Erskine Joy Luck PlayAlong app for iPhone and iPad

Peter Erskine brings his latest album to you in 4 discrete play-along configurations -- all in one app!

The album “Joy Luck,” featuring my New Trio with Vardan Ovsepian on keyboards and Damian Erskine (Peters nephew) on electric bass, gets its title inspiration from Amy Tan’s novel “Joy Luck Club.” This play-along “Joy Luck” compilation gets its inspiration from there being a need for a modern jazz-based trio “music minus one” offering that was not either

1. dated-sounding
2. overly-complicated
3. “Fusion”-based … or loud.
4. too pricey!

In other words: good music (for a good price)! And good music that’s relevant to the playing challenges and issues that today’s students and professionals encounter every day in their musical lives.

This project is noteworthy for several reasons, one of them being that my recording work of the last several years has all been “live,” on-stage or in the recording studio, with no chance of removing the sound of the drums from the overall mix of the other instruments. “Joy Luck” was recorded in such a way that all three instruments enjoy sonic isolation, thus giving drummers, bassists, keyboard players or any aspiring soloist to become part of the band. The band tracks are mixed and constructed so that the music may be practiced to or performed for school recitals, juries or even in concert.

The best way to learn any piece of music is by ear. “Joy Luck” provides lead sheet charts, identical to what we used in the studio to make the album. There are also exhaustive transcriptions of the bass and drum parts and solos for study and emulation if desired.

Each tune is accompanied by PDF files of the charts, transcriptions, etc., in addition to multiple mix stems for customized use (click options including count-in only or for the entire duration of the tune. Note: it is very easy to use the click volume slider to change the relative volume of the click or to get rid of it completely during practice or performance!) PDF charts can be mailed and/or printed out within the app. There are also some behind-the-scenes photos from the recording session.

Enjoy the good music!

Sincerely,
Peter Erskine


Acknowledgements:
Lucas Ives (app development)
Damian Erskine & Brittni Williamson (bass transcriptions)
Jake Reed (drum transcriptions)
Vardan Ovsepian (lead sheets)
Paul Tavenner (original tracking)
Rich Breen (multi-stem mixes and assembly)
Bob Smith (graphic design)
Sibelius (notation software)