Posted: April 27, 2020

Paster, Popejoy and Shaffer together again

1986 flashback: dateline Albuquerque, New Mexico: High school classmates bassist Stuart Popejoy, drummer David Shaffer and I have a trio called “dbs Noise Creation.”  We used to play jazz and standards regularly at school events, and also occasionally perform live around Albuquerque.  Deep in my closet I have our debut cassette recording from that era.  That same year we met a tenor saxophonist named Alisa Valdés who attended a different high school.  We played together as a quartet on occasion, both with Shaffer and later more frequently with another classmate, late drummer Blair Newsome as the Nouveau Adobe Quartet.

Alisa was a mature young musician, more interested in the soulful lyricism of her melodic lines than in simply how many notes or how loud she could play.  We became close friends and jazz buddies- our shared love for jazz was rare amongst my peers.  She turned us on to records by Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, Steps ahead and others, and though only a year older than us, her musical honestly and essential simplicity influenced my development in ways that I still consider important.

Flash forward to the present: Alisa Valdés is a well known published author. We’ve been occasionally in touch over the past 30+ years.  But,  I recently learned that she was facing some serious health struggles.  With the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic bearing down on the world, I decided I should reunite the dbs trio to remotely record a track for Alisa.

Stuart, David and I had only recently played together for the first time in over 30 years at my 50th Birthday party in February 2020.  But I knew these guys would do a great job creating something to cheer up an old friend.  I selected an unrecorded song that I wrote in 2010 while on tour with Paul Beaudry and Pathways for the US State Dept entitled Haze and Light.  The song’s simple, essential melody reminded me of Alisa and the ways she’d influenced me back in the 80s.

Enjoy the first recorded music from Paster, Popejoy and Shaffer in decades- Haze and Light. Alisa is recovering  is expected to make a full recovery.  Get well soon, old friend- we send our love.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud or wherever fine music is streamed…