A little diddy commemorating our 50th year reunion.
The Latest
Amanda Gorman and Me
Link to download music https://bit.ly/3dlIK5R. I composed this music for Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural Poem, The Hill We Climb, using pedal steel guitars, guitar feedback, piano, strings, bass and drums.
First Snow
A piano composition by Jim Clifford. Bring on the magic mother nature.
Chopin Nouvelle etude #2 in Ab
An arrangement of the Chopin Nouvelle Etude #2 in Ab for Ukulele, Bass and Drums. It’s a very relaxing groove.
Field of Cellos
Summertime. August. High corn. Golden fields reaching to the sky. Cicadas. Endless warmth. Cellos and violins. String Thing – composed and performed by Jim Clifford
The Al Milgrom Stretch (Or Taking a Break at the Oscar Party 2020)
Al Milgrom. The man could dance! Thanks for the memories, insights and laughs. The next life just got better. Love Ya Al.
Chopin Nouvelle Etude #1 in F Minor
An arrangement for ukulele, bass and drums. This piano etude is a study in playing different rhythms in each hand simultaneously, in this case, 3 against 4. I thought that it would be fun to arrange the left hand (4 beats) as an upright bass, the right hand (triplets) as a ukulele and add a drum track for extra dimension. It’s quite a jazzy sound. Chopin was way ahead of the pack. You can download it here: https://jimclifford.bandcamp.com/track/nouvelle-etude
Schooner Gigolo
What can I say that isn’t in the song? It’s a paean to a world that for the time being is lost. My friend and fellow Meteor Boy, Dave Kapell, and I played at The Schooner Tavern for many a year. Thanks for the great memories, music and popcorn. This one’s for Andy. Music by Leonello Casucci 1928 Lyrics by Jim Clifford 2019
Saguaro Sunset
Playing piano on my Birthday. This is a piece I wrote about a sunset in the desert on a family vacation.
2 New Lenses
I just received two distinctly different new lenses to use with my Olympus E-PL1 Micro 4/3 camera:
A Voigtlander 25mm f 0.95 lens (equivalent to 50mm lens on a 35mm camera)
and the Wanderlust wide-angle pinhole attachment
I immediately began to test them by photographing objects in my house and then taking them along on a bike ride to document an art opening in my neighborhood. The 25mm is a finely crafted manual lens by Cosina Voigtlander in Japan and has an extremely shallow depth of field when shot wide open at f0.95 and of course is wonderful in low light situations. I discovered that it can focus as close as 7 inches which highlights the intense yet pleasing bokeh (out of focus areas). The Wanderlust Pinwide is a plastic disc with a tiny hole in it that fits on the lens mount of the camera with an aperture of f128. It has heavy vignetting and a softness of focus that is a signature of a pinhole camera. These 2 lenses are so different in their construction and in their function. What better reason to take them on a field trip together.
You can see the results here in this short video: