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 1997 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
​
​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. 
​
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.
​
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.

Every piece of music you hear has had decisions made about how it will be arranged. Will there be an introduction? How will the different sections be organized? Will there be sections that repeat? What combination of instruments and/or voices will perform the piece? How will it end? These are but a few of the many questions that need to be considered whether arranging one's own composition or that of another composer. 

An abundance of recordings of holiday music offers great examples of this. For example, according to Wikipedia, "Silent Night", composed in 1818 by Austrian Franz Gruber, is "the world's most recorded Christmas song, with more than 137,000 known recordings". And each one required its own arrangement. That's a lot of arrangements of one song!

Among those 137,000 known recordings are two that I had the privilege of making for North Star Records, one with CommonGround and one with The North Star Jazz Ensemble.

Pianist Ron Fournier wrote the arrangement of Silent Night for CommonGround's 1997 album "Do You Hear What I Hear?". His arrangement includes a solo guitar introduction and lovely interludes he composed for between the verses and before the ending. 

I wrote the North Star Jazz Ensemble arrangement for the 2002 album "Mistletoe Sax". Taking my inspiration from French composer Erik Satie I included part of his "Gymnopédie No. 1" which serves as bookends to the arrangement and sets the overall tone. I composed some music for the middle of the recording to feature a bass solo by Marty Ballou. That section then leads into traded solos by Ron Fournier on piano and myself on soprano saxophone. Eventually we find our way back home to the original theme, finally leading back to and wrapping up with Satie's Gymnopédie.

I hope you will enjoy our arrangements of "Silent Night" and all the songs on both these albums. 

​Happy Holidays one and all!

Streaming on all platforms. Click the images below to listen to the arrangements of Silent Night on YouTube. 
​Free to listen, no account or subscription required.

Use these links to explore the entire albums.

Do You Hear What I Hear? by CommonGround

Amazon Music 

Apple Music

YouTube

Spotify

Pandora

Mistletoe Sax by Bruce Abbott & The North Star Jazz Ensemble with The Hawthorne String Quartet

Amazon Music

Apple Music

YouTube

Spotify

Pandora

In the summer of 2022 my wife Lisa and I attended a reunion of some classmates from the University of Rhode Island. It was a joyful and wonderful reconnection of old acquaintances, many of whom had not seen each other in several decades. Among those in attendance was David Nedwidek, a singer/songwriter/guitarist who I played with during our college days. It was great to catch up with David as he and I spoke together about the musical and other paths our lives had taken.

After the reunion David and I continued to stay in touch as he began creating songs for what was to become his recently released album Over the Moon. I play on two songs on that album, including the title track and another called Wounded Knee, a song that reflects David's deep interest in, respect for and knowledge of Native American history and culture.

During that time I was also recording tracks for my own new album of Native American style flute music. After working with David on his songs I knew I wanted him to play on my album as well. I sent him solo flute tracks for three songs and was completely amazed by the guitar parts he created to accompany them.  

At our second URI reunion in summer 2023 David and I performed one of our songs for the group gathered in the living room for an after dinner jam. After playing our song I told the group it was as yet unnamed and asked if anyone had any thoughts for a title. One of our friends immediately suggested "Reunion", a perfect title for our composition! 

In this holiday season full of family and friends reuniting and reconnecting I would like to offer our song Reunion​ as a musical gift from David and me to all of you. You can download it for free from BandCamp. We wish you peaceful holidays, filled with the love of friends and family who are here, and with loving memories of those who are no longer with us. 

Reunion​ was co-written with David Nedwidek and is featured on the album Light on the Leaves. I am playing a Native American style flute and David is playing acoustic guitar. 
​Be sure to also check out David's new album ​Over the Moon.

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

Light on the Leaves: Music for Native American Flute
On our visits to the American southwest I have always found myself enchanted by the sound of the Native American flute music that is so much a part of the character of that area of the country. During one trip I purchased several recordings by the flutist R. Carlos Nakai and listened to them repeatedly. The Native American flute has a soulful sound that is meditative, relaxing, uplifting and inspiring. I was so taken by it that in 2011 I ordered a Native American style flute built of western cedar by Miguel Medina of Singing Tree Flutes in Oregon. From the moment I played it I was in love!  

In 2013 I released my first album of music for Native American flute, River Waves. Now, ten years later, a new album is finished. Light on the Leaves is a collection of ten songs, three of which were co-written by my friend David Nedwidek who is also featured on guitar. In addition to flute I am playing other instruments including frame drums, shakers, rain stick, piano and synthesizer strings.​

Streaming on all platforms including YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music.
​Digital audio files are available for download at BandCamp.
​(Please note that this release is not available as a CD.)

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

In 1995 drummer Paul Mason invited me and two other musician friends (pianist Ron Fournier and bassist Marty Ballou) to form what was to become the North Star Jazz Ensemble. ​We began creating albums of jazz standards for North Star Music, a Rhode Island based recording company. Along the way we added guitar virtuoso Peter Calo and recorded under the name CommonGround, creating albums of instrumental versions of popular songs including tributes to James Taylor and Paul Simon. For a small label these albums were very successful and sold several hundred thousand copies.

In 2003 the North Star Jazz Ensemble was invited to perform at the Big Sisters of Rhode Island annual fundraising event and to record a souvenir CD of original music that would be given to attendees. For this first opportunity to record our own compositions, pianist Ron Fournier and I co-wrote a jazz-rock fusion original and titled it "Little Sister" in honor of the event. The track is also included on my 2018 album Summer Mood. 

On this one I am playing tenor saxophone along with Ron Fournier (piano & co-writer), Marty Ballou (bass) & Paul Mason (drums). As with all of our North Star projects, it was recorded by our wonderful engineer Jack Gauthier at Lakewest Recording in West Greenwich, Rhode Island. 

Sheet music for this composition is available at the Original Music page. This and all the North Star Jazz and CommonGround recordings can be found streaming on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and all streaming platforms.

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