow (composed of myself, Eric Olsen, Jeremy Goldman, Dave Baumgartner, and Lauren McCann) back when I first wrote the song, but I wanted to give it a new feel that fused rich vocal harmonies with instrumentation. I have included the original acapella version of "Eliza" that I recorded with Staticflow in 2003 as a bonus track.
"WHAT I MEANT TO SAY" - ALBUM CREDITS
All music composed and arranged by Andrew Callard, except for the bonus track "Eliza (Acapella Version)", arranged for acapella by Andrew Callard, Eric Olsen and Staticflow. All lyrics written by Andrew Callard, except for "Eliza", written by Andrew Callard and Jeff Campagna, and "Can't Live Without You", written by Andrew Callard and Osa Obaseki. All recording, mixing and mastering production done by Sean McVey, except for "Eliza (Acapella Version)", by Dave Sperandio and Eric Olsen.
Covert art by Julio Jimenez (juliojimenezstudio.com)
TRACK ONE: HEAD OVER HEELS
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK TWO: ELIZA
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard and Jeff Campagna
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK THREE: HONESTY
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK FOUR: CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU (feat. OSA)
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard and Osa Obaseki
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Rap: Osa Obaseki
Violin: Katie Fischer
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK FIVE: ELIZA (ACAPELLA VERSION) (feat. Staticflow)
Music: Andrew Callard, Eric Olsen and Staticflow
Lyrics: Andrew Callard
Vocals: Andrew Callard, Eric Olsen, Jeremy Goldman, Lauren McCann, Dave Baumgartner
Special thanks go to Katie Fisher for providing string parts at a moment's notice and Osa Obaseki for his profound poetry. Much appreciation to Julio Jimenez for his masterful work and willingness to wade into Rock Creek to get just the right the cover photo. Also, kudos to all the members of Staticflow for generously giving me permission to re-release the acapella version of "Eliza" as a bonus track. I'd also like to thank two long-time friends and phenomenal musicians -- Ethan Elkind and Justin Carroll -- whose respective albums of original songs inspired me to make my own. To my siblings Katharine, Johanna, and Jonathan, for cheering me on as I saw this dream through, and my mom Trish and dad Tim - the sources of it all. Finally, I'd like to thank Sean McVey, who was a model of patience, encouragement, and technical wizardry during the entire songwriting, recording, mixing and mastering process. I couldn't have asked for a more effective creative collaborator in making this long-time dream become a reality.
ALBUM UPDATE - "HONESTY" REMIXES IN SENEGAL & SOUTH AFRICA
In the summer of 2015, a few months after the album's release, I traveled to Dakar, Senegal and Winterveldt, South Africa to collaborate with local musicians on remixes of the third track on the album, "Honesty." In Dakar, I was put in touch with Fefsy Felix, a talented producer and vocalist. Fefsy connected me with Djiby Seye, one of the nephews of Youssou N'Dour, a legendary Senegalese singer who gained international fame for his collaboration with Peter Gabriel on the song "In Your Eyes" in the 1980s. I instantly realized that Djiby's soaring tenor voice would be a perfect complement to the previously recorded vocal tracks for "Honesty." Fefsy mixed Djiby's vocals with the original tracks to produce this Senegalese Remix.
With Senegalese producer Fefsy Felix (left) and vocalist Djiby Seye (right) in Fefsy's Dakar studio after recording a remix of "Honesty"
You can listen to and download the Senegalese remix of Honesty using the audio player below.
Following my trip to Senegal, I flew south to South Africa to embark on a project with the Bokamoso Youth Foundation. While there, I connected with house music celebrity Dr. Malinga and youth mentor Thapelo Mashaba. With local producer DJ Boogieman, we produced a South African house remix of "Honesty" that involved a choir of teens from the Bokamoso Youth Foundation, along with vocals by Dr. Malinga and myself, and then shot a music video for the remix in Winterveldt on the Bokamoso campus.
"WHAT I MEANT TO SAY" - ALBUM CREDITS
All music composed and arranged by Andrew Callard, except for the bonus track "Eliza (Acapella Version)", arranged for acapella by Andrew Callard, Eric Olsen and Staticflow. All lyrics written by Andrew Callard, except for "Eliza", written by Andrew Callard and Jeff Campagna, and "Can't Live Without You", written by Andrew Callard and Osa Obaseki. All recording, mixing and mastering production done by Sean McVey, except for "Eliza (Acapella Version)", by Dave Sperandio and Eric Olsen.
