ArtistInfo

Todd Gordon
Love Dot Com

Album DE 2014 on STEM label
Jazz, Rock and Pop (Vocal, Contemporary Jazz, Swing, Jazz-Rock, Ballad, Easy Listening)

A celebration of music from all over the world from all over the musical world. Sung by a true crooner. It's Pop. It's Rock. It's Classic. It's Jazz. It's all encompassing. Todd Gordon (vocals) David Patrick (piano & arrangements) Martin Zenker (bass) Im Dalkyun (sax) Lee Jongheun (drums) Han Woonki (guitar) Eun Jin Lim (cello) Kim Minchan (drums Do You Believe) Jang Seungho (bass on Do You Believe) Sunny Kim (guest vocal on Let's Face the Music and Dance) Special thanks to: Martin Zenker and Kim Daeho Producer: Prof Woochang Lee, Kyung Hee University, South Korea Technician: Kyongsu, Kyung Hee University, South Korea Studio: Kyung Hee University, South Korea Liner Notes: Putting an album together is creatively challenging. Should there be a theme? Is it a collection of personal favourites? New material? Will it push boundaries? Demonstrate a new direction? Or perhaps thereʼs an instinct to be commercial? Better yet, esoteric? Who knows? For me, itʼs about connection. And the role of conduit between the songwriter and the listener. Up 'til now, I have concentrated mainly on the timeless Great American Songbook era. Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, The Gershwinʼs and their ilk. But for this album, I have "gone contemporary!" Several of the songs on this album can be traced back to the late '60s and 1970s - the formative years in terms of defining my musical tastes. The first two numbers, Alone Again (Naturally) and Julia remained ingrained on my mind; after my parentsʼ separation, I was always much closer to my mother. I was always deeply moved by the sentiment of the John Lennon song that was a tribute to his late mother, and Gilbert OʼSullivanʼs reference to loss of a parent resonated deeply with me. Having ʻdiscoveredʼ Frank Sinatra when I was just 11 years old, I became an ardent fan - an alien concept to my childhood peers who were into David Bowie, The Who, The Strawbs and Donny Osmond, etc. Indeed, my nickname at school became Bing! One of the first Sinatra LPs I purchased was My Way and, although the title song has never been one of my personal favourites, there was a lovely reading of Jimmy Webbʼs tender ballad, Didnʼt We, tucked away in this album; a gem of a recording overshadowed by the somewhat overblown anthem. The version on this album is my Sinatra-inspired rendition of the song. Little did I know that starting my Sinatra collection of recordings was the beginning of my musical education. But even in my early teens I could somehow connect with the emotional content of a song. One prime example was Goodbye (She Quietly Says), written especially for Frank Sinatraʼs last concept album, Watertown. Originally devised as the basis of a proposed TV special (which never came to fruition),the album tells the story of a man trying to come to terms with life after his wife has left him. This lyric poignantly reveals the details of their last meeting before she leaves town. It was in 1975 that Peggy Lee worked closely with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller on what became one of her most adventurous, yet least commercially successful, albums. Entitled Mirrors, it contained a clutch of exotic and varied songs including A Little White Ship with its unique and unusual structure. Somewhere in My Heart was a 1980ʼs chart hit for the group Aztec Camera. Frankly, I couldnʼt get my head round some of the phrases; especially ”A vision of love wearing boxing gloves“. Then, when I was recently performing at an event for a childrenʼs epilepsy charity I support, a video was shown which referred to teenagers with certain kinds of the condition having violent mood swings. Elements of the lyric immediately began to resonate with me as well: "Who could heal whatʼs never been as one" and "Our hearts have been torn since the day we were born". For me, it was almost like looking at an abstract painting and being able to form a powerful emotional attachment. As a lover of the Great American Songbook genre, I was always in such awe of the aforementioned masters of the art, so much so that songwriting was never one of my ambitions or desires. However, when I had the opportunity to write a lyric for a wonderful Morgan Visconti melody, I put my fragile ego to one side! But I was in very good Company - I asked my close friend, Jacqui Dankworth, to join me with a blank sheet of a paper and two pens! The result of our endeavour is Holding On. Morgan also let me hear another couple of his songs that I might be interested in recording, one of which was When Hell Freezes Over. It had a lyric by Sam Bonnar and she kindly adapted a line in the song for me and itʼs now become one of the most contemporary recordings I have ever made, with a superb arrangement by David Patrick and a guest solo by Ross Hamilton (featured guitarist with the pop group, Texas). When it comes to lyrics, few can rival the towering talent that is Stephen Sondheim, and I Remember Sky is one of his best. The imagery he paints with such carefully chosen words in this song is nothing less than an art form. With its wintery theme, itʼs one that I like to include in my Christmas shows: "Ice like vinyl on the streets, cold as silver, white as sheets"... "I remember trees, bare as coat racks, spread like broken umbrellas". Wonderful. I remember chatting to Randy Newman about Sondheim and other composers, and he said that Irving Berlin was one of the songwriters he really admired. Me too! Itʼs great to include a song from one of the seminal Astaire-Rogers musicals: Letʼs Face the Music and Dance - even though it is a less upbeat treatment than listeners might expect. And I am delighted that it features the Korean-born, New York based jazz singer Sunny Kim. Added to the songs I have mentioned, I Honestly Love You and Sheʼs the One are two pop songs that I really liked and wanted to take for a spin. And finally, I should touch on the remaining couple of numbers: Do You Believe - a very pretty song written by the amazing Carol Kidd and her long-time guitarist Nigel Clark. I am delighted to be the first to cover this composition. Then thereʼs the title song. The internet is proving to be the 21st Centuryʼs most effective route to love and friendship. Frustrating, exciting, demeaning, elating, depressing, confidence-building, confidence-sapping, irritating, addictive... All of these and more. Love dot com is almost a song of hope. Almost. Yet tempered with reality. In this virtual world we inhabit, we all need some welcome degree of reality. Perhaps youʼre listening to this album through the physical medium like an LP or a CD, or itʼs made its virtual way on to your computer. Either way, I sincerely hope the songs trigger an emotional connection. That will make me very happy. Todd Gordon

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