My Solo Album
In December I finished my album, Tony Ackerman Solo — twelve tracks on five guitars. In a few pieces I’m joined by mandolinist Zdenek Jahoda. The design is by Michal Novak; here you can see the cover, the tracks and my notes to each song. The album is available in the usual places (iTunes, Amazon, etc.). I would urge you to purchase the whole album because it follows a musical thread — and if possible, please on iTunes, Amazon or Supraphon; Spotfiy doesn’t pay enough in one year to buy a set of strings! I’ll be setting up a way to order the physical CD soon, but for now it’s only available for download.
Liner notes:
Morning Music
Hello, friends. For the next month I will upload one new piece each weekday, here and on Soundcloud. . Every morning I will improvise three “takes” on one of my five guitars, and choose one to upload, by 12 noon Central European time (6 a.m. EST US). Feel free to download, and please give me feedback on Soundcloud. I’ll keep going with this as long as it feels right!
FEB. 23 - 27 — LAST WEEK OF DAILY MORNING MUSIC: It’s been wonderful, and I’m letting this project take a turn: instead of every weekday morning, I’m going to upload just once a week, on Mondays. Rather than just improvisations, I’m going to work every morning on the same piece, multi-tracking or honing compositions, and every Monday there will be a new piece. I guess we’ll call it “Monday Morning Music”.
DUETS WITH MANDOLINIST ZDENEK JAHODA
Here are five pieces I recorded for my father's 94th birthday, November 8, 2013. My father loves the mandolin, so I chose 5 different styles to showcase Zdenek, a great creative musician.
Cherokee Shuffle (bluegrass)
The Water is Wide (folk)
Lady Be Good (swing jazz)
Samba de Orfeu (bossa nova)
Imagine (John Lennon)
SOLO
Shenandoah
Dona Nobis Pacem
In 2008, the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma announced a world-wide contest, for playing a virtual duet with him on Dona Nobis Pacem. Hundreds joined -- I didn't win, but I sure enjoyed "playing with" Yo-Yo!
Falcon Flight
My composition done for ISP many years ago, double-tracked 12- and 7-string guitars, accompanied by Musa Zangi on percussion and the legendary "Guma" Kulhanek on fretless bass:
. . . more coming soon!
FOR KIDS
In 2011 I recorded a CD for my lovely granddaughter Lila, together with mandolinist Zdenek Jahoda and bassist Jan Buble. I'll be adding more to this very soon; play them for your kids, and sing along!
Twinkle Star /Black Sheep / Alphabet Song
Skip to my Lou
When I First Came to This Land
Blackbird