Covert art by Julio Jimenez (juliojimenezstudio.com)
TRACK ONE: HEAD OVER HEELS
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK TWO: ELIZA
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard and Jeff Campagna
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK THREE: HONESTY
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK FOUR: CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU (feat. OSA)
Music: Andrew Callard
Lyrics: Andrew Callard and Osa Obaseki
Vocals: Andrew Callard
Rap: Osa Obaseki
Violin: Katie Fischer
Drum tracks: Sean McVey
All other instrumental tracks: Andrew Callard
TRACK FIVE: ELIZA (ACAPELLA VERSION) (feat. Staticflow)
Music: Andrew Callard, Eric Olsen and Staticflow
Lyrics: Andrew Callard
Vocals: Andrew Callard, Eric Olsen, Jeremy Goldman, Lauren McCann, Dave Baumgartner
Special thanks go to Katie Fisher for providing string parts at a moment's notice and Osa Obaseki for his profound poetry. Much appreciation to Julio Jimenez for his masterful work and willingness to wade into Rock Creek to get just the right the cover photo. Also, kudos to all the members of Staticflow for generously giving me permission to re-release the acapella version of "Eliza" as a bonus track. I'd also like to thank two long-time friends and phenomenal musicians -- Ethan Elkind and Justin Carroll -- whose respective albums of original songs inspired me to make my own. To my siblings Katharine, Johanna, and Jonathan, for cheering me on as I saw this dream through, and my mom Trish and dad Tim - the sources of it all. Finally, I'd like to thank Sean McVey, who was a model of patience, encouragement, and technical wizardry during the entire songwriting, recording, mixing and mastering process. I couldn't have asked for a more effective creative collaborator in making this long-time dream become a reality.
SALSA ALBUM - "CAMINOS" (under the pseudonym Andres Enrique)
My salsa album, "Caminos," is the culmination of over a decade of trips traveling to Spanish-speaking countries to do collaborative projects with local musicians. In honor of how Latin culture and music has inspired me through these travels, I decided to use the Latin pseudonym Andres Enrique, which is simply a translation of my first and middle middle names (Andrew and Henry) into Spanish.
I first traveled to Cuba in 2002, inspired by what I had heard on jazz albums by Cuban greats like Arturo Sandoval, Chucho Valdés and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. While I had limited Spanish skills at the time, I was lucky enough to befriend some talented musicians in both Havana and Santiago de Cuba, who gave me my first lessons in the basics of the Cuban musical traditions of son and salsa. I was so inspired by this initial journey to Cuba that I firmly made three promises to myself upon returning to US that summer: that I would find a way to play in a salsa band in my hometown of Washington, DC, that I would learn how to speak Spanish fluently, and that once I had accomplished the first two goals, I would return to Cuba to engage in cross-cultural projects with musicians there.
A few years later, in 2012, I attended a flamenco performance in Washington, DC, and was so moved by the palpable passion and intensity of the music, that I decided I would find a way to study flamenco singing under a master in Spain. Some Internet searching led me to Cante de las Minas, an internationally renowned competition that takes place every August in La Unión, Spain, among the world’s best amateur flamenco singers, guitarists and dancers. I figured that the festival would be a perfect place to meet lots of musicians who might have an interest in doing collaborative work with me. Fate brought me to the door of Antonio Muñoz Fernández, an extraordinary guitarist who won the Cante de Las Minas competition when he was 16 years old. After hearing from Antonio's mother, Encarnación Fernández, a nationally famous flamenco singer, about how the miners who used to work at the mines (now closed) in La Unión would have peñas (informal flamenco jam sessions) in the evenings after their shifts, I wrote a song about the poignant beauty of flamenco as a source of creative expression for these miners working in dangerous and oppressive conditions. After presenting the melody and lyrics to Antonio, he instantly composed a beautiful haunting guitar line, and the song literally wrote itself. With one day left of my stay in La Unión, we hurried to his cousin's studio in the nearby town of Alicante, and recorded the fourth track on this album, "Flamenco Summer Nights".
