April 8, 2010
I apologize for my lack of updates here over the last few months. Technical difficulties with the website are the culprit. I wish I could blame my absense on something more exciting like:
1) Building a life-size statue of a stegosaurus out of Twinkies
2) Doing research to explain why in the world someone would enjoy music from Santana, Celine Dion, or Whitney Houston
3) Traveling cross-country on the back of a llama
Fortunately, technical temper tantrums haven't prevented keeping the blog flowing with random nuggets of daily life. I promise no more absences here. Unless I can finalize my blueprints of a Twinkie-stegosaurus-statue.
November 30, 2009
The annual marathon of piano playing has begun. Within a week's span I will be spending more than 70 (70!!) hours at the Dixie Center, with much of that time spent playing the piano. Last year I wrote about my experience HERE.
As hard as this is physically, I love being able to visit with my piano peeps: the good people who have supported my music career over the years. A few days ago a girl came up and opened one of my piano books and played one of my songs. She said she is playing it tomorrow in her music class for extra credit. Very cool!
I'm truly thankful for those of you who have backed my music. May God grant you all the Twinkies your heart desires. (And heaven knows my heart desires many Twinkies.)
November 14, 2009
Before last night's concert I told Jon that my kids think his music is way cooler than mine.
His response was classic. "No man is a prophet in his own house."
Last night we took the kids to Jon Schmidt's concert in St. George. They are all taking piano lessons and were ecstatic to go to Jon's show. Earlier in the day they told the nurse who gave them a flu shot. They told someone at the grocery store. They told their friends.
Jon's music and technical ability at the piano are brilliant. His way of entertaining and engaging a crowd is even more brilliant. It's rare to see an entire theater completely mesmerized like they were Thursday night.
My saving grace was a guy who came up to me after the show and said "Are you Cory Reese? I love your music!" Had this not occured, I am confident that my kids would have asked Jon to adopt them.
Be sure to check out Jon's site HERE for some amazing tunes. Success couldn't have come to a nicer guy. Jon quickly became a prophet in the Reese household.
October 4, 2009
I have officially run my first marathon! I finished the St. George Marathon in 4 hours and 25 minutes. I'm proud to say that I didn't lose any toe nails. OR DIE. Click HERE to read my marathon story.
September 27, 2009
On Friday night I met with Paul Cardall who finally received a heart transplant a few short weeks ago. Read more about our visit HERE.
We are only 6 days away from the release of "Road of Hope"! This is one of the best projects I've ever been involved with.
I guarantee you will love this music. It will make you happier than eating an entire cheesecake, having a chance encounter with Neil Diamond at the gas station, or being told to "Come On Down!" on The Price Is Right. What could be better?
Enjoy the music, and may you have that glorious encounter with Neil Diamond, who will, of course, be fully clothed in sequins.
September 13, 2009
The Spectrum ran a nice story about the marathon charity team in the newspaper today. Click HERE to read it. The marathon is now less than three weeks away. While running, my feet often feel like they are being smashed in a George Foreman Grill. My knees often feel like they are being pecked by angry ostriches.
Despite this, I'm excited to run my first marathon.
The new album Road of Hope is at the duplicator as we speak and we're gearing up for a big release date on October 3rd! Order your copy now and be among the first to hear this collection of beautiful music.
September 3, 2009
I'm excited to announce that October 3rd will be the release date for the new piano CD "Road of Hope"! I've been listening to the songs from this album over and over again. The music is simply amazing.
The collection includes songs from Paul Cardall, Jon Schmidt, Marshall McDonald, Michael R. Hicks, David Tolk, and myself. Songs include:
1. Our Love - Paul Cardall
2. Autumn Road - David Tolk
3. My Little Girl - Jon Schmidt
4. You Will Soar - Cory Reese
5. Heavenly Hands - Marshall McDonald
6. Muir Woods - Michael R. Hicks
7. Return To Eden - Paul Cardall
8. Cherished Moments - Jon Schmidt
9. Believe - Cory Reese
10. Last Jerusalem Sunset - Michael R. Hicks
11. For Lisa - David Tolk
12. Morning Light - Marshall McDonald
13. The Release - Paul Cardall
The greatest part is that you can make a charity donation and get a CD at the same time! Your donation will support awareness and education for organ donation. Click on the cover to make a donation and pre-order the CD.
August 26, 2009
My friend Paul Cardall is sick. This excellent husband, father, and musician is in desperate need of a heart transplant. Paul has been my biggest mentor since becoming a musician and I had to do something to help him and others like him.
I wanted to let you know about a charity team I’ve set up for the St. George Marathon with a fantastic group of people at Intermountain Donor Services. They coordinate all the organ transplants in the state and provide education at schools and fairs about the importance of organ donation. This is definitely a life-changing organization.
