As a kid my favorite breakfast cereal was Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes. During my teenage years I switched to my Dad's favorite, shredded wheat biscuits. Sometime in my 20s I tasted Frosted Flakes again after many years and could not believe how sweet they were. It seemed like they were more sugar than corn flakes! Now, nearly 50 years later, oatmeal has become my go to breakfast. Sweetened only by the berries and bananas I add, they are a much healthier option.

They also come with an unexpected benefit: the cardboard container they are packaged in makes a lovely hand drum! I discovered that, after preparing my oatmeal each morning, I was tapping out rhythms on the container as I returned it to the pantry. The container can also be shaken and the oatmeal inside creates a sound similar to maracas. What a plus! I decided to record some of those oatmeal container hand drum rhythms, then added a pair of alto saxophone tracks improvising along with them. The resulting music, "Oatmeal", was released as part of my album "Pop Songs, Poetry & Other Flights of Fancy". It falls solidly in the "other flights of fancy" category! Hmmm, I'm hungry....  Hope you enjoy "Oatmeal"!

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From the album Pop Songs, Poetry & Other Flights of Fancy.

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, 
Pandora, iHeart Radio and all streaming platforms.
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Click the image below to listen to the song on YouTube. 
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.

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From the album Pop Songs, Poetry & Other Flights of Fancy. Printed music for this composition is available to preview at Sheet Music Plus and SheetMusicDirect.

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, 
Pandora, iHeart Radio and all streaming platforms.
​​
Click the image below to listen to the song on YouTube. 
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.

Follow the score!

The initial melody for Simpático visited me as I was practicing my soprano sax. Once that melody was formed I started to compose a piano accompaniment for it but quickly realized that the new soprano sax melody was asking me to create a saxophone quartet instead. I listened and followed the melody's advice! Along the way it settled into a mambo rhythm style with solo features for each of the four saxes. 
For this composition I use the standard saxophone quartet instrumentation of soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. These four siblings get along so well that I decided to call the piece Simpático. It is dedicated to my former student Nick Suchecki and the Cape Cod Saxophone Quartet in which we played together. 

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From the album Beneath The Stars: Music for Saxophone Solo, Duet & Quartet.

Listen to this and other albums on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and all streaming platforms.

On this track I overdubbed all four saxophone parts.

Printed music for this composition is available to preview at Sheet Music Plus and SheetMusicDirect and can be purchased and downloaded there for $14.99. Also available in arrangements for string quartet, woodwind quartet and flute quartet/choir.

​More info available on the Original Music page.

Follow the score!

My musical life had its beginning thanks to my mother, Eleanor, who signed me up for saxophone lessons when I was 10 years old. Both she and my father were encouraging and supportive parents who were always in the audience at my little league games and band concerts. My mom played the violin in elementary school. Years later, when I was growing up, she had an organ in our living room that she loved to play and sing along to. She also sang in our church choir. It was always a treat to listen to her!

In 2022 I sat down to write a song for my mom, striving to create a piece that reflected her gentle, loving and thoughtful disposition. The result was "Eleanor" which was released on my album "After the Dust Has Settled".
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This month my mom would have turned 105 years old. Thanks Mom, and Happy Birthday! 

Our nation's Declaration of Independence was issued on July 4, 1776. In addition to declaring our independence from Great Britain it also declared that every person has unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Just over 190 years after that amazing document was released Paul Simon wrote and released a song called "America" which he recorded with his musical partner Art Garfunkel. The lyrics tell the story of a hopeful but restless young couple hitch-hiking and busing their way around America in the pursuit of happiness, perhaps the most subjective and elusive of those unalienable rights. 

In 1987 our group CommonGround released the album "Homeward Bound: An Instrumental Tribute to the Music of Paul Simon". Drummer Paul Mason and I wrote an arrangement of "America" which was included along with 13 other tracks on the album. In the arrangement we created an interlude section that features pianist Ron Fournier's improvised solo. Insider tip: if you listen closely during the interlude you'll hear the strings playing a hint of "America the Beautiful". 

Thanks for listening, and may all of our elusive unalienable rights survive in the years ahead!

Streaming on all platforms. Click the image below to listen to the arrangement of America by CommonGround on YouTube. 
​Click here to listen to the entire Homeward Bound album on YouTube.
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.

"America" by CommonGround
Bruce Abbott, soprano saxophone, co-arranger
Peter Calo, guitar
Ron Fournier, arranger, keyboards
​Marty Ballou, bass
Paul Mason, drums, co-arranger
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​With guests
Mike Turk, harmonica
Cenovia Cummins, violin
Mary Rowell, viola
Stephanie Cummins, cello

​Recorded by Jack Gauthier at Lakewest Recording

I composed Fred's Tune for 8-string guitarist Fred Fried, with whom I have been making music for more than 30 years. We are both "washashores" on Cape Cod (Fred from New York, I from Rhode Island) and from the first time we played together I found a musical home in our collaboration. Together, we've played venues from noisy restaurants and bars to pristine concert halls. No matter the setting, we have always enjoyed exploring repertoire and developing arrangements, all the while delighting in the musical conversation between our two instruments.
 