With Antonio Muñuz Fernández (with guitar in center) and producer Josue "Ronkio" Rodriquez after the recording of "Flamenco Summer Nights" in Alicante, Spain
With my experience in Spain working on a professional collaborative project under my belt, I decided it was finally time to fulfill the third of my promises and return to the country - Cuba - that had inspired me to learn Spanish in the first place. In the summer of 2013, I returned to Havana for a month, with the goal of completing a collaborative project with local musicians. During the first week of my trip, the song "Quédate Conmigo" came to me while I was walking down one of the main promenades of Vedado, a neighborhood of Havana full of jazz clubs and home to many of the musicians I had met. I realized that I needed to write the song in both English and Spanish to honor both the pop and salsa aspects of my evolving songwriting sensibilities. With this song in hand, I went out in search of a band. A serendipitous encounter with a band playing for tourists in Old Havana brought me to Yoandro Ibañez, a precocious bassist who helped me translate my vision for "Quédate Conmigo" to his fellow musicians, who were experts in the son genre popularized internationally by the “Buena Vista Social Club” documentary made by Ry Cooder in the late nineties. Yoandro, in turn, introduced me to a phenomenal recording engineer named Jorge Campuzano, who produced the 2013 cut of the song, "Quédate Conmigo (Demo Version)" that is provided as a bonus track on this album.
With Yoandro Ibáñez (second from left), Andy Aldana Segura (far left) and members of his Grupo Son, with whom I recorded the 2013 Demo Version of “Quédate Conmigo”
This experience of working on "Quédate Conmigo" with Yoandro and his fellow son musicians was so fulfilling that, upon returning the to the US, I decided to write more original songs that fused aspects of American pop (catchy choruses in English, for example) with the overall structure of Cuban timba (verses in Spanish, call and response between lead and background "coros", a horns-focused "mambo" section, etc). With two more of these pop/salsa songs - “Para Siempre” and “Solo Tu Y Yo” - composed, I returned to Havana in the summer of 2014 to record them under the direction of seasoned local bandleader and saxophonist Jesús Fuentes. Jesús gathered an impressive cohort of musicians for me ahead of my arrival to provide all the instrumentation for the two recordings, and Jorge Campuzano once again worked his magic in the studio to produce the final versions of “Para Siempre” and “Solo Tu Y Yo” that you hear as the second and third tracks, respectively, on this album.
With producer Jesus Fuentes (far right in back) and other musicians contributing to the recordings of "Para Siempre" and "Solo Tu y Yo". Bassist Giselda Fuentes (front) is the mother of pianist Julio Valdes (far left)
Meanwhile, while Jesús and I were recording in the studio, Yoandro Ibañez had been dreaming about the possibility of re-recording "Quédate Conmigo" in true timba style with musicians from Havana C, a hot new Cuban timba band that he had joined six months before. Yoandro re-arranged and expanded "Quédate Conmigo" to fully capture the rhythmic complexity and multi-layered instrumental texture of a large salsa band, and pitched the project to members of his band, who readily agreed. This was a dream come true for me, since I had always wanted to have the song performed in full salsa format when I had first written it a year before. The opening track you hear on this album, "Quedate Conmigo" is the fruit of Yoandro's and my vision, and is once again produced with the masterful touch of engineer Jorge Campuzano.
With Yoandro (second from left) and other members of Havana C after our 2014 recording of "Quédate Conmigo"
All of these tracks represent the realization of a dream I have held ever since I started my music-inspired adventures in Spanish-speaking countries in 2002. To be able to collaborate with musicians of such incredible caliber and make lasting friendships with them in the process has been a priceless gift that I will carry with me always. It is because of their willingness to explore and experiment with new genres that I have been able to successfully complete these projects in intercultural collaboration. I am forever indebted to them, and every time I listen to these songs, I think immediately of their supreme kindness, patience, generosity, and talent. It is in honor of them and the wonderful musical traditions (flamenco, son, and timba) that they are keeping alive, that I have adopted the artistic name "Andrés Enrique" (the Spanish equivalents of my first and middle names, Andrew and Henry). I hope that you as the listener can receive the same joy that I have from our collaborative creations.
-Andrés Enrique (aka Andrew Henry Callard)
Special thanks go to Yoandro Ibañez, Antonio Muñoz Fernandez, Jesús Fuentes, and Jorge Campuzano for providing such talented direction and generous investment of time and energy during the arranging and recording process for each song. In addition, I am forever grateful for the expert musical advice, cheerleading, and lifelong friendships of two amazing musicians - Ethan Elkind and Justin Carroll - whose albums of original songs have inspired me to make my own. Finally, I am incredibly grateful for the love and support of my siblings – Jonathan, Johanna, and Katharine - my father Tim, who gave me my love of singing, and my mother Trish, who gave me my love of travel and accompanied me on my first Cuban adventure.