I’d like to challenge you to run a “virtual race” with me called the DOME (Dixie Organ Marathon Event). Your race fee (charity donation) could be:
$10 ~ Shadow Runner: I don’t want to run but would like to contribute.
$26.20 or more ~ DOME Virtual Runner
For contributions of $26.20 or more you receive an EXCLUSIVE PIANO CD featuring Paul Cardall, Jon Schmidt, David Tolk, me, Marshall McDonald, and Michael R. Hicks. This will be sweet!
August 5, 2009
I haven't written any music for many, many months. Composing and arranging the music for the Believe album was a challenge that seemed to suck my creative juices for a while.
Then something happened last week. I started hearing music in my head (not to be confused with the voice in my head that tells me to eat lots of cheesecake).
This isn't usually the way I write music. It isn't too often that I start hearing a song in my mind that I need to sit at the piano and work out. But it happened last week. I couldn't get this song out of my brain.
When that happens, I sit down at the piano and record the parts of the song that come to me. I just record it with a small camera or tape recorder because if I don't, I'll forget it. And it's never a whole song. It comes in pieces. So I record what I have, then leave it to percolate for a few days or weeks.
So here is your glimpse into my process of writing music - a video of a song on the day it was born. This is square one. The finished product will me tweaked, modified, and built up. But this is the most exciting stage for me.
July 25, 2009
I ran the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon last week and finished the 13.1 mile race in 1 hour and 56 minutes. Holy Toledo. To say my legs are sore would be an enormous understatement. A few days after the race I would have traded my first-born for a wheelchair.
June 23, 2009
I took my five year old to a Marc Cohn concert this past weekend. I couldn't pass up hideously inexpensive tickets and I love Marc's music. The concert was fantastic and we were able to spend a few minutes talking with Marc after the show. He was very kind and spent time talking with Danica. She liked the concert almost as much as the Hostess donuts we bought on the way home.
May 26, 2009
I'm a huge Jazz fan. During the NBA season it isn't unusual to hear screaming and cheering at my house. My love affair with basketball made today especially awesome.
Derron Williams + going to Wal-Mart =
March 28, 2009
I am still happily in the midst of marathon training, and have become used to my legs feeling like sheet rock after a longer run. For my weekly training update visit fastcory.blogspot.com.
February 1, 2009
I am in the midst of training for the St. George Marathon coming up October 3rd. I'm a marathon rookie. A few nights ago I went and did "speed training" with my good friends Ben, Tom, and Elizabeth. Tom & Elizabeth are running the Boston Marathon in a few months and run like machines. They are frighteningly fast. I did my darndest to keep up with them as long as I could (fyi, not too long), and only had two near-barf experiences. Fortunately I was able to avoid any upchucking.
January 3, 2009
Happy New Year! The last few months have kept me busy promoting the new album. Making "Believe" available for free download has been a unique and rewarding experience.
Internetically (I don't believe that is actually a word....yet), my time and focus has been the Blog, primarily because of the speed and ease of adding new information, stories, and pictures. Be sure to check it out if you're looking for fascinating stories about who makes the best rolls in the world (elementary schools), my most embarrasing moment (which involves being at the dentist with my zipper down), or the best music to play at a bowling alley (Kenny G). May the new year bring you joy, prosperity, and all the Butterfingers your tummy can hold.
October 30, 2008
People have been asking about the process involved in making the CD Believe, so I thought I’d give a little background on what goes on behind the scenes of making an album.
On my first couple CDs, I went to the recording studio with all the songs ready. I had played them over and over again, they were thought out, organized, and rehearsed. Lately, particularly on “You Will Soar” and “Believe”, the process was much different.
When I record an album, it is emotionally, physically, and musically taxing. After it is done, I usually don’t write music again for many, many months. There is the rare exception where I’ll be playing the piano and a piece of a song will come to me that seems to click. But even when that happens, it’s always only a small piece of a song. Maybe just a simple melody. At that point, I pull out a little hand-held tape recorder, record that little section, and then I usually just let it sit for a few weeks or even a few months.
For the last couple albums, the different approach I took was to let the songs be less constructed, and more of playing what comes to me in the moment. For “Believe”, I knew which songs I wanted to record, but not how each song was going to be styled. During recording sessions, I work with a song from many directions. I try different keys, and different chords, and different rhythms, and variations on low notes, and variations on high notes. It ends up being a time consuming and challenging experience to see which direction a song will take.
