A Rumour of Angels – Overview

A Rumour of Angels is my new CD of 11 original songs arranged for voice (mine) and chamber orchestra. The orchestral arrangements were created with Genie-Award winning composer Patric Caird, Vancouver composer Paul Alexander, and myself. They were performed by members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at The Factory in Vancouver.

I brought the recordings back home to Toronto and completed the CD with co-producer Henry Gooderham at Redline Recorders. Many Toronto-area musicians also gave of their time and talent to help make this record happen: D’Arcy Rittich on Double Bass, Percussionists Geoff Bennett and Longo Hai of TTG Music, Cellist Amy Laing, Dave Haffey played Oud and Baglama, Doug Dyson on piano, The Count and Countess of ProCon, and Sam Ibbett, contributed more percussion - Thank you all!

The CD is on the Black Hen Music label - thank you Steve and Mary! – and distributed by Koch Entertainment – thank you Eric!

Previously I have worked almost exclusively within a ‘band’ structure – guitar, bass , drums, etc. - but the material I’d been developing urged me toward a new approach. I’ve had a life-long love of orchestral music but creating it - ?! – a daunting challenge considering that the closest I’d come to actually playing it was as a teenage busker playing flute at Union Station. But I knew that the songs I was writing required a bold new style, a heightened setting - one which could express musically what the lyrics were aiming at. I knew that the chamber orchestra was the answer but didn’t know where or how to begin.

So began my big adventure of getting this unusual CD made. It’s been a long process full of starts and stops, hills and valleys, that many times hovered on the brink of collapse. It’s also been a steep learning curve for me artistically and personally that included cross-Canada collaborations with some of the finest talent we have.

What we’ve created is, I think, a very special album. A sincere ‘labour of love’ forged by artists who gave so generously because they believed in the project and wanted to be part of it. I also want to thank the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council – without their support this CD could not have been made.