Yoandro communicating his vision for "Quédate Conmigo" to trumpeter Reimer Cantera in the studio
"CAMINOS" - ALBUM CREDITS
All the songs were composed by Andrés Enrique, except “Flamenco Summer Nights”, composed by Andrés Enrique and Antonio Muñoz Fernández/ Musical Production for “Quédate Conmigo” and “Quedate Conmigo (Original Demo Version)” by Yoandro Ibáñez/ Musical Production for “Para Siempre” and “Solo Tu Y Yo” by Jesús Fuentes / Musical Production for "Flamenco Summer Nights" by Josué Rodríguez “Ronkio”/ All recording, mixing and mastering by Jorge Campuzano in Havana, Cuba, except for "Flamenco Summer Nights", by Josué Rodríguez “Ronkio” and Daniel Sáiz in Alicante, Spain/ Cover art by Julio Jiménez (juliojimenezstudio.com)
TRACK 1/ QUÉDATE CONMIGO
Music: Andrés Enrique
Lyrics: Andrés Enrique y Pepe
Arrangement: Yoandro Ibáñez y Andrés Enrique
Lead Vocals: Andrés Enrique
Backup Vocals: Andrés Enrique y Yoandro Ibáñez
Bass: Yoandro Ibáñez
Piano: Juan Carlos Angulo Barandiaran
Trumpet: Reimer Cantera
Trumpet solo: Pedro Yordanis Valle
Trombone: Lester Mancebo
Timbales, Bongos, and Congas: Rubén Rodríguez Duconger
TRACK 2/ PARA SIEMPRE
Music and Lyrics: Andrés Enrique
Arrangement: Andrés Enrique y Jesús Fuentes
Lead Vocals: Andrés Enrique
Backup Vocals: Andrés Enrique, Adonis
Bass: Giselda Fuentes
Piano: Julio Valdés
Trumpet 1: Luisito
Trumpet 2: Michael
Trombone: Clarissa
Timbales: Erik
Congas: Octavio
TRACK 3/ SOLO TU Y YO
Music and lyrics: Andrés Enrique
Arrangement: Andrés Enrique y Jesús Fuentes
Lead Vocals: Andrés Enrique
Backup Vocals: Andrés Enrique, Jesús Fuentes
Bass: Giselda Fuentes
Piano: Julio Valdés
Trumpet 1: Luisito
Trumpet 2: Michael
Trombone: Clarissa
Tenor Sax: Jesús Fuentes
Soprano Sax: Jesús Fuentes
Timbales: Erik
Congas: Octavio
TRACK 4/ FLAMENCO SUMMER NIGHTS
Music: Andrés Enrique and Antonio Muñoz Fernández
Lyrics: Andrés Enrique
Arrangment: Andrés Enrique and Antonio Muñoz Fernández
Lead Vocals: Andrés Enrique
Guitar: Antonio Muñoz Fernández
Electric Bass and Upright Bass: Josué Rodríguez “Ronkio”
Percussion: Josué Rodríguez “Ronkio”
Strings: Armando García
Claps: Antonio Fernández “Wito”, Josué Rodríguez “Ronkio”, Luis Rodríguez and Miguel Bascón
TRACK 5/ QUEDATE CONMIGO (DEMO VERSION)
Music: Andrés Enrique
Lyrics: Andrés Enrique and Pepe
Arrangement: Yoandro Ibáñez y Andrés Enrique
Lead Vocals: Andrés Enrique
Backup Vocals: Joanna, Andrés Enrique, Andy Aldana Segura, Ricardo Díaz Torres, Orlando Aldana Segura
Guitar: Andy Aldana Segura
Bass: Yoandro Ibáñez
Tenor Sax: Jorge Almeida
Alto Sax: Jorge Almeida
Tres: Rubén Segura López
Bongos and Congas: Ricardo Díaz Torres
Maracas and Güiro: Orlando Aldana Segura
Pop Music
by Andrew Callard
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Andrew Callard
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Andrew Callard
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Andrew Callard
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Andrew Callard
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Andrew Callard
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Andrew Callard
Salsa Music
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Andres Enrique
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Andres Enrique