I don’t record the song until I hear something special. I may play a song ten different ways, and then on the eleventh way something clicks. Sometimes the song gives me goose bumps. Sometimes I’ll hear something and say “Where did that come from?” That’s when I know the song is ready to record. It’s kind of like my mind has been storing up creative energy over the many months I take to not do anything, and it all comes spilling out as I prepare the new CD.
The amount of time needed to complete the fourteen songs on Believe was around two months. Once all the piano music was recorded and sounded how I wanted, I sent a CD of the music to Steven Sharp Nelson who has played cello on my last two CDs.
A few weeks later we got together to record his cello parts for each song. I asked him what kind of preparation he goes through to do something like this. I was surprised to hear his response. He said that he like to listen to each song a few times so he is familiar with them. But, he doesn’t like to have every single note planned out. He wants there to be an element of improvisation, identifying where the song is going, and playing what comes to him in the moment. I think that’s why I feel that his playing is such an excellent match for my style of music – we both get a sense of where the music is going and play what comes to our hearts.
This isn’t the end of the process though. Following this, the music goes through phases called mixing and mastering where sound levels are adjusted to make sure that you can hear each instrument, and things like equalization, reverb, loudness, limiters, gates, normalization, balance, compression, delay, and fades are modified. It’s a music nerd’s paradise. These things can easily take a few hours per song. Graphic design is completed, and the whole package is sent to a duplicator who makes the CDs.
During each step of this process, I have one constant thought in the back of my head: I pray that this music touches listeners the way it has touched me.
October 17, 2008 - The new album Believe is finally here! I wanted to do something I've never done before and make this music available for free to anyone who has a computer and wants to download it.
This has become a very special CD to me. As with every CD, I always feel kind of like I'm releasing a child into the world. So much thought, time, practice, energy, and effort has gone into its making, and I hope it becomes as special to listeners as it has to me.
I think the number of hours spent working on this disc would equal the time it would take for me to whittle at least half of Mt. Rushmore, or teach my dog to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. PLEASEshoot me an email to cory@coryreese.com and let me know what you think. Enjoy!!!
June 4, 2008 - Visit the new Cory Reese Blog for peak into all the things you never knew you wanted to know about the insane life that a piano player living in Utah, who has three kids, who has terrible seasonal allergies, who listens to talk radio may lead.
(By the way, piano tracks are done for a new CD that should be out in the next couple months. I'll keep you updated.)
April 6, 2008 - I have survived a month-long whirlwind tour of Mexico, California, and Texas, and am now gearing up for the benifit concert later this week in St. George which will be a fun show. Lisa Larson from The Spectrum wrote a great story you can see here about the concert. I have also been in the studio over the last few months working on a new CD, more details to come. In the CD player today: Jackson Browne's Solo Acoustic Volume 2. See you Friday night at the concert!
January 25, 2008 - Happy New Year! The Reese clan had a great Christmas and added to our family: a Welsh Terrier puppy we named Dwight (fans of The Office will recognize his name).
In the CD player today: Matthew West's new CD "Something To Say". Here's to a great 2008!
December 4, 2007 - It was great to meet so many of you over the last few weeks out playing the piano. Truth be told, by the end of December I have played the piano so much that just the thought of playing a song gives me the dry heaves. The very sight of a piano makes me nauseous. Allow me an analogy. I love candy. I love it. I love it so much that a few years ago I bet my wife that I could eat a 10-pack of Almond Joys and a 10-pack of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the same setting. I got half way done before I started to sweat cocoa and surrendered. Some times you can get too much of a good thing. Fortunately, me and the piano are able to be friends again after a few weeks of taking a break in January. Pass the Almond Joys. Mmmm.
November 2, 2007 - Another swell review rolled in on You Will Soar from the New Age Reporter! Check out the Press page to see this one. We're excited to announce free shipping on all orders until December 31st. Time to stock up on Christmas presents! In my CD player lately.....Join The Parade by Marc Cohn. Stunning.
September 16, 2007 - There has been an amazing response to the new album. There was also a great review from Solo Piano Publications that can be viewed from the Press page. Albums getting frequent spins in my CD player lately:
Brett Dennen - So Much More
Matthew West - History
Amos Lee - Supply and Demand
Now those are some good tunes!!! You'll check them out if you know what's good for you.
June 26, 2007 - You Will Soar is finally released! You can listen to clips HERE. This album is really years in the making. I have been working on original songs for around three years during the time I had released KEYS To Billy Joel, Silent Night, and Witness. The disc features original music with the addition of cello accompaniment by Steven Sharp Nelson. I am so sure this music will give you goose bumps that I'm willing to guarantee it! That's right. If this music doesn't knock your socks off you send it back and you get your money back. No questions asked. No guff. I'm that confident. Keep an eye on the website for frequent updates. Enjoy!!!
