The composers include Neil Bartram, Jim Betts, John Gray, Mavor Moore, Leslie Arden, Allen Cole, Marek Norman & Richard Ouzounian, David Warrack, Joey Miller & James Saar, Jim Crocini & John Bertram, Steve Thomas & Norm Foster, and, of course, the guy who unwittingly started the whole idea, Patrick Rose.

One of the great joys of this project was going over to the various composer’s houses and listening to them play – magical afternoons I will never forget. I had my coat on and was leaving Allen Cole’s with a pile of sheet music under my arm when he said: “Maybe I should play you this one. It’s kinda crazy…” and , of course, that’s the one we’re doing. The two songs of my Dad’s that we’re doing haven’t been heard for almost fifty years – in the States, they’d be part of the jazz lexicon by now and that’s how we’re treating them – as jazz standards.

The reprise of Neil Bartram’s song that opens and closes the CD has since been cut from the show, but he has graciously allowed us to keep it: “consider them to be the ‘Lost In Boston’ lyrics,” said Neil. A lot are from shows I’ve done in the past, and several are from very recent shows I hope to do. The selection is eclectic, fun, and a real cross-section of people who are all writing today and are all, really, friends of mine. Except for the song from John Gray’s Billy Bishop Goes to War – which had its own small release original cast recording – none of the songs had ever been recorded before.

Co-producer Mark Camilleri created some fabulous arrangements – everything from Big Band to solo piano and back again. Some wonderful guest musicians came through Mark’s doors – Paul Sportelli, John Alcorn, and Guido Basso just to name a few.