Our first album, 'S Wonderful, was released in 2008. We have just released our second album entitled Maybe in Spring, a collection of six standards and two originals. Fred composed the title song, Maybe in Spring. My contribution is Fred's Tune, written for and dedicated to Fred. 
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Fred is a master of harmony who is skilled, insightful and adventurous in his use of chords and chord progressions. His 8-string instrument greatly expands the guitar's usual range, allowing for a full and rich palette of sound. Add to that his ability to weave contrapuntal lines through chords and around melodies, and the result is a flow of endlessly delightful musical creations.
 
For the recording of Fred's Tune I asked him to play the song solo and freely the first time through. He created a simple and beautiful two-chord intro that is followed by the melody, self-accompanied and displaying his harmonic and contrapuntal artistry. 

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From the album Maybe in Spring. Sheet music for Fred's Tune​ is available for free at the Original Music page. 

Available on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, 
Pandora, iHeart Radio and all streaming platforms.

Click the image below to listen to Fred's Tune​ on YouTube. 
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.

I was inspired to compose "The Hotel" after watching the film "Hotel Rwanda" which tells the story of the 1994 genocide in the central African country of Rwanda. The story focuses on Paul and Tatiana Rusesabagina, who sheltered and saved the lives of over 1,200 people during that brutal event 30 years ago this spring.
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In this composition I try to capture some of the darkness as well as the courage that is evident in that story. 

On this track I am playing alto saxophone, piano and keyboard bass. 

I chose this piece as the closer for my album Summer Mood. Sheet music and a play-along track are available at the Original Music page. 

Additional info...​
More recently, from 2020-2023 Paul Rusesabagina was incarcerated as a political prisoner in Rwanda. Visit the New York Times to read his recent essay about his experience and the 30th anniversary of the genocide.
Visit Wikipedia to learn more about the film. 
​Visit History.com to learn more about the Rwandan genocide. ​

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​Free to listen on YouTube.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!​

​In the summer of 2002 my wife Lisa and I did a home exchange with a family from the town of Raphoe in County Donegal, Ireland. Leslie Brown, with whom we exchanged, was a fiddle player and regular participant in Raphoe's Thursday night traditional music sessions at the Diamond Bar. She informed the session's leaders, Christy Murray (whistle) and Conor Porter (guitar) along with her neighbor Stuart Dunlop (bodhran & bones), that we would be coming to the sessions for the two weeks we were in Raphoe. We were warmly welcomed and invited to join in with the group of 20 or so musicians from ages 8 - 80+. I had my regular flute with me and could barely keep up with the tunes as they flew by at brisk tempos.

​I was so impressed with Christy's whistle playing during the first session we attended that ​I asked him where I might buy one. He directed me to the local music store which I visited the next day. They had a display of whistles made both in Ireland and the U.S. Having come all that way I decided on one made in Ireland. At the next week's session I proudly showed Christy my new acquisition to which he commented, "It's lovely, now you're going to need one to play!" A month after we returned home I received in the mail from them a new Susato D whistle, made in the U.S.!

This tune was inspired by and written during my time in Raphoe and the whistle they sent me is the one on this recording. Thank you Christy, Conor, Stuart and all the folks at the Diamond Bar session!

From the album Pop Songs, Poetry & Other Flights of Fancy. Sheet music for this composition is available at the Original Music page. 

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, 
Pandora, iHeart Radio and all streaming platforms.
​​Digital audio files available for download at iTunes, Amazon & BandCamp.
​Publishing at SheetMusicPlus and SheetMusicDirect.

Click the image below to listen to the song on YouTube. 
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.

In Winter Storm I try to capture the energy, excitement and trepidation of a "nor'easter". According to the National Weather Service, a nor'easter is a storm that occurs along the east coast of North America. They form when cold Arctic air from the north mixes with warmer moist air over the Gulf Stream. They are known as nor'easters because the winds over the coastal area are typically blowing in from the northeast, and often at gale force.

On this one I am playing flute, soprano and alto saxes. I couldn't resist mixing in a recording of howling winds to add to the intensity. Time to "batten down the hatches"!



From the album Pop Songs, Poetry & Other Flights of Fancy. 

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, 
Pandora, iHeart Radio and all streaming platforms.
​​Digital audio files available for download at iTunes, Amazon & BandCamp.
​Publishing at SheetMusicPlus and SheetMusicDirect.

Click the image below to listen to the song on YouTube. 
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.

Best wishes to everyone for 2024!

As a child I loved waking up on a winter's day and learning that school had been cancelled due to overnight snowfall. After breakfast it would be time to put on warm clothes and head out to spend the day playing in the snow with friends. ​ A "snow day" had put the world of school on hold. What a delight! 

In my song "Snow Day", a jazz waltz with a bluesy vibe, I have tried to capture and celebrate a sense of that childhood delight. I hope it will bring back a delightful snow day or other "day on hold" memory for you!

From the album After The Dust Has Settled. Sheet music for this composition is available at the Original Music  page. Streaming on all platforms including YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music.

I also recently wrote a big band jazz ensemble arrangement of Snow Day for the Sturgis High School East & West Big Band under the direction of Bart Weisman. They will be performing it in their April concert. More info including an audio file of the arrangement is available at SheetMusicPlus.com. 

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, 
Pandora, iHeart Radio and all streaming platforms.
​​Digital audio files available for download at iTunes, Amazon & BandCamp.
​Publishing at SheetMusicPlus and SheetMusicDirect.

Click the image below to listen to the song on YouTube. 
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.