rodney roach's Page

Multi-instrumentalist starting w/piano @ 5 1/2, stained glass artist, composer, song writer, sound engineer, producer, carpenter, awareness stimulator/revolutionary, occasional masseuse & very occasionally published poet.
10-07-2008
I salute you fellow travelers of the spiral. I regularly play piano, organ, and synth keyboards; tenor and alto sax; electric and steel string acoustic guitar; electric bass, fretted and fretless; a wide range of hand percussion; harmonica; and I continually work on making myself happy with my vocals. I occasionally play lap steel, accordion, vibes, congas(my hands don't hold up well now), recorder(usually soprano), clarinet, kit(mainly reggae), and just a little bit of violin, flute, and cornet. I've been performing professionally since the age of 11-12(over 45 yr. now) and music has been a centerpiece and sustainer of my life for as long as I can remember. I started recording with cassette decks and cheap reel to reels in high school and got my first gig engineering in a small multi-media studio in the early mid-70's(I now have my own studio I started in the late 80's, currently taking clients by referral only - though I do too much pro bono work for those I feel are interesting and/or deserving). Along the way I've written a good bit of poetry and finally found my visual art media to be stained glass(both traditional and Tiffany style). I had worked a bit in oils and a fair amount in acrylics, watercolors, and pastels; but finally found a strong kinship with glass and its inherent kineticism(ever-changing, never quite the same from day to day or season to season). I am in the midst of remodeling and adding a 2nd story to the house and expanding and rebuilding the studio myself.(Though I did call in a little help with the subfloor sheathing and some of the roof sheathing.)

The player directly below is loaded with a sampling of my compositions. While world beat is my favorite, I write and perform in a very wide range of styles.

The next 11 songs are from a collaboration with local quitarist Eddie Checchio. They primarily represent a series of jams in older blues-derived styles with a few more modern touches here & there. Songs 1 & 3-11 are from a soon to be released cd.