Why this tune?
I’m delighted to welcome my friend and long-time musical collaborator Aaron Myers to St. Croix this week for a concert at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in Frederiksted. I brought a draft of this week’s song “Island in the Sea” to Aaron in 2021, with a plan to record it with him. The song was, of course, inspired by our experiences on St. Croix, an invitation to leave the action of the city for “a sunset shore under starry skies.”
Aaron knew right away what sort of groove the song needed: “Nancy Wilson, Stroh’s Beer,” sending me to YouTube to find a recording of Wilson recording a soulful, funky jingle for that Detroit brew. Aaron also had several edits to the lyrics to match his style and make it more singable.
We went to Tonal Park Studio with a fine band in late 2021, respecting the COVID restrictions, and recorded a track which I released in late 2021 as part of a short-lived “Groove Park” series. I found a video producer, Ed Sheirs, in early 2022 to craft a fun lyrics video featuring the lyrics as a series of travel posters, including several vintage-style St. Croix posters from gotostcroix.com.
I hope we’ll be able to share this song live with my our St. Croix audience this week.
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 