Tunes On Tuesday – Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter

Tunes on Tuesday: Island in the Sea

cover art for Tunes on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, Island in the Sea. The text appears above and below a photo of a palm tree silhouetted by the colors of the sunset on a beach

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 itContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Island in the Sea”

Tunes on Tuesday: Reflections

Photo of Oren Levine's hands playing an electric piano. Text at top right reads 'Tunes on Tuesday March 3, 2026 Reflections'

Why this tune? I’m taking a break from the original songs this week to share Thelonious Monk’s lovely ballad “Reflections.” Monk recorded it at least twice, with a band in 1952 and as a solo pianist in 1959. I first heard the tune on a 1984 album “That’s the Way I Feel Now,” a collectionContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Reflections”

Tunes on Tuesday: Breathing In Time

Photo of Oren Levine playing an electric piano. He wears headphones over a ball cap. Text at top left reads 'Tunes on Tuesday February 24, 2026 Breathing In Time'

Why this tune? This week’s song is the third iteration of “Breathing In Time,” which I wrote first on January 19 this year during my song-a-day challenge. I added a bridge for this recording and made some small edits to the rest of the lyrics. The song is my way of sending warm thoughts toContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Breathing In Time”

Tunes on Tuesday: The Muse Knows

Photo of Oren Levine wearing a black t-shirt, sitting in front of a recording microphone suspended in front of him. Text at top right reads 'Tunes on Tuesday February 10, 225 The Muse Knows'

Why this tune? This week’s song is another example of revisiting and rewriting. I wrote the first version of “The Muse Knows” in 2021. I wasn’t very happy with it after I wrote it, and tried afew times to revise it in the years since. I took another look this January, and this time rewroteContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: The Muse Knows”

Tunes on Tuesday: The Smile In Your Eyes

Photo of Oren Levine singing and playing an electric piano. He is wearing headphones an an ASCAP ball cap singing into a microphone suspended over the piano.

Why this tune? I had a very successful January song-a-day challenge, completing 28 songs in the 31 days (I took a few days off because of ill health). Now I’m starting the longer process of revisiting and revising the songs I wrote last month, in hopes of extracting and polishing some gems I can useContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: The Smile In Your Eyes”

Tunes on Tuesday: Damn the Budget

Photo of Oren Levine singing into a recording microphone suspended in front of his face. Text at top left reads 'Tunes on Tuesday January 27, 2026 Damn the Budget'

Why this tune? This week’s tune is another daily project in the January song-a-day challenge organized by Kat and Sarah from Songwriting For Music Educators. The inspiration came from a conversation with friends, where several people endorsed the idea of saying “Damn the budget!” occasionally to splurge on a special event or purchase. I couldn’tContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Damn the Budget”

Tunes on Tuesday: Ready To Change

Photo of Oren Levine playing an electric piano and singing in to a microphone suspended above the keyboard. Text at top left reads 'Tunes on Tuesday January 20, 2026 Ready To Change'

Why this tune? This week’s tune is another daily project in the January song-a-day challenge organized by Kat and Sarah from Songwriting For Music Educators. After years as a technology developer and manager, I learned that everyone wants to change, but nobody wants to do anything different. That remained just a grumble until my wifeContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Ready To Change”

Tunes on Tuesday: Pay the Band

Photo of Oren Levine playing an electric piano. A microphone is suspend in front of him. Text at top left reads 'Tunes on Tuesday January 13, 2026 Pay the Band'

Why this tune? This week’s tune is another daily project in the January song-a-day challenge organized by Kat and Sarah from Songwriting For Music Educators. This is a revised and extended version of “Pay the Band,” which I wrote first in 2024. It’s another in my Torah Tunes series, inspired in this case by aContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Pay the Band”

Tunes on Tuesday: On the 10:17

Photo of Oren Levine playing an electric piano and singing. Text at top left reads 'Tunes on Tuesday January 6, 2026; On the 10:17'

Why this tune? For the third year in a row, I’m taking a January song-a-day challenge organized by Kat and Sarah from Songwriting For Music Educators, which offers courses and resources for music educators who want to include songwriting in their work. I’m also taking a couple of online lyric writing workshops. I wrote today’sContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: On the 10:17”

Tunes on Tuesday: Let’s Resolve (2026)

Photo of Oren Levine playing an electric piano and singing. Text at top left reads 'Tunes on Tuesday December 30, 2025 Let's Resolve'

Why this tune? For Tunes on Tuesday this week, I went back to the New Year’s song I wrote originally at the end of 2022, making some changes to the lyrics to clean up the rhymes and make it a bit easier to sing. By “clean up” I mean trying to ensure that all ofContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Let’s Resolve (